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Henrico's School Board today will consider three options for its 2021-22 school year – a traditional post-Labor Day start, a pre-Labor Day start and a year-round schedule.
Of the 12 people who submitted comments about the proposed 2021-22 school year calendar to the School Board in advance of today’s work session:
• four supported a year-round school option (Option C);
• four said they would not support it;
• one supported a traditional post-Labor Day start;
• two supported either pre- or post-Labor Day starts but not year-round school;
• and one supported either a pre-Labor Day start or year-round school.
Wrote a seventh-grader: "I'm glad you're considering extending the school year so that it starts in July. As a student I think that this will benefit me and my peers in many ways. We won't forget as much during summer break if there are breaks sprinkled around."
Three Chopt resident Kelley Hope, in support of year-round school, wrote: "A shorter summer break will decrease the amount of academic loss my children and others in the county experience, leading to more valuable instruction time when school resumes after the break."
Aubrey Granderson of the Brookland District suggested that year-round school would throw students – and families – out of their routine and they might have difficulty catching up.
"I think year round with multiple 2 week breaks would be very difficult for many parents,” Granderson wrote. “For our own family, childcare and summer plans would be difficult."
Crestview ES teacher Jillian Flowers also opposed the year-round plans, expressing a variety of concerns – including that plans for the coming school year aren’t yet known, which could make it too soon to adequately prepare for the following year.
"I am concerned that the shorter breaks will not really be breaks for teachers, but will instead be 'work from home days' in terms of completing paperwork and planning for the next nine weeks,” Flowers wrote.
Three Chopt resident Carolyn Brosnihan wrote that a year-round schedule would create a number of difficulties for many parents.
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“What am I supposed to do with my kids for those two weeks in January [during which school would be out]?,” she wrote. “There aren't winter camps offered during that time of year, nor are there camps offered during the fall and spring breaks that you have planned. What are parents going to do? I certainly cannot take off all of that time from work, and I am certain that many parents across the county are in the same situation.”
Starting in July 2021 also would significantly shorten the summer break of students who may not have much of one this summer, because of the pandemic, Brosnihan wrote.
"Your new 2021-2022 extended school year would rob these kids of a 'normal' summer following what we hope to be the end of this pandemic. Allow all of us an opportunity to enjoy it."
