Limestone Co. Schools have class on Labor Day - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

Some students were off for the Labor Day holiday, while others were hitting the books in the classroom.

For Limestone County students, teachers and staff, it was business as usual.

New Superintendent Thomas Sisk said the county schools are used as polling places during elections and schools are out on those days, so the board that made the decision had to choose between Labor Day or shortening the Thanksgiving holiday.

"From all accounts, we had a great turnout.  I've been in several schools this morning and everything looked good.  I would tell you that we're going the same number of school days as every other school system in Alabama.  The only difference is where we floated the holidays," said Sisk.

Sisk said the board made the decision before he was hired.

Not all parents supported the school system for their decision to send kids to school on Labor Day.

"I didn't want them to miss school unnecessarily and since it's a federal holiday, they should be able to be off," said parent Taneya Jones.  "The banks are closed, the post office is closed, everything is closed and I didn't like getting up this morning and bringing them to school."

The school board made the decision to send students to class on Labor Day, rather than cut the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I feel that it's a good thing for the young people," said parent Kelvin Davis.  "They need to be involved in school activity on a daily basis.  Even though it's a holiday, they still have time to get their studying in." 

Principal Dennis Black said sometimes you just have to make the most of what you have.

"It's just a school day," Black said.  "Many times in life we have to do things that we may not understand and we just have to deal with it.  Whether you go to East or go to school in south Alabama, all of us go to school 180 days so today was just one of our days.  We're one day ahead of them. That's one way to look at it, so that's one day we don't have to go in the future."

Black said there are about 1,272 students who attend East Limestone High.  A little over 1,100 came to school on Labor Day.

The students will also have Election Day off in November since many schools are used as polling places. 

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