In 2004, the General Assembly set limits on school start and end dates. Under current law, calendars begin on the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end on the Friday nearest June 11.
The Pender County school board has placed the issue on its 2015 legislative agenda, which states that the restrictiveness of the school calendar does not allow for schedule adjustments to best serve students and the community.
“As a board, we absolutely agree with that – that we would like to have flexibility with our respective calendar,” said board Chairwoman Karen Rouse.
New Hanover Superintendent Tim Markley said limiting flexibility of the school schedule has many consequences, including a calendar that does not align with that of the community college, where many students enroll who have maxed out the high school curriculum. It also requires high school students to be tested on material learned before winter break after the intercession and creates difficulty scheduling professional development for teachers.
“The calendar is so compacted that there is almost no time to do professional development on a day when students are not there,” Markley said. “So that means that I’m then having to put resources into hiring subs to do it during the day, which takes them out of the classroom, or asking them to come in in the afternoon after they spent all day with students and they are not at their most effective to do professional development.”
But school calendar flexibility could be detrimental to area travel and tourism, which peaks during the summer months and is one of the state’s fastest growing industries.
According to “The Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties,” an annual study conducted by the U.S. Travel Association for the N.C. Department of Commerce, domestic and international visitors to North Carolina spent more than $20 billion in 2013.
Kim Hufham, president of the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau, said a return locally to early August school starts would bite into the tourism workforce.
“Many attractions use high school students as their workers,” Hufham said. “If their workforce has to go to school, it cuts logistically into how their schedule works.”
In 2013, tourists spent $477.68 million in New Hanover County, $470.58 million in Brunswick County and $84.18 million in Pender County, increasing business at hotels, restaurants, attractions and stores.
“The majority of the revenue from tourism is accrued during the summer,” said Mitzi York, executive director of the Brunswick County Tourism Development Authority. “Pushing the school start dates to early August – that really significantly cuts back on the number of weeks folks have for family summer vacations.”
York said that even in the early years of the school calendar issue, organizations in Brunswick County expressed concerns about the impact early school start dates would have on tourism, adding that most state tourism associations have taken stances against flexibility of the school calendar.
Brunswick County school board Chairwoman Catherine Cooke said the district is not seeking legislative changes.
Miranda Roberts: 343-2328
On Twitter: @MirandaDRoberts
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