.         For FCPS high school students, school started weeks ago, and we are nearing the end of the 1st quarter (at the time of publication). Most classes have grades in the gradebook, and many students are already in mid-year form. However, if we were in Worcester, Maryland, we would have started school the day after Labor Day, and we would have had two weeks less of school. Despite that, the last day of school for Worcester Public Schools is June 12th, only a day after FCPS ends the 2024-2025 school year, or two days longer if you skip the last day of school (as most high school students in FCPS do.) So why is it that we start two weeks sooner than many other places around the country?
.         First, let’s look at the history of the first day of school in Fairfax County. Granted, the history I’m going to reference only goes back to 2012, which was the first year of public school for the class of 2025. In the 2012-2013 school year, the first day of school for students was September 4th, the day after Labor Day. The school year ended on June 18th, 2013, a week later than it ended this year. That being said, winter break was three days shorter, and religious holidays did not result in days off from school for students. They also had a 183-day school year, in contrast to today’s 180, which changed in 2014. This school calendar remained more or less the same until the 2017-2018 school year, when the first day of school fell on August 28th, and the last day of school was June 15th. There was also a three-day weekend instead of a four-day weekend for Labor Day.
.         Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the school calendar remained consistent. However, when COVID-19 hit, schools were closed for a month. For the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, the amount of instruction varied depending on the school, and we were all virtual for the 2020-2021 school year. Schools reopened in March of 2021 with various COVID-19 restrictions. The 2020-2021 school year started on September 8th and ended on June 12th. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, we have started two weeks before Labor Day, with this year beginning on August 19th.
.         Throughout the country, school districts are more likely to start in August than in September. Last year, according to a study from the Pew Research Center, around 80% of public schools in the United States began school in August, with around 60% of students starting school between August 14th and August 28th, 2023. Surprisingly enough, the number of students who started school on or before August 7th (19%) was nearly identical to the number of students who started after Labor Day (21%). So, why do school districts tend to favor starting in August over sticking to the traditional September-June calendar?

.         The reason that FCPS began starting school in August, 2017 goes back to a law passed in 1986, commonly referred to as “The Kings Dominion Law.” The Kings Dominion Law ensured that public school students in Virginia wouldn’t start school until after Labor Day unless granted a waiver by the state, which FCPS received in 2017. The reasoning behind this law was that the massive tourism sites of King Dominion and Busch Gardens relied heavily on high school and college students working there for summer jobs and Labor Day weekend resulting in a 3 day weekend for most professions and many people being free from work, Labor Day weekend is a very profitable time for the two amusement parks. As a result, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens wanted to have all hands on deck for these days, and the Kings Dominion Law allowed them to do so.
.         For most of the 21st century, lawmakers in Virginia pushed to repeal this law, arguing that this law was putting Virginian schools behind other states and that the law supported Child Labor. I think it’s important to note, however, that most students in Virginia probably supported this law, although I have no data or evidence to support that statement. In 2019, the Virginia General Assembly voted to repeal the law, and then-governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law that allowed Virginia schools to open up to weeks before Labor Day, as long as there was a 4 day weekend for Labor Day, and this new calendar debuted for FCPS in the 2019-2020 school year.
.         Another factor to mention is that the FCPS school calendar started recognizing significantly more religious holidays in 2022, and the 2022-2023 school calendar featured student holidays on various religious holidays, such as Diwali, Bodhi Day, Ramadan, etc. While these changes to the calendar may be necessary to allow students, families, and teachers from all religions to celebrate these events and holidays, it does extend the school year by a bit, and we could probably be out of school for up to a week earlier if these days were not granted.
.         Marka Doolittle, English teacher, opined, “I prefer the current schedule. I think it’s important that we recognize religious holidays and having days off throughout the school year helps break up the monotonous winter months. My ideal schedule is a significantly shorter summer and then Mondays become asynchronous. We get rid of flex and extend school days by a little bit. Classes are scheduled every day but we get rid of study hall periods and make the day more efficient.”
.         In 2024, interestingly enough, the main factor that determines when you start school seems to be which region of the United States you live in. According to another study from the Pew Research Center, students in New England are likely to start school the last week of August, and the majority of students in the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania don’t begin school until after Labor Day. Meanwhile, if you live in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, schools are likely to start in the first week of August or even the last week of July. Therefore, if you are considering pursuing teaching as a job in the future, moving to states in the Northeast will grant you a longer summer vacation.
.         It’s not entirely clear where the future of school calendars lies for FCPS and the rest of the country. The question of starting in September versus August remains for school administrators and government officials to ponder, as does the question of which days should be holidays for school students and staff during the year, given that there are 10 student holidays/teacher workdays throughout the 2024-2025 school year. Personally, I argue that we should divide that number in half and have five student holidays, and instead, have an extra week of summer vacation, or even eliminate teacher workdays/staff development days. This would mean we would start in September rather than August once again, and I think it would be more beneficial for students and teachers to have a longer summer break rather than having various days off during the school year. After all, we already get days off for Winter Break, Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, etc. Over the next few years, as district schedules adjust, more studies and data supporting one start time over others will be released. Hopefully, for students at Westfield, the data will influence FCPS to bring back the first day of school after Labor Day.