SALISBURY — While Worcester County stuck true to its post-Labor Day school start last week, neighboring Wicomico County and most other jurisdictions are not interested in following suit, at least for the next school year.
Last week, the Worcester County Board of Education unanimously approved a 2016-2017 school calendar that once again features a post-Labor Day start with a return date for students and a final day of school on June 16. For at least the last three years, Worcester County has been the only public school district to open after Labor Day, despite a continued effort in the General Assembly to mandate the change for all counties in Maryland.
A bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Jim Mathias and a similar bill introduced in the House co-sponsored by Lower Shore Delegates Mary Beth Carozza and Charles Otto along with 10 others, are just now starting to percolate again in the legislature with committee meetings scheduled for early next month, but already school systems across the state are approving calendars for next year.
Worcester County last week approved a Sept. 6 return date or the Tuesday after Labor Day. Neighboring Wicomico is currently in the process of finalizing its 2016-2017 calendar with three options currently under review, but neither includes a post-Labor Day start date.
Each of the proposed Wicomico calendars includes an Aug. 29 return date for students, but they vary slightly on the dates for the last day of school. Two of the options include a June 6 finish date, while one features a slightly later June 9 closure date.
The latter would include a longer winter holiday break from Dec. 17 to Jan. 1, but otherwise the options are similar. Wicomico County Public Schools spokesperson Tracy Sahler said this week a post-Labor Day start date was never under consideration.
“Our calendar team took many dates into consideration, but did not feel that a post-Labor Day start would serve the instructional needs of students as well as starting the week before,” she said. “Last year, we also offered three draft calendars and the one with the post-Labor Day start had the least support.”
The proposed post-Labor Day mandate began three years ago with Comptroller Peter Franchot’s “Let Summer be Summer” campaign and petition drive launched from the Ocean City Boardwalk. The concept is to allow families and school students to enjoy the last vestiges for summer before returning to school, but there is also an economic element, particularly in areas whose economies are driven largely by summer tourism dollars.
Opponents have said a required post-Labor Day school start is largely a parochial issue benefitting a handful of jurisdictions. Currently, school systems have the autonomy to develop and approve their own calendars, a policy many, including Wicomico, would like to see remain in place.
“We continue to be in favor of each school system setting its own calendar, as each city or county school system is part of a unique community,” said Sahler. “Each school system has the option to tailor its school schedule to community needs and wishes, as Worcester has done with the post-Labor Day start and as another community might do to accommodate a full week off in the spring.”
Wicomico just this week put out its three school year calendars for public consumption and input and already the interest has been brisk. Sahler said since putting out the calendars for public comment just a few days ago, the school system had already had 200 people respond to give their preference for one of the drafts.
She said the comments have been varied, covering everything from extending the spring holiday to building in extra snow days to starting after Labor Day. The Wicomico Board of Education will have the chance to review all of the input prior to considering a final 2016-2017 calendar at the next board meeting on March 8.
While Worcester County would certainly benefit from a mandated post-Labor Day school start, as would many jurisdictions that rely on late summer tourist dollars, other communities including Wicomico have their own unique reasons for maintaining the authority to set their own school calendar.
Sahler said a mandated post-Labor Day school start could complicate Wicomico’s unique relationship with Salisbury University, for example.
“Here in Wicomico, one concern with a post-Labor Day start would be being out of sync with the college calendar since many Salisbury University students intern in our schools on their way to becoming teachers,” she said. “College classes start in late August, and if schools open later, college students have less time to accumulate the hours they need in the classroom for their course work.”
