NO CLASS OFF ON VETS DAY — Stafford draft blanks the holiday when Nov. 11 lands on a weekend

Stafford calendar draft skips a Veterans Day holiday when Nov. 11 falls on a weekend

Stafford County’s draft school calendars would not give students and staff a Veterans Day holiday in 2028-29, when Nov. 11 falls on a weekend, Chief of Staff Dr. Amanda Schutz told the School Board on Sept. 8.

The calendar committee’s criteria, Schutz said, are that a holiday falling Monday through Friday gets an associated student and staff day off. A holiday that falls on a weekend does not.

That is why the 2028-29 draft shows Veterans Day observed on a weekend with no matching student or staff holiday. Staff said the drafts were built as 180-day calendars at the board’s request.

The board took no action on the calendars that night. Communications Chief Sandra Osborn, citing the board clerk, said the board is tentatively scheduled to adopt the 2027-28 and 2028-29 calendars on Oct. 13.

The holiday talk is not a stand-alone culture fight. It sits inside the same Sept. 8 work the board did after punting a high school schedule change.

Potomac Local reported Sept. 15 that Chair Dr. Elizabeth Warner (Griffis-Widewater District) deferred any shift from eight courses to seven for 2027-28 after nearly 90 minutes of public comment on electives. The board did not adopt a seven-period schedule. Warner said members want more information on electives, specialty centers, seat time, and what a later year would look like.

The underlying problem is the one Potomac Local laid out Sept. 4. Stafford high schools deliver about 121.8 seat hours per course — 18.2 hours short of Virginia’s 140-hour credit standard. Students meet each class every other day. Staff count the shortest 85-minute block across 86 meetings. The gap is about 13 meetings, or five weeks of that course — not five weeks cut off the school year.

On Aug. 25 the board told staff to bring two 2027-28 models to the Sept. 8 meeting: seven periods plus a flex block, and a one-year calendar moving closer to 180 days. The extra-days option was described as a bridge. It would not, by itself, hit 140 hours.

That is why 180-day drafts were on the table Sept. 8, and why members started moving holidays around. More student days and which days come off the calendar are two sides of the same seat-time problem. A longer day was set aside Aug. 25 over contracts and bus times.

Vice Chair Dr. Sarah Chase (Falmouth District) said November already has a lot of holidays and asked whether Veterans Day could be swapped for Good Friday so April has a break.

April into May has about a single day off. Someone on the dais called that stretch “dreadful.” Chase echoed the word. The clerk could not identify who said it first.

Susan Randall (George Washington District) said she had talked with Chase and emailed Superintendent Dr. Daniel W. Smith. Christmas and Easter are two major Christian holidays, the discussion ran, and Good Friday should stay as a consideration. Randall said she was fine dropping the Monday after.

If a Veterans Day swap would not fit inside the same semester, Randall asked whether Presidents’ Day could shrink from a four-day weekend to three.

Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell E. English, who sits on the Board of Supervisors and not the School Board, said Sunday he does not support taking Veterans Day off the student calendar.

“The School Board is an independently elected body, and establishing the school calendar is its responsibility — not the Board of Supervisors’,” English wrote on Facebook. “I do not support removing Veterans Day as a school holiday.”

English said nearly 20,000 veterans live in Stafford, according to Census figures he cited, and that many students have a veteran at home. He argued the board could keep federal holidays, including Veterans Day, keep winter and spring breaks, and treat religious days as excused absences instead of systemwide closures — Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Eid, and Diwali among them — so other students stay in class.

“We don’t necessarily have to choose between respecting religious freedom and increasing instructional time,” he wrote. “Perhaps we can do both.”

Staff said they would make a note and could consider the request. Teacher leaders said they were fine with the second semester running a few more days because of possible inclement weather.

Staff also noted that Thursday, Nov. 11, 2027, is a hard day to give off because it is disruptive and many families keep students out. The board did not vote on that Thursday.

Veterans Day remains a federal holiday. The draft only addresses whether Stafford students and staff get a corresponding day off when the date falls on a weekend.

Other staff anchors on the drafts include starting in the second week of August, ending the week that includes Memorial Day, a Monday transition day with students starting Tuesday, a two-week winter break, a one-week spring break, and a dedicated parent-teacher conference day.

Proposed staff professional development would move from seven days in 2026-27 to five scheduled days plus two flexible days. Those flex days are not a student holiday, staff said.

2026–27 is the adopted calendar. Stafford staff told the School Board this year is 172 instructional days. Source: staffordschools.net/about-us/calendar.

12-month employees also get July 3, 2026 (Independence Day observed) and June 18, 2027 (Juneteenth). Those are not student holidays.

2027–28 is a draft, 180 instructional days, version 1. Not adopted. Source: BoardDocs proposed 180-day calendar PDF. The board is tentatively set to adopt 2027–28 and 2028–29 calendars on Oct. 13.

This draft also notes two flexible staff days. Those are not student holidays. Presidents’ Day plus the Friday staff-only day in front of it is the four-day student weekend Randall asked about shrinking. Good Friday is already a student/staff holiday on this version. Veterans Day is the hole.