Kanawha County Schools will be the first public school system in West Virginia to call students back to class for the upcoming school year, according to a state Department of Education report.
For the vast majority of Kanawha schools, students are supposed to return Aug. 8. The next earliest start date is Aug. 10, when students in both Braxton and Mercer counties are to return to class for the 2016-17 school year.
Kanawha also has two "year-round" or "balanced" calendar elementary schools that are set to start classes on July 11: Mary C. Snow West Side and Piedmont. Betty Jo Jordan, executive assistant to State Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano, said they're the only year-round schools in the state now that Marshall County's Cameron Elementary and Cameron High have reverted to a more traditional schedule.
Mineral County has the latest start date for students, on Aug. 26, but has the next-to-the-latest planned end date for students: June 7. Mason County, which will start classes Aug. 18, has the latest planned end date: June 8.
Though actual school end dates can be affected by make-up dates for days canceled due to snow or emergencies, Kanawha students at the non-year-round schools are planned to be let out for summer earlier than students in most other counties in the upcoming school year.
Kanawha, Braxton and Cabell counties plan to end school May 23, preceded only by Nicholas County on May 22, Mingo County on May 19, Fayette County on May 17 and Preston County on May 11.
Preston, which will start classes on Aug. 11, only plans to have two days off around Thanksgiving, one week off around Christmas and two days off around spring break. Kanawha's calendar plans a week off around Thanksgiving, two weeks off around Christmas and a week of spring break.
A committee that was meant to represent Kanawha school board members, teachers, principals and parents voted 9-2 to recommend a calendar for non-year-round schools for the just-ended school year that was almost identical to the previous school year's schedule. Some members of the committee suggested keeping the calendar consistent.
Kanawha's school board voted 3-2 to adopt that recommended schedule for the 2015-16 school year, setting the start date as Aug. 10. Board member Pete Thaw said he voted against the calendar because the early start date took summer away from kids and parents.
The other board member who voted no, Ryan White, said he'd heard complaints that the long winter break would burden parents who must find childcare for their kids during that time. But he said he wasn't greatly opposed to the approved calendar, and urged fellow board members to stick with a similar calendar for the next three school years.
In December 2015, White followed through by joining his fellow board members in voting for a similar calendar for the upcoming school year. Thaw was the only no vote.
As Kanawha has kept a similar calendar that's been moving its start date earlier into August, other counties have been moving their start dates back. In 2014-15, the first school year for which a new state law required counties to make up missed days, Kanawha's Aug. 11 start date was the state's fifth-earliest.
Braxton and Wayne counties started classes Aug. 5, Cabell County started on Aug. 6 and Mercer County on Aug. 7, according to an education department report. In 2015-16, only Greenbrier, on Aug. 6, and Wayne, on Aug. 7, started earlier than Kanawha.
In 2016-17, Greenbrier is starting Aug. 22 and Wayne is starting Aug. 17.
Wayne school board President Trey Morrone said his county's calendar committee developed three proposed calendars for the upcoming school year, including a schedule that would've been similar to the 2015-16 calendar and one that would've started a week later than Aug. 17.
He said the proposals were placed online for employees to vote on, and workers overwhelmingly chose the Aug. 17 start date schedule. He and fellow board member Lois Little also said people were complaining about 2015-16's early start date.
"We've heard a lot of positive feedback from the community," Little said of the later start date.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1254, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.