Ever since the eighties, kids have been going to school after the Labor Day holiday. But now that has changed. On February 29, 2024 the Portsmouth school board voted to start the next school year before Labor Day.
Last year at a Portsmouth School Board meeting the topic was brought up. Surveys were sent out. It received mixed reception. While some people didn’t think it would make a difference, others thought we should keep things the same.
Many schools across the country have already made the switch. Even in our area, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, York County, and Virginia Beach schools have made the switch to come back to school before Labor Day.
Virginia Beach Public Schools had been starting their year after Labor Day just like us. On February 20, 2024, the school board made the decision to start next school year on August, 26 2024. That is one week before their usual start time. It doesn't seem that their school year will be getting shorter, either. They will come back to school earlier and still end around the same time as usual on June 13, 2025.
The benefit is more break time in-between the year. They will receive five extra days. This will help to ensure that staff and students are not burned out.
In contrast, we will be starting the school year a week early and get out a week early – on June 6, 2025. Jessica Facenda, a student here at Churchland stated, that she does get burned out during the school year and more breaks would help if we had a schedule similar to Virginia Beach .
“I don’t mind starting the school year before Labor Day if it means more breaks during the school year because I definitely get burned out sometimes during the year,” Facenda said
Churchland guidance counselor Mrs. Bonney is not a fan of Virginia Beach’s new policy.
“I don’t think incorporating 5 days off into the school year is beneficial. Why ruin the month of August? You guys only get all of July and August off. NO THANK YOU,” said Bonney.
She also stated that if we were going to school in August, she would like to end the school year in May similar to states like West Virginia and Florida.
CHS students Danasia Gilmore, Jadis Battle, and Jessica Facenda had a different opinion than Mrs. Bonney. They don’t mind starting the school year in August.
“I think it would benefit us,” Facenda said. Gilmore and Battle had a similar opinion.
According to Mom.com, a website that deals with child development, there are pros and cons to starting the year before Labor Day. Pros include more opportunities for breaks, more college prep time, more time to study for standardized testing and less learning loss.
Battle and Facenda said more breaks would benefit them the most. While Gilmore stated that more college prep time would be her benefit.
Cons to starting the year early are less family vacation time, teenagers not being able to work summer jobs especially around the Labor Day peak, and classrooms not having proper air conditioning for hot August days.
Most students seemed to be for the change, although Bonney stated, “I don’t like taking the summer away.”
Photo Credit: PPS website