School Calendar Protocol Altered For Unprecedented Snow Days

By Eliza Hallabeck

With eight snow days now pushing the school calendar to a projected last day of school on June 23, the school board, February 8, approved a new protocol for making up lost time from snow days for this school year.

Until this year, the school district’s protocol concerning snow days, as listed at the bottom of the school calendar, had been to add a day to the end of the calendar for each canceled snow day. The school year cannot go into July, per the state law, so any additional added snow days would be made up for out of the calendar’s April break.

As school board member David Nanavaty pointed out at the board’s Tuesday meeting, no one expected snow days to accrue as they have this school year.

Board of Education Chair William Hart has made known his own predictions for future snow days, based on past school years. On average, according to Mr Hart, the school district has four snow days during the school year, and half of those snow days happen before February 1. If the ratio holds true this year, Mr Hart said there could still be four more snow days in Newtown’s future.

The eight snow days so far this year have forced the school board to look into other options concerning making up lost instructional time.

The school board amended its snow day protocol for this year to first direct the superintendent to negotiate with the teacher’s union to have the scheduled April 15 teacher development day changed to a regular school day; also, if additional school closings occur and push the school year to June 24, days will be deducted from the April break scheduled for April 18 to 22; and finally, any further make-up days will come by reducing the school year from 183 days to the minimum required 180.

“In the unlikely event that the 180-day limit is reached, extra closing days will be accommodated by adding days, starting on June 27,” read the motion made by board member Lillian Bittman.

The motion passed in a 4-2 vote, with board member David Nanavaty and board Secretary Andrew Buzzi voting against the motion.

During the meeting both Mr Buzzi and Mr Nanavaty supported a motion to have the district first decrease the school year from 183 days to 180 days, depending on the number of snow days, before taking days away from the April break.

Mr Hart, Ms Leidlein, and board member Keith Alexander voiced concern over removing instructional time from the district if the school year was reduced to 180 days before the April break was used.

While Tuesday’s meeting was a designated budget meeting, the school board added consideration of the school calendar to its agenda at the start of the meeting. The school board had also discussed the topic on Monday, February 8, but held off a decision until Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson could speak to the teacher’s union.

The school board had discussed switching February 18, a vacation day planned during the long weekend for Presidents’ Weekend, to a regular school day. Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson reported on Tuesday a number of teachers would not be available to work on that day. As she expressed to the school board during its budget meeting on Monday, February 7, the teachers’ contract stipulates that any change in the calendar be made 30 days prior to the change, in order to notify teachers.

Between Monday and Tuesday the teacher’s union surveyed 394 teachers, according to Dr Robinson, and 75 percent of the teachers surveyed said they would be amendable to working on February 18. Nearly 100 teachers reported they would be unavailable to work on the planned February 18 vacation day.

Mr Buzzi said that the school board asking teachers to work on a planned vacation day with “very short notice,” having 75 percent of polled teachers agree to work was admirable.

“I truly am not sure how many substitutes we have available,” said Dr Robinson.