Schools

School Board Tweaks Calendar

Changes seek to strike balance between taking from spring vacation versus extending the school year in the event of more snow days.

 

After much discussion and public input, the Board of Education modified its school calendar Tuesday night.

The board essentially came up with a revised policy that strikes a compromise between extending the school year and taking away from April vacation in the event of additional emergency closings.

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Prior to the meeting, the board’s policy allotted for seven emergency closing days before days would have been taken away from the spring vacation, starting with April 16.

Already the school is at six closings, five from the October snowstorm and one from tropical storm Irene. Board members said they had not expected to be in this situation prior to winter.

Find out what's happening in Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“That’s what scares me — to be here in the middle of December with only one day to give,” board member Leslee Hill said at one point during the discussion.

The board voted to change the number of make-up days to nine before time is taken away from April vacation. It also rescheduled Feb. 21 as a school day instead of a winter recess day.

Before the votes, Hill spoke in favor of trying to keep as much of the April vacation as possible and said perhaps it is a year to lower Canton’s 183 school days to the state required 180. It is an option several people had spoken in favor of during public comment.

Most board members, however, were against lowering the requirement, especially this early in the year.

“It would be a shame to go backwards to 180 days,” board member Carlene Rhea said. “We’re here to educate children, not accommodate people’s vacation schedules.”

Peg Berry said she was also hesitant to reduce the number of days, but said a nearby Board of Education also had extra days in its calendar over what the state required and did modify it for seniors only last year.

Laurie McKenna said in talking to another neighboring district that had a bomb threat near the end of the year, she realized it’s a good idea to have that built-in cushion.

Superintendent Kevin Case said the extra days were established for learning but a few other board members agreed that it does provide a nice "cushion" should there be other extreme circumstances.

The board also discussed the concept of adding make-up days to the end of the year versus taking time from the April vacation, which many members of the public weighed in on through e-mails and conversations with board members.

One disadvantage to adding days at the end is that five students going into the military have to report in mid-June. For them especially, it’s ideal to keep graduation at June 15, student representative Julia Kuhlberg said.

Although graduation day is not officially set until later in the year, the board’s revision should keep that intact, give seniors some flexibility and give more of a cushion before days are lost in April.

Here is the result of the board action:

  • The scheduling of school for Feb. 21 moves up the current last day of school from June 18 to June 15.
  • That, combined with changing the number of make-up days from seven to nine, allots June 18, 19 and 20 as make-up days before April vacation is shortened. Making Wednesday, June 20 the absolute last day would also keep graduation on June 15. If that happens, seniors would essentially be forgiven those three days.


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