Schools again plan to open before Labor Day

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

If there has been debate in Richmond in years past over Smyth County schools qualifying for the pre-Labor Day opening waiver, the winter of 2009-10 has strengthened the division’s case.
State law prohibits schools opening before Labor Day. Schools can receive a waiver from the Board of Education “for good cause.”
In Smyth County this winter, particularly in its mountainous sections, “good cause” could be measured in feet.
On Monday, the county school board voted to apply for the waiver, long a traditional move for the county.
“Because these waivers must be approved annually,” the code said, “school divisions that received waivers in previous years must reapply each year.”
According to the Virginia Department of Education, Smyth schools over the past ten years have averaged 14 missed days lost to inclement weather or other circumstances. That figure is calculated on the five years with most days missed, and is higher than the true average of 10.7 days.
Eight missed days, as calculated using the five-highest-years method, is the threshold for waiver approval, DOE said.
“If we’ve used to be on the borderline, we aren’t any more,” said Division Superintendent Dr. Mike Robinson.
For the school years 2000-01 through 2009-10, the number of days missed were 20, 11, 6, 7, 7, 8, 14, 17, 7, and 10.
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