Roller coaster rides and school bus rides are almost entirely unrelated. Surprisingly enough, in Virginia, one impacts the other more than you might think.
It’s true, many Virginia schools are required to begin classes after Labor Day due to what is widely known as the “King’s Dominion Law.” This law prevents us from starting school in August, as is the trend throughout much of the country, because doing so would impact the thriving local amusement park and tourist industry late in the summer.
It’s all fun and games (literally) until you begin to evaluate the more negative consequences of this decision. While I love amusement parks and am not opposed to supporting the industry, I recently discovered that this “King’s Dominion Law” may be a top contributor to the fact that summer 2014 will be, for me, nearly devoid of free time.
“The Dominator,” however, is not entirely to blame for my jam-packed summer. Since I will be attending college in the fall (my first day of classes being the day after Labor Day), I have to make an appearance at a new student orientation and a camp for freshmen to learn the ropes before we jump head first into college life. I will also be going to the beach for a week and on a ten-day mission trip.
Yes, these activities are entirely my choice and don’t lend much time for me to sit around on my couch and catch up on TV shows. I am aware of how much control I have over my own summer.
Still, my fellow Virginia students and I seem to be about a month short in a few ways:
First of all, as I have already mentioned, the packed summer of the newly-graduated, college attending Virginia student may not be so crowded if we got out of school in May, as so many schools around the country do.
Additionally, schools that begin in August have an extra month of instruction time built in for students to master the material in AP classes, as exams are in early May countrywide.
And, to be honest (although I am no expert), beginning earlier may be the source of a little bit of relief for years that go the way this one has so far in regards to the weather: snow, snow, and more snow. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like it might be less frustrating to have to extend the school year by a few days in late May or early June to make up for snow days than to cut into our already short-seeming summer by pushing even farther into late June.
I know that our summer isn’t technically any shorter than those around the country, but I think that timing is key. We might let out a groan at the thought of starting school in August, but a leisurely summer beginning in May seems much more appealing than a stuffed one that has just begun come July.