A late start to the school year and other logistical challenges could result in Arlington elementary schoolers getting fewer than 180 days of instruction this year.
School Board members are reviewing a proposal to alter the 2026-27 elementary school calendar to provide more opportunity for meetings between teachers and parents in October and March. This would result in just 178 instructional days for elementary-school students.
If enacted later this month, the schedule would violate the policy set up when School Board members approved calendars in 2025 for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.
“We have this commitment,” School Board member Kathleen Clark said, while acknowledging the “real logistical challenges” of meeting the 180-day minimum under the current start and end dates.
“This is a really complex issue,” Clark said at the Aug. 13 School Board meeting.
While the proposed change at the elementary level would drop APS below the 180-day goal at the elementary-school level, students would still be in class 1,064.8 hours during the year. That’s higher than the 990-hour minimum required by state law.
Clark and others said the policy issues involved would be discussed at a Sept. 29 work session, which would focus on calendar development in future years.
“This is an ongoing discussion,” she said.
Part of the difficulty this year is a late start to the school year.
Arlington Public Schools policy requires a return to classes no earlier than a week prior to Labor Day. Because the holiday falls on Sept. 7 this year, classes will begin Aug. 31.
“This year, we are the latest school system in Virginia” to resume classes, Superintendent Francisco Durán said.
Elsewhere in Northern Virginia, Loudoun County Public Schools began the 2026-27 school year on Aug. 17. Fairfax and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church are slated to return to class Aug. 24.
Arlington’s later start date, coupled with a policy that classes end each spring by Juneteenth (June 19), provides logistical challenges for scheduling, Durán said.
While other jurisdictions “have the flexibility” because of the earlier start, Arlington faces challenges in squeezing holidays, teacher workdays, early-release days and parent-teacher conferences into the schedule, the superintendent said.
Until 2019, a longstanding state law required school districts start school no earlier than the day following Labor Day. Over the years, however, there had been so many exceptions granted to localities that more school districts began before the holiday than after.
Under the revised state law, some school divisions were granted the ability to start classes anytime up to 14 days before Labor Day, with the remainder being able to start classes up to 14 days before Sept. 1.
State law mandates that schools be closed the Friday before Labor Day, meaning Arlington students will have four days in class before a four-day break running Sept. 4-7.
