Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992 TAG: 9203050184
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ The summary: Five bills seeking to allow school districts to open before Labor Day have died in the General Assembly this session under pressure from the state travel and tourism industry.
But three Roanoke Valley school districts - Salem, Roanoke and Roanoke County - haven't given up the fight. Three of those five bills had been introduced on behalf of them, and now, each plans to make an appeal to the state Board of Education.
"We're just a small school system looking to get out of the onus of big government," says Salem Superintendent Wayne Tripp, who sent a letter to the state board Tuesday asking for a waiver from the post-Labor Day school opening law.
The General Assembly passed a law in 1986 forbidding schools to open before Labor Day. School organizations had opposed it, but Virginia's powerful travel, tourism and theme-park industry lobbied hard and successfully.
This year, Labor Day falls late - Sept. 7 - and the three Roanoke Valley school districts worried about a late end to the school year. If school started Sept. 8, classes would end on June 18, 1993.
Roanoke Superintendent Frank Tota said it gets too hot in late June and not all schools have air conditioning.
As Roanoke County Superintendent Bayes Wilson puts it: "That's entirely too late."
So, the three districts persuaded local legislators to introduce three separate bills - one for each district - to allow them to open before Labor Day. Two other similar bills, one of them from Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, would have allowed all schools to open early.
All were defeated.
Roanoke Valley educators say the local legislators were done in by tough lobbying from the travel and tourism industry, mainly from eastern Virginia, which pressured lawmakers into voting on the side of business.
"We had not expected the firestorm. We got a full-court press from these people," Tripp said. "It was done purely for economic reasons."
Jean Guthrie, of the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association, said there's a reason: "August is the peak travel month. So when people think that a week tradeoff in [June] is equal to a week in August, it's not true."
Guthrie said travel and tourism profits grew 3 percent after the law changed. That money translates into taxes and revenue for schools. Also, Guthrie said, no one has shown that a post-Labor Day opening hurts education.
Furthermore, high school students can earn more if they work through the profitable Labor Day weekend, she said. That makes employers happy and keeps them doing business in Virginia, she said.
Tripp, Wilson and Tota now are looking to the state Board of Education for help. The board has allowed some districts to open schools early if they missed more than 10 days the previous year because of bad weather.
The three superintendents - led by Tripp - think that if an exemption can be made for bad weather, it can be made for other good reasons: like avoiding a late school year.
"It's our contention that the Board of Education does have the authorization," Tripp said.
But will it? "Frankly, I doubt it," he admitted.
Tripp sent a letter requesting a waiver from the board on Tuesday after first meeting with Wilson and Tota, who plan to make similar requests.
Wilson said that if the board denies the request, Roanoke County may reduce the length of spring break and Christmas vacations so that school can let out in early June. But if students miss days due to snow, the calendar will be so inflexible they may have to attend school on Saturdays.
"Saturdays are our last resort, but we may have to go to that," Wilson said.
by CNB