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This September could be the last time public schools open after Labor Day in Henrico County.
The school year will start Sept. 8 – the day after the holiday – this fall, but school officials today announced that they will propose to start the 2021-22 school year before Labor Day, on Aug. 23. The idea is not unexpected, considering that the School Board for years lobbied the General Assembly to repeal the so-called “Kings Dominion Law,” which prohibited Virginia school systems from opening before Labor Day unless they received a waiver to do so.
State legislators last year did just that, and now all school systems have the ability to start before Labor Day if they choose to do so.
Henrico school officials will host five information sessions about the proposed change between March 16 and April 2. They will take place:
• March 16 – 10:30 a.m. at Tuckahoe Area Library, 1901 Starling Drive
• March 16 – 6:30 p.m. at Hermitage High School, 8301 Hungary Spring Road;
• March 19 – 6:30 p.m. at Henrico High School, 302 Azalea Avenue;
• March 24 – 6:30 p.m. at Pocahontas Middle School, 12000 Three Chopt Road;
• April 2 – 10:30 a.m. at Fairfield Area Library, 1401 N. Laburnum Avenue.
In the coming days, the school division will post detailed calendar information to http://henricoschools.us, along with a feedback portal, before the series of community meetings begins.
If the pre-Labor Day proposal is approved, school would start Aug. 23, 2021 and end June 3, 2022.
The School Board is tentatively scheduled to vote on the matter at its April 23 meeting, in order to give the Henrico community notice of the change more than a year in advance.
