LEESBURG, Va. — Washington-area public school students return to classrooms as early as Monday, and school leaders say now is the time to double check details like bus stops and bell times.
Culpeper County and Winchester public schools are scheduled to open on Monday – four weeks before Labor Day.
Across the area, many school systems opening over the next few weeks are preparing for another year with more students.
Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Officer Wayde Byard expects about 75,000 students will be enrolled when county schools open Aug. 31, up from 37,000 just 15 years ago.
“It’s crazy growth, and for us that’s normal,” he says.
Loudoun is opening only one new school this year, Riverside High School. (Ed. Note: Check back Monday for an exclusive behind the scenes tour)
“There’s new walk zones this year as trails become completed and some trail networks and road networks build out, but other than that, there’s really not much change,” Byard says.
In the Sterling area, crosswalks are not completed near Meadowland Elementary School, so many students who were originally slated to walk will get bus service instead.
The school system plans to keep the bus service until the crosswalks are in place, but County Supervisor Suzanne Volpe wrote in a message to the community that funding for construction of the crosswalks is not expected to be approved until October. The county first needs VDOT to approve the designs.
When public school students return to class:
Virginia:
Most Virginia school systems are required to begin the school year after Labor Day under the so-called “Kings Dominion Law”, but several in the Washington area have waivers due to the high number of snow days they have taken in the last few years. Labor Day this year falls on Sept. 7.
- Culpeper County: Aug. 10
- Winchester: Aug. 10
- Rappahannock County: Aug. 11
- Manassas Park: Aug. 17
- Fauquier County: Aug. 17
- Warren County: Aug. 17
- Frederick County (Va.): Aug. 17
- Clarke County: Aug. 18
- Madison County: Aug. 25
- Loudoun County: Aug. 31
- Prince William County: Aug. 31
- City of Manassas: Aug. 31
Other Virginia public school systems in our area, including Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, Stafford, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, begin classes on Sept. 8
Maryland
- St. Mary’s County: Aug. 19
- Washington County: Aug. 19
- Prince George’s County: Aug. 24 (for new 6th & 7th grade middle schoolers and new 9th graders, all students report Aug. 25)
- Frederick County (Md.): Aug. 24
- Howard County: Aug. 24
- Anne Arundel County: Aug. 24 (for grades 1-6 and 9, schools open for other students Aug. 25)
- Calvert County: Aug 25
- Montgomery County: Aug. 31
- Carroll County: Aug. 31
- Charles County: Aug. 31
D.C.
All D.C. Public Schools: Aug. 24
