Pre-Labor Day School Start Date Considered In Anne Arundel County

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Anne Arundel County's school board will consider starting classes before Labor Day for the 2020-2021 school year. The holiday falls on Sept. 7 next year, while the district is considering an Aug. 31 start date for classes, which comes after Maryland legislators passed a law in March 2019 that said school districts may again start the school year before Labor Day, then overturned a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan.

The governor criticized the legislation, which he said "unravels years of bipartisan work and study."

In 2016, Hogan issued an executive order that schools had to wait until after Labor Day to start classes, citing the boost it would give tourism, plus polls that said residents preferred a later start. But several school districts strenuously objected to the change. When members of the Montgomery County Board of Education sent Hogan a letter asking him to take another look at his executive order, the governor called them "whiny."

The proposed school calendar for the coming year will be reviewed at the Anne Arundel County Public Schools board meeting on Wednesday. The calendar currently has the school year starting for students on Aug. 31, 2020, and would tentatively end on June 16, 2021.

The recommended calendar restores a six-day Easter/spring break and maintains all of the closing dates (where applicable) contained in the current school year calendar.

Wednesday’s meeting will be held in the board room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. The board will meet in a public session at 8:30 a.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public. The public session of the meeting will resume at 10 a.m.

Members of the public wishing to testify before the board can now sign up online or by phone. Signups will open on the Friday before a board meeting when the agenda for that meeting is published and will close at 4 p.m. on the day before the meeting. Members of the public can sign up here or by calling 410-222-5311.