NORFOLK, Va. — The sight and sound of school buses at schools in Norfolk is something you’ll now hear and see starting Aug.19, 2024.
That's a week earlier than in the past.
“I like starting earlier," Maury High School freshman Aalayah Clayton said.
Clayton likes the idea of starting earlier because it means the school year will end earlier. She also doesn’t worry about the earlier start date cutting into a summer job.
“If I have to, I’ll make time for it," said Clayton.
At the latest Norfolk School Board meeting, the board voted on the academic calendar for the next school year.
On Friday, a News 3 Facebook post announcing the new start date had over 100 comments and more than two dozen shares.
Many commenters point out school districts across the country have similar start dates.
Some said they’ve experienced a similar school schedule and it’s nice. Others, though, worry about burnout for teachers and staff.
“I think they should start the same as everyone else," said Earl Drew.
Drew has a cousin who attends Maury High School and is concerned the new start date could negatively impact families.
“A lot of people, that’s their vacation month," Drew said. "August being the hottest month, mainly the hottest month of the summer, that’s when a whole lot of people go on vacation. I think it’s cutting into the peoples family vacation time."
As news 3 has reported, many Virginia school districts have moved up the start of their school year since the repeal of the King’s Dominion Law in 2019 which required schools to start after Labor Day unless they had a waiver.
News
Norfolk Public Schools to start mid August in 2024-25 school year
The school year in Norfolk will now end May 30.
Along with a new start and end date, the three-day weekend in March has been eliminated but the three-day Thanksgiving break remains.
In a statement the school district said, in part, the decision to change the start date was to benefit students and teachers:
The School Board of the City of Norfolk voted to adopt academic calendars for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years during its meeting on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. Two options were originally developed with assistance from the Norfolk Public Schools' central and school-level administration and teachers, as well as the NPS Teacher Forum. Calendar options were voted on by NPS staff, students, families, and community via survey and amended to include their feedback. The selected option includes an earlier state date two weeks before Labor Day to allow teachers and students more instructional time to prepare for national assessments as well as state-level Standards of Learning tests. It also provides breaks and teacher workdays designed to maximize instructional time.
