Alexandria City Public Schools considers new start to school year

Deciding to start school before or after Labor Day is at the top of the agenda for Alexandria City Public Schools.

The district is asking parents to vote in an online survey. So far —  a thousand votes are in and reaction is split.

The survey is on the school district’s website and asks parents to pick one of three options — starting school before Labor Day on August 31 and getting out on June 18, starting school after Labor Day on September 8 and getting out on June 23, or a third option that also starts after Labor Day but includes a longer winter break and school gets out on June 24.

The third option to start school after Labor Day could also include extended in-class hours and a two-week winter break.  

If the district decides to start school before Labor Day, it would be a first in Alexandria City Public Schools’ history.

Many school systems have been getting waivers from the state for years to let them go back before Labor Day.

In fact, at the start of this current school year, only Alexandria and Arlington went back after Labor Day. Everyone else in the area started a week to three weeks before Labor Day.

Any decision would go into effect in Fall 2021. The survey is open now and ends mid-November.

Alexandria City Public Schools has more than 15,000 students who would be impacted.

Now over in Maryland, each school system can decide whether to go back before Labor Day after the General Assembly overrode a veto by Governor Hogan on a bill that gives local school boards the authority to make that decision.