Manassas Park board hears calendar survey showing majority support for earlier start and pre‑Memorial Day end

Superintendent Dr. Rates told the Manassas Park City Schools board that a recent community survey of 426 responses favored an earlier school year under “Option B,” which would start about Aug. 10 and end the school year the Friday before Memorial Day.

"So overall from the 426 responses, you can see that Option B got 57.5% of the vote and Option A got 42.5%," Dr. Rates said, and he broke the responses down by role: parents preferred Option A, staff and students preferred Option B.

The two calendars differ chiefly on start/end dates and fall break. Option A follows the historical schedule (about Aug. 16 start and a first‑semester end in January, with a three‑day fall break). Option B starts roughly one week earlier, wraps the first semester before winter break, and replaces the short fall break with a full week off during the Thanksgiving week. Both calendars meet Virginia’s instructional minimums (180 days/990 hours), Dr. Rates said.

Student representatives who participated in the survey voiced a clear preference for Option B. One student representative said, "I did also prefer Option B," noting that the longer Thanksgiving break and alignment with multiple religious observances were factors.

Board members pressed staff on operational implications. Dr. Rates said the division does not build specific snow‑day makeup dates into the calendars but manages instructional time using the state’s hours requirement; "we're exceeding the 990 hours for the most part," he said, so makeup needs are tracked as accumulated hours rather than preset days.

Members also asked whether Option B’s timing would disadvantage first‑semester Advanced Placement students who take exams in the second semester; Dr. Rates and other administrators said schools are used to adjusting instruction and could identify supplemental supports if the board opts for the earlier calendar.

Religious‑holiday recognition was a recurring point: the presentation noted that Option A preserves currently observed holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Eid al‑Fitr) while Option B contains fewer division close days and more consecutive five‑day instructional weeks. Dr. Rates explained that some holidays may not appear on a calendar when they fall on a weekend in a given year.

On testing windows, Dr. Rates said the Virginia Department of Education sets broad testing windows and either calendar would allow the division to “fall within the window” for standard assessments.

Next steps: the board will continue to review the two calendar options, consider feedback from additional stakeholders (including student reps who said they will review the materials), and the superintendent indicated the division could bring a motion on a preferred option at a June meeting.