By Josh Bergeron

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

Rowan’s two state house representatives have introduced a bill that would give more scheduling autonomy to the Rowan-Salisbury School System.

The bill, filed on Feb. 16, would allow the school system to determine the start and end date of the school year. Rep. Harry Warren, R-77, is the primary sponsor of the bill, which only applies to Rowan-Salisbury Schools. Rep. Carl Ford, R-76, is a co-sponsor of Warren’s bill and the primary sponsor of two bills that would allow local control of the start and end date for Cabarrus and Kannapolis schools. A few other, similar bills for other school districts are also floating through the state legislature.

The school systems have some autonomy over their schedule, but start and end dates are mandated statewide. Rowan-Salisbury Schools Superintendent Lynn Moody said having control over start and end dates makes a big difference, especially when considering the affect a change would have on time in the classroom. Moody specifically referenced the fact that Christmas break splits exams and previous instructional time.

“I believe that it is better to take a natural break at Christmas after exams,” she said. “Local communities are in the best position to determine the best schedule for their school system.”

Warren said he consulted with Moody before introducing the school schedule bill and received her support.

Similarly, School Board Chairman Josh Wagner also expressed support for the idea.

We know the system better than folks in Raleigh,” Wagner said. “I think it would give us a little more flexibility to get more feedback from the community. I support as much independent responsibility as possible.”

If passed through the legislature, Moody said the school year in Rowan would likely start a week earlier, allowing the Rowan-Salisbury system to build in more weather days — snow for example.

“Having control over the start date is kind of critically important to setting your own calendar,” Moody said.

Neither the Rowan nor Kannapolis schedule change have made it out of committee and to the floor of the N.C. House of Representatives for a vote. The Rowan bill was last referred to the Commerce and Job Development Committee.

When asked about his involvement in the school calendar bills, Ford said tourism and commerce played a significant part when the state mandated the calendar start and end dates in 2004. Since then, state law has prevented the school year from starting too early in August. Some school districts in western North Carolina have been granted waivers, specifically for snow days.

Ford said the 2004 change specifically pertained to coastal tourism. Coastal North Carolina counties, he said, pushed for the change to allow more time for beach vacations.

Commerce is also negatively affected currently by the school calendar, Ford said. High schools often start practice for fall athletics and have football games before classes begin.

“It’s hard to promote the football games, and football usually carries the others sports, when students are not even in school,” he said. “That means less people show up for games. It wouldn’t hurt to have another five days added to the start of the year.”

As the primary sponsor of the bill, Warren said the bill may pass the house, but could run into a brick wall after moving to the North Carolina Senate.

“The senate, historically, does not like to deal with those bills,” he said. “They’ve not acted on calendar bills that we have sent over very often.”

Rowan and surrounding school systems’ calendar bills are currently considered local, meaning that the governor’s signature isn’t required for approval. However, Warren said it could become a statewide issue if 15 or more school systems choose to introduce bills to change school schedules.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246