Arlington students will get the day off, but teachers will be expected to show up, for Virginia’s dual presidential primary on March 5.
Arlington School Board members on Dec. 14 approved without comment a staff proposal to make the day a teacher workday. While that will reduce the total number of instructional days from 180 to 179, the school system still has enough time on the schedule to meet the state-mandated 990 hours of instructional time.
Many county schools are used for voting, so having students in class during elections proves a logistical challenge, but state law does not prohibit students from being in class during primary elections. That is left up to local jurisdictions.
Virginia Democrats and Republicans will be holding their presidential-nominating processes via the March 5 primaries. On the Democratic side are Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips; on the GOP side are Donald Trump, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and (Texas pastor) Ryan Binkley.
Under Virginia law, voters do not register by political party, so any voter can vote in either primary, but not both. Early voting opens Jan. 19
March 5 will be a standalone election; no other Virginia elections currently are slated for that day.
