
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994                   TAG: 9403050033
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Robert Freis Staff Writer
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD MESSAGE TO STATE: FORGIVE SOME SNOW DAYS

The subject is snow make-up days, and city School Board members want the General Assembly to pay attention.

Between bad weather and a law that says school can't begin until after Labor Day, school calendars here and in other Virginia localities are being squeezed.

As a result, this school year may extend into the summer, a situation that may make students, parents and teachers pretty hot.

"There's going to be a lot of anger, and it's not our fault," board member George Ducker said Thursday. A bill to rescind the so-called "King's

Dominion Law," which mandates that school can't begin until after the Labor Day holiday, failed to get out of a General Assembly committee last month.

"It's a question of what comes first - education or amusement parks?" School Superintendent Michael Wright said.

Mandated post-Labor Day openings mean some schools that lack air conditioning may have to hold classes through late June, if enough prior days are lost to winter weather, he said.

Late openings also pressure school administrators to keep schools open on days when winter weather makes travel hazardous, he added.

Wright called for the law to be changed. Yet the legislature's already said no - at least for the 1994-95 school year.

So the Radford School Board took the only avenue left to adjust the school year, by approving a resolution asking the legislature to officially shorten the school year.

State law says Virginia school calendars must contain at least 180 days, unless the General Assembly approves fewer.

In Radford, pupils have missed 13 days already this year because of snow and ice. As it stands now, school won't end until June 20.

The Radford board wants the legislature to abbreviate the school year so that no more than five of the 13 missed snow days must be made up.

The board's resolution also called for support from other Southwest Virginia school superintendents and from the Virginia School Board Association.

The vote approving the resolution was 5-1, with board member Guy Wohlford dissenting. Wohlford said the lost school days should not be sacrificed.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

by CNB