The 2015-16 school year may seem long to many North Olympic Peninsula students due to an unusually late Labor Day this year.
Clallam County schools will open before the Labor Day weekend, breaking a tradition for many, while Jefferson County school districts have decided to preserve the post Labor Day start and keep the doors open deeper into June.
Labor Day — the first Monday of September — will be Sept. 7 this year.
In a traditional year, school begins the day after Labor Day, allowing families one last long weekend for vacation trips during what is often the best weather of the year on the North Olympic Peninsula.
However, with the late Labor Day, in order to include the
180 days of classes required by the state, schools found that if they scheduled the year to start after the end-of-summer holiday, the school year would extend into mid-June, and snow days could result in a school year ending in late June.
School districts that have not yet approved a calendar are expected to vote on one during late March or early April board meetings.
Sequim School District’s first day of school will be Sept. 1 with the last on June 15, and Forks schools will begin Sept. 2, while Port Angeles, Cape Flattery and Crescent districts will open their doors Sept. 3 — the week before Labor Day.
Port Angeles’ last day of classes will be June 15.
In Forks, the Quillayute Valley School Board selected the pre-Labor Day start in consideration of early summer activities in 2016.
Typically the district is the last North Olympic Peninsula school to start classes, on the Thursday after Labor Day.
“We wanted [students] to have the opportunity to participate in summer activities,” said Superintendent Diana Reaume.
Many camps, classes and sports begin in mid-June, and if the students are still attending classes, they could miss out, Reaume said.
An unexpected advantage is getting to ease into the school year, with a 3-day week the first week and a four-day week the second week before the usual five-day week begins Sept. 14, she said.
Forks students will get out of classes June 15, only a few days later than recent years.
At Cape Flattery School District, the proposed start date will be Sept. 3, but the final day of the school year is not yet established, said Superintendent Kandy Ritter.
Staff and the school board need to figure out how to manage the 180-day requirement with holidays and necessary teacher work days, Ritter said.
Crescent School District in Joyce is also considering a Sept. 3 start date and a June 14 final day of school.
“It’s such a late Labor Day this year,” said Clayton Mork, superintendent of Crescent School District.
The Crescent School Board is expected to vote on the calendar at its meeting Thursday, Mork said.
Jefferson County school districts — Port Townsend, Chimacum, Quilcene and Brinnon — have proposed calendars that would start classes Sept. 8 with students excused for the summer on June 16 or 17 with snow make-up days possible until June 20 or later.
“All of the Jefferson County schools try to coordinate our calendars,” said Stephanie McCleary, superintendent’s secretary at Chimacum School District.
Chimacum has yet to approve a calendar, but McCleary said the district is proposing a Sept. 8 start date, like the other districts.
However, the district has not yet released a date for the final day in 2016.
Wally Lis, superintendent of Quilcene and Brinnon school districts, said there were relative costs and benefits to the choice to run the school year early or late.
Districts that start the school year before Labor Day run the risk of not having many students in their seats, Lis said.
“As we look at our calendars, do we believe students and families will have returned from vacation before or after the Labor Day weekend?” he said.
Lis said that the other side of the coin is high school activities.
Football, cross country, volleyball, cheerleading and marching band all start Aug. 20, long before school is in session, he said.
He said that with nearly three weeks of practices and games before school starts, attendance for those activities is uncertain.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
