By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Every day that it snows enough to close schools this winter, another day will be lost from the spring break week of April 14 to 18.
The school board erased one vacation day from the middle of that week when it decided Monday night to open on Wednesday, April 16, to make up a snow closure day already experienced.
If schools are closed today, Thursday as expected, if weather reports prove accurate schools will be open on Thursday, April 17.
If schools are closed another day because of weather say, Friday school will be in session Monday, April 14. The next snow days would mean classes on Tuesday, April 15, and then Friday, April 18.
The unusual pacing of taking of days is a result of religious holidays. Friday, April 18, is Good Friday. Monday, April 14, is the first night of Passover.
The board had previously decided to open on April 21, to make up a snow day, as well as next Monday, Feb. 17. There have been five days of closures due to weather this winter, and the calendar had only one “extra” day built in.
If it keeps snowing, the district might have to consider having school on Memorial Day, said board member Judith Haas.
Not only was student attendance a concern, but staffing might be, too.The board’s decision rejected suggestions from the 1,000-member teacher-staff Hillsborough Education Association, whose president, Daynon Blevins, suggested considering adding to the end of the school year, instead of cutting the April break.
He said the HEA had warned its members in the past against scheduling uncancellable trips during the spring break, but the calendar the board had adopted hadn’t noted those days would be held in reserve in the event of a lot of bad weather. Many staffers with non-refundable airline tickets or distant family trips would have to choose between vacations and being docked for missing days, he said.
If the spring week were used for classes, it would mean the second half of the year would go without an extended break, Mr. Blevins said. Given extra work determined by state-mandated teacher evaluations and curriculum revisions, as well as district technology initiatives, he was concerned about stress on students and staff going that long without a break, he said.
He suggested moving graduation six days to June 25. If Sun Bank Arena in Trenton where the district has contracted to hold an indoor graduation ceremony for the first time could not accommodate the change for high school graduation, the high school football field would likely be available, and the Project Graduation night of games, music and entertainment could be staged in the high school, he suggested.
At the least, he asked for break days to be kept at the ends of the week, in order to allow “a better continuity of education.”
Taking days first from the middle of the break week keeps Passover and Good Friday important to Jewish and Christian faiths, respectively out of discussion for as long as possible, board member Christopher Pulsifer said. With good luck on weather, it preserves two long weekends with religious significance, said Ms. Haas.
”If you have plans for that week, you’ll have to make a decision if those plans are more important than school,” Ms. Haas said.
Next year’s calendar would have to undergo a “serious discussion” whether to extend the school year into the last week in June, to allow for a “reasonable” number of snow days and holidays, said Ms. Haas.
Board member Greg Gillette said that if schools are open and students don’t attend for religious holiday reasons, by law they are entitled to alternate test and exams days, if applicable.
Board member Deena Centofanti said she was concerned schools would be open with low attendance, particularly if classes were held for only one or two days in the middle of the week.
Superintendent Jorden Schiff said the county executive superintendent of schools has said she will “count” a day toward the required 180-day minimum school year regardless of the attendance rate.
”However, having 20 to 30 percent attendance, although it counts as a day, it is fundamentally not a day we’re educating students,” he said.
Mr. Gillette said his experience is that people go away at the end of June, right after school ends, as much as spring break. He said he believed choosing and sticking to a definite graduation night was “more sacrosanct” than spring vacation. A change “would be going back on everything we said in the seven years I’ve been here.”
Board President Thomas Kinst said a decision had to be made that night “to provide some clarity for the community.”
