EAST BRUNSWICK- Should students lose some days in order to be released earlier in June?
For the Board of Education, it’s not such an easy question to answer, since there are numerous issues involved with even a slight change in the school calendar. Board members discussed the 2008-09 calendar on Jan. 10 but chose to table the issue in order to give itmore thought.
The school district has been starting and ending school later due to the recent construction projects, and at the Jan. 10meeting some board members said they want to see students get out of school earlier than June 25 or 26, which has been the case in recent years.
Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro established a calendar committee to look at the issues pertaining to which days school would be in session.
“They put it all together,” board President Todd Simmens said of the committee. “And it’s not easy.”
Many people, he noted, would think arranging the calendar only involves deciding when school will let in and out, he said.
“Those are the things that draw our attention – when we begin and end the year and the vacations,” Simmens said.
The committee had the chore of deciding when to allowfor vacations and for howlong, as well as planning around holidays, progress report dates and other obstacles, in addition to deciding when to begin and end the school year.
The proposed calendar included a week off inNovember forElectionDay and the annual state teachers’ convention. Also, that week gives students a chance to visit prospective colleges, Simmens noted.
The proposal also includes a week-andtwo day winter break, as well as a spring break that gives students the day off following Easter Sunday.
“Wewant tomake surewe give offEaster Monday,” Simmens said. “It’s a day off a lot of folkswould like to have in respect toEaster.”
With the way the holidays fall next December, Simmens noted that students could return from winter break on Jan. 2, but board members do not favor the idea of students coming back on a Friday.
Simmens also noted that some Jewish holidays will fall on weekdays, providing a fewmore days off for students.
Based on the proposed calendar, students have to go to school until June 25 at the earliest. But some boardmembers, Simmens included, feel students should be out of school by the start of summer, June 21.But the only way to achieve that is to scale back some of the breaks, which the board is considering.
Officials have discussed shortening the breaks in November and April, as well as winter vacation. Those changes could achieve fourmore days in school, and seniors could then graduate on June 19, a Friday, rather than June 25. But officials decided against that idea because the graduation ceremony and subsequent Project Graduation event would conflict with some students’ religious observances.
The board has to come to a decision soon, Simmens said, because graduation is held at the Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, which has to be booked early. The district has reserved June 25 at the arena, but could change that if a decision ismade soon.
Simmens said the board could decide to keep the calendar as proposed, or cut three days out of the year in order to bump graduation up. The board plans to discuss the issue further at the Jan. 24meeting.