Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
State Board of Education
 
Guidance Document Change: Revisions to the Guidelines for Considering and Approving Requests for Pre-Labor Day Openings are needed to comport with HB 1652 and SB 1005, which were approved by the 2019 General Assembly. These bills permit all school divisions to begin school up to 14 days before Labor Day, effective July 1, 2019. This legislation also eliminates all of the existing “good cause” waivers and permits the Board to provide “good cause” waivers for school divisions providing year-round instructional programs, applicable only to the opening date for the schools in the division that are providing year-round programs. Amendments are proposed to the Guidelines to align with the legislative changes, including: • Removing all guidelines related to the “good cause” waivers that are no longer permitted by law. • Establishing guidelines for the Board to grant “good cause” waivers for school divisions providing a year-round instructional program, and delegating the authority to grant such waivers to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
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9/11/19  4:34 pm
Commenter: Ashley Bauman

Yes to Earlier Start Date
 

As a teacher in the Virginia Beach city public school system, I completely support an earlier start date. Finishing school up around the end of May would align more with SOL testing, TCC schedules, and AP testing dates. For many this would provide more time to prepare for the tests and less time being wasted after testing. We can always find something important to teach after testing but for most students, testing signals the end of the course and treat it so. I believe it would raise morale among staff and students. 

CommentID: 76067