The Fairfax County School Board has now approved the calendar for the 2017-2018 school year.   Instead of the traditional start in early September and end in late June, the board had announced that because the State of Virginia granted a waiver for an earlier start classes will begin on Monday, August 28, 2017, and end on Friday, June 15, 2018.    Other aspects of the calendar remain largely unchanged from this year’s calendar.  Winter Break will again last for two weeks, plus one day (December 16, 2017 to January 1, 2018), and Spring Break will last for one week (March 2630, 2018).  All other typical holidays will still be observed.  With the earlier end to the school year, graduations will begin being held on June 7, 2018. The school board felt it was necessary to change the calendar to ensure that we have more instructional time before winter break. This change was also made so students can have more time to prepare for AP Exams, more time to meet college application deadlines more easily, and so we can end the school year earlier on in the month as most of the other schools in the state do. There are likely many different viewpoints on this change, but in my opinion, I think the change is helpful.  I think we’ll be less negatively affected by snow days, because we will have learned more before winter arrives, so there will be less catching up to do for days that we are out of school because of snow.  Also, students will be released for summer break earlier in the month of June, which is better than getting out in late June. The only downfall to this change is that I actually enjoy getting snow days every once in a while, so I don’t have to go to school!  Overall, I think The Fairfax County School Board made the right decision in approving the new school year calendar.