Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 16, 1993 TAG: 9302160324
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
SCHOOL-CALENDAR BILL KILLED
Legislation to relax the state's requirement that schools open after Labor Day was killed Monday by a House of Delegates committee.The bill by Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, would have required the state Board of Education to grant a waiver to any school division that meets certain state requirements. Current law gives the board discretion in granting waivers.
The Education Committee voted 13-2 to kill Trumbo's bill. Del. Shirley Cooper, D-Yorktown, said the current system seems to be working well.
"There's nothing here that needs to be fixed," she said.
Trumbo said Southwest Virginia schools often request a waiver because they lose many school days to snow. Roanoke County and Salem, for example, sought waivers last year but were denied.
"The impact of starting after Labor Day is that we have to make our calendar very compact," said Michael Bryant, assistant superintendent in Salem. "It does not leave a lot of flexibility if you have snow."
Bryant said in a telephone interview that the Salem School Board tries to build a couple of "snow days" into its calendar. But because Labor Day was later than usual - it fell on Sept. 7 last year - the division was only able to schedule the state-mandated 180 days of classes.
"We've already missed one day in December," Bryant said. "To make it up, we took a teacher workday and used it as a student day, then had the teacher workday on a Saturday."
A similar change will be made if another day is missed, Bryant said. After that, the division would have to cut into spring break.
Roanoke County's public schools have five extra days built into the calendar and would have to resort to Saturday classes if all those days were used, Superintendent Bayes Wilson said.
"If we could begin the school year a little earlier, it would be a lot better," he said. Wilson said Roanoke has more severe winters than the eastern part of the state and should have greater autonomy in setting the school calendar.
He said his school division has to book the Roanoke Civic Center for graduation ceremonies about a year in advance, so adding makeup days to the end of the school year is impractical.
"It also can get awfully hot in June, and only about half our buildings are air-conditioned," he said. "Of course, it's hot in August, too. But in June, everybody's been going to school all year and they're a little tired. It's just not good from an educational standpoint."
Bronwinn Bailey, a junior at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, called the post-Labor Day opening law "archaic." Bailey, who was among a group of government students attending the committee meeting, said, "It was OK back when kids were needed to work on the farm during the summer, but our economy isn't built on that anymore."
\ GENERAL ASSEMBLY\ IN OTHER ACTION\ \ School buses: The House of Delegates voted 95-4 to pass a bill increasing the speed limit for school buses on interstate highways from 45 mph to 55 mph.\ \ Day care: The Education Committee unanimously endorsed a bill that gives all school divisions the option to offer before-school and after-school day-care\ programs.\ \ Bear season: The Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee voted 7-6 to kill a bill authorizing an around-the-clock black bear-chasing season, but then agreed to reconsider and sent the measure to subcommittee.\ \ Evasive action: The Senate voted 39-0 to endorse a bill already passed by the House making it illegal for motorists to drive off the road and onto public or private property to evade a stop sign, yield sign, traffic light or other traffic control device.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993