Save the date.
The first day of school in Monongalia County next year is Aug. 20, with the last set for May 28.
That’s to allow for snow days, holiday breaks and other professional development days where teachers report to the building but students do not.
Board of Education members, though, did spend a few fevered moments looking at their day planners during Tuesday night’s meeting.
They were wondering about the logistics of a bill currently being bandied about the state Legislature which could mandate when the bell rings — and when it doesn’t.
House Bill 2433 would direct local boards to start no earlier than Sept. 1, with the year ending no later than June 7.
The earlier version contained an even skinnier window, with its call for the school calendar to begin not earlier than Labor Day, while ending before Memorial Day.
The bill, however, would also give a local board the right to request an exemption through the state Board of Education.
But that’s just more paperwork to flip along with the calendar pages, Mon Schools chief Eddie Campbell Jr., said.
“My guess is that if it does pass, you going to have 53 waivers filed,” he said.
That’s in reference to Wetzel and Wyoming counties, the only two among West Virginia’s 55 counties that begin their classes in September.
That’s applying too much urgency to the academics, she said, as counties would have cut breaks to make the mandated 180 days for the school year.
“We would have to compress everything,” she said.
The added bureaucracy doesn’t get a good grade from Ron Lytle, the BOE president.
Lytle: “They’re always saying, ‘local control,’ then they turn around and do something like this.”
The NRA meanwhile, is also asking lawmakers to not vote for the bill, saying it interferes with hunting season — thus robbing youngsters from experiencing a family tradition important in the Mountain State.
In other business, the BOE awarded a contract to a city firm for an asbestos abatement project in the auxiliary gym at Morgantown High School.
Cira and Associates will do the work for $12,000.
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