On August 31, 2016, Governor Larry Hogan created a new executive order ruling that all schools in Maryland will start after Labor Day. For Maryland students, that means the first day of school will be September 5.

Prior to the Governor’s decision, decisions about the school calendar were decided upon by local school boards, and only one county, Worcester County, had a post Labor Day start.

Many school systems in the area have had to get re-work schedules to make the new start date work in relationship to expectations of professional development days, time off, and other factors. In some school systems across Maryland, spring break and Thanksgiving break may be cut a little short to accommodate the change.

Most of the students at the North Harford campus are looking forward for this change. Sophomore Erika Kane believes “It [the later start date] is a good idea since it gives us more time in the summer to have fun and relax our minds from school.”

Junior Charlie Niles shares the same opinion. “I like this change because I’m going to be a senior next year meaning I’ll have more summer to hang out with my friends.”

Not all students feel this way. Sophomore Jay Shondi believes “I don’t really like this change because it will cut back my spring break and we will have to go school for longer than usual.”

Even though this change provides a longer summer, fall sports tryouts will still take place in mid-August. Sophomore and athlete Rachel Ewers says, “I believe it will prepare us more but it will cut our summer short so it will be beneficial in the long run.” However, sophomore Anna Racine has different ideas from this change. “Tryouts being pushed back is very detrimental because it cuts my already short summer even shorter.”

Not only will this change impact school it will leave the profits of vacation spot. By school starting later families will be able to travel more during this break. Mr. Brady Green feels that “Governor Hogan made a good choice there and it’s going to help the economy in Ocean City, Maryland… for example, the tourist attractions will be opened later and more people will visit them and [that] will stimulate the economy.”

Opponents to the change cite research which indicates that students from low income areas tend to lose academic skills if summer vaca­tions go on too long. Additionally, other sources suggest that pushing back the opening day of the school year cuts down on time for high school students who are preparing for AP tests, which occurred early in May.