LAWRENCE: Board settles on school calendar

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A revised version of the 2014-15 school district calendar was given the Lawrence Township Board of Education’s stamp of approval last week.
The 2014-15 calendar was approved last spring, but a revision was needed when it was discovered that there were three fewer school days than required. New Jersey requires 180 school days, but the district requires181.
The approved calendar sets Lawrence High School graduation for June 25, although the official last day of school is June 23. The graduation ceremony is held at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, which must be booked in advance.
"We are working (the calendar) around high school graduation and an unknown number of snow days," Rebecca Gold, the school district’s director of personnel, told the school board at its Sept. 10 meeting.
The 2014-15 calendar includes six emergency closing days. If up to three emergency closing days are used, the last day of school would remain June 23. But if a fourth emergency closing day is needed, the last day of school would be June 24.
If a fifth emergency closing day is needed, it would be June 25 — the same day as Lawrence High School graduation. A sixth emergency closing day means the last day of school is June 26, even though seniors would have already graduated.
The first make-up day for an emergency school closing would be June 5, and the second make-up day would be June 12. The third make-up day would be May 22. The fourth, fifth and sixth make-up days would be June 24, June 25 and June 26, respectively.
School district officials "bowed" to the concerns of staff members, who were concerned that snow days might eat into the spring break, Ms. Gold said. That’s what happened last year, because the number of emergency closing days exceeded the number built into the 2013-14 calendar, she said.
Ms. Gold said school district officials would only dip into spring break — set for April 3-10 — only as a last resort.