BUCKINGHAM — Buckingham County students could be starting the 2015-2016 school year in early August instead of the traditional late August start, resulting in a very short summer between the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school year.

During their March meeting, the Buckingham County School Board unanimously agreed to give Superintendent Dr. Cecil Snead and his staff direction to pursue a school calendar with the first semester ending in December, before winter break.

With the 2014-2015 school year ending in mid-June, it will be a very short summer for teachers, staff, and students.

“I’ve had some parents and some teachers comment, and, we’ve seen this happen in Cumberland. Cumberland kind of did the same thing…” stated District Five Representative Sherry Ragland, initiating discussion on the matter.

“Once we got our schools air conditioned, I was all about having our semester end in December, because I think about my kid, my child that’s in school now, who says, ‘Oh gosh, we’re going to go back now, and I’ve forgotten everything we’ve had from the beginning of the year.’ You’ve got to cram it in and then take exams,” she said in reference to students taking exams after returning from a two-week winter break.

Ragland added that deciding the calendar for the 2015-2016 year now gives parents, guardians, and students an opportunity to plan for next year’s short summer.

“I’ve always been about getting that semester over with…” she added.

“I’m with you on that,” interjected District Four Representative Pete Gowin.

“If you come back in another year or two and see what people’s thoughts are after they kind of talk about it a little bit, and know that they have an opportunity to wait another year, then your percentages might go up a lot,” Ragland added, referring to a survey that showed most staff preferred the traditional calendar, beginning school in late-August.

Snead told the board that the division is well positioned to begin school earlier because of the amount of school days missed during the current 2013-2014 school year.

“We’re well positioned to probably start before Labor Day…and staff can go back and we can inform the board later about what that 12 days does for us for the next few years,” the school chief noted.

District One Representative David Christian said he liked the concept of beginning school earlier and ending the first semester before the winter break.

“You’re going to catch some crow the first year…” Ragland reiterated.

“We don’t know the specific days, but if we’re directed to look at a calendar for the 2015-2016 year that the first semester will end in December, that’s the bottom line,” explained Brian Agee Green, director of human resources.

“I really think we could help test scores…You’d have continuity,” noted District Three Representative and Chairman H. Ed Wise.

One hundred and sixty one teachers and staff members voted for the traditional calendar for 2014-2015, while 90 preferred a calendar with the school year ending in early June.

Regarding the 2015-2016 school year, 115 voted for a calendar with the first semester ending in December, while 132 elected a calendar that would see the year ending in late June.