Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Phil Flarsheim doesn't think so. As vice president of the Roanoke Jewish Community Council, it's his job to convince school systems to postpone the opening of school in 1994 so that it doesn't fall on Rosh Hashanah, which next year starts on the day after Labor Day.
Sen. Elliot Schewel, D-Lynchburg, also is thinking ahead. He's been fashioning legislation to reverse a state law that prohibits public schools from opening before Labor Day.
And Assistant School Superintendent Deanna Gordon is always happy to talk about the issue. It's a recurring one in Roanoke County, where School Board members and administrators regularly bemoan the unfairness of a state mandate that makes it tough to plan a weeklong spring break, among other things.
Gordon's hoping she can wed the Jewish community's efforts to the school lobby backing Schewel's bill.
"I proposed that they support our efforts, if they thought that was politically wise to do, to get the local option back," she said.
But Flarsheim's not sure he can go that far.
"I don't know if we'd be willing to get involved to that degree," he said. That's a matter his group will have to discuss.
Flarsheim acknowledged, however, that passage of Schewel's bill would benefit both groups.
The Jewish community only wants to make sure its holiday - one of the two most important Jewish holy days of the year - doesn't fall on the first day of school, he said. If schools were to open a week earlier, Jewish students wouldn't have to miss that crucial day when they excused themselves for religious services.
"I would have no problem with that," he said.
Roanoke and Roanoke County - among other school divisions - have been asking the General Assembly to drop its mandate on school openings ever since it enacted it several years ago. The so-called "King's Dominion Bill" unfairly favors localities where amusement parks are located, they argue, while hurting those without them.
Those who favor retaining the prohibition argue that everyone benefits from the law, which enables families to visit the parks during a long holiday weekend and generates tax dollars for the entire state. Students also benefit, because postponing the opening of school allows them to work at the parks during the busy, end-of-summer weekend.
The problem, said Dick Kelley, executive for business affairs for the Roanoke school system, is that starting after Labor Day often means ending well into June. That creates scheduling problems for teachers who want to take graduate courses that begin earlier in the month and families who want to plan early vacations.
It also limits the school system's flexibility in scheduling graduations and in setting its spring break, which often is sacrificed to make up days lost to inclement weather, Gordon said.
Parents complain when that happens, but the other alternative is to keep children in school longer at the end of the year, she said, which also is unpopular. This school year, Roanoke County split its spring break over a weekend to dispel the notion that students were guaranteed a full week off for their mid-semester break.
While school administrators in both the city and Roanoke County were sympathetic to the Jewish community's problem, neither made a commitment to push back even further the opening of school, Flarsheim said. Calendar committees for both systems will consider the request - which has also been backed by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Joseph Spagnolo - when they take up the scheduling issue next year.
Schewel, who also is Jewish, said he understands both problems but doesn't believe there's a way to link them. He opposed the initial legislation blocking schools from opening before Labor Day and has supported measures to reverse the law for years.
"I can't see that they're at all connected," he said.
What he does see is a chance to push through legislation next year that has failed in the past.
Democratic Del. Alson Smith, D-Winchester - who has successfully blocked previous efforts to drop the pre-Labor-Day opening prohibition - announced his retirement this year. That was incentive enough for Schewel to take up the charge.
"It'll have a better chance of passing if he's not there," he said.
But something else changed this year that has Gordon worried. Earlier this month, Walt Disney Co. announced plans to open another theme park in Prince William County.
"Is this going to be additional ammunition for the folks who want to keep it?" she asked.
by CNB