Manchester Schools to start before Labor Day next year

Manchester Community Schools (MCS) announced last week that the 2020-2021 school year will be starting before Labor Day. School districts have the ability to apply for a waiver from a 2006 pro-tourism state law restricting the ability of schools to start before Labor Day. This year, Washtenaw Intermediate School District applied for and received the Labor Day Waiver; as a result, any Washtenaw County school district may choose to begin school before Labor Day.

Students will be attending the same number of instructional days next year as they did this year. MCS will start Monday, August 31, 2020. Students will attend four days and have Friday, September 4th and Labor Day off, giving them a four-day Labor Day weekend. The last day of school will be Friday, June 11, 2021. Without the calendar change, students would not start school until Tuesday, September 8, 2021 and would be attending school a week later into June. 

MCS board president Tom Mann explained why this decision was made. “Many of the students in the Manchester Community Schools begin extra-curricular activities before Labor Day,” he said. “The calendar change allows students to start their daily school routine a week earlier, while engaging in those activities. The change also aligns the school calendar with existing county wide education programs, such as the South and West Washtenaw Consortium and the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University.

“Additionally, the change allows teachers to provide students with more instructional time prior to the important spring testing window.” 

According to Mann, discussion of the calendar change started last year and included included administrators, union representatives, teachers, and board members. It was formally presented at the February board meeting and was unanimously approved.

In addition to Manchester, Mann stated, “…Saline, Chelsea, and Whitmore Lake have already moved their calendars to begin before Labor Day.” All schools in Jackson County moved to a pre-Labor Day start for the 2016-2017 school year and will continue with a pre-Labor Day start next year. Lenawee Intermediate School District has also applied for and received a waiver beginning with the upcoming school year.

Like in Washtenaw, individual districts in Lenawee County are currently deciding whether or not to take advantage of the waiver. 

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.