With snow days adding up, the Board of Education voted at its meeting on March 20 to use June 21, 22, and 25 to 29 as potential "make-up days" in the event of future school cancellations, rather than take away days from the scheduled April break.

After Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue asked the school board whether it would evaluate decreasing the number of days students attend school for the district this year, there was a general indication from board members that it could be looked at once the total number of school cancellations is known.

Near the start of the discussion, Dr Rodrigue said Newtown is in a similar position to districts across the state.

"Despite calendars being put in place in many districts, they are being changed. This is not your normal season," said Dr Rodrigue.

As originally approved, the school calendar had the last school day noted as June 20. The number of school days so far, as of March 20, exceeded that projection by one day. Without the school board's vote, one school day would have replaced a day of the planned April break to make up the difference. Further school cancellations would have also affected the break.

Dr Rodrigue offered two options for the school board to consider: decreasing the district's student school days while adding professional development days to the end of the calendar to meet the contractual 187 days for teachers; or adding school days to the end of the year for both students and teachers to attend.

For the first option, Dr Rodrigue explained Newtown's students attend school for 183 days and the state mandates students attend school for 180 days. As shared by Dr Rodrigue, the school board could vote to decrease student school days to the minimum if needed. For the second option, Dr Rodrigue said concerns around adding student and teacher days past June 20 could have an affect on plans for district families and teachers.

Dr Rodrigue also shared an idea about looking at possible "digital days" or "backpack snow days" in the future. She explained districts are looking at having teachers and students connect online when possible if school is closed with advanced knowledge.

"We live in New England, we may have to get creative about how we deal with these kinds of things," Dr Rodrigue said.

Board of Education members voiced frustration over the current situation. Board Chair Michelle Embree Ku noted that making a decision earlier would help Dr Rodrigue and the community, and Vice Chair Rebekah Harriman-Stites said she felt a decision that would alter the last few days of school could be premature without knowing the total number of canceled school days. Ms Harriman-Stites added she felt the board could only vote on whether to replace April break days with school days, or not.

Sharing that he had a "number of reasons" that made him uncomfortable with changing the calendar, board Secretary Dan Cruson, Jr, said the approved plan was to use days in April break as school days if needed. The calendar also noted the last day of school would be June 20, "so the 21 was fair game, whereas if they were planning for [an April vacation] the days could disappear."

Mr Cruson said he was also worried the board could "back ourselves into a corner" and have no options left at the end of the school year if days in April break are not used.

"It's an incredibly difficult place to be," said Ms Ku.

Board member John Vorous questioned the number of students and teachers who would attend school if April break days were used as school days, and member Dan Delia said potentially extending the school year would give families more time to figure out plans.

The motion to approve keeping the planned April break whole was approved in a 5 to 1 vote with Mr Cruson voting against the motion. Board member Debbie Leidlein was not present for the meeting.