South Windsor School Board Responds to Snow Days by Cutting Down School Year

At one point during the South Windsor Board of Education’s discussion of the 2012-13 calendar, Chairman David Joy quipped that it was appropriate that the high school would be offering meteorology as a course next year.

Indeed, the snowstorm that brought over a foot of snow to the area last week resulted in the town’s schools being closed for the sixth day for the 2012-13 year.

After a lengthy discussion, the school board unanimously approved Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kate Carter’s recommendation to cut the school year down from 182 to 181 days, thus preserving April break and an upcoming professional development day.

To do so, the school board first had to suspend its policy on cancellations, which required that any school closing beyond five days be made up by having school during April break.

Prior to the votes, Carter presented the school board with three options of what it could do. First, the school board could have done nothing, thus adhering to the current policy and taking a day away from April break.

Another option, according to Carter, was for the school district to add the extra day on to the end of the school year. The last day of school in South Windsor is currently scheduled for Tuesday, June 25. State law requires that all school districts finish school before July 1.

The third option, which Carter endorsed, was to cut down the school year from 182 to 181 days.

One option that Carter did not propose was using the professional development day scheduled for April 1. Carter said that paid consultants were already scheduled to appear on that day, and what was planning to be discussed on that day was going to be implemented in this year’s curriculum. The disruption, Carter said, would have a negative impact on the classroom.

Instead, Carter said that she supported cutting down the school year for several reasons. First, Carter said that many families and staff members have plans for April break, and taking just one day away from the vacation seemed harsh.

The recommendation may have been different, Carter said, if there were three days being taken from April break rather than just one.

“If we had three days to recover, I’d feel differently,” Carter said. “Three seems to hurt less than one.”

Carter also said that the pressures of state mandates in the school system have made April vacation a “needed” break for the students and teachers.

In addition, Carter had data-driven reasons for cutting down the school year. For example, out of the 21 school districts in South Windsor’s District Reference Group (DRG), 12 have fewer instruction days than South Windsor. Furthermore, nine school districts have just 180 days in their calendars, Carter said.

State law requires that all school districts have 180 days of instruction, so South Windsor would not face any compliance issues concerning that provision.

In terms of hours of instruction, South Windsor currently has 32 more hours annually in its elementary schools than the DRG average; 16 more hours in its middle school than the DRG average; and 43 more instructional hours at the high school than the DRG average, Carter said.

Finally, any days taken away from April vacation or added on to the end of the school year would likely result in a lack of quality instruction time.

Student representative Katie Cavanaugh, a student at South Windsor High School, said that she believed students would be thinking more of getting on with their vacations than anything being taught in class.

The school board unanimously suspended its cancellation policy and then passed Carter’s recommendation. Some did so reluctantly.

“There are no good options here,” Joy said.

In addition, the school board and Carter said that any additional school closings would result in making up days during April break.

Several school board members, including Joy and Sheila Appleton, said that the current policy needs to be reviewed, as it’s at least the fifth straight year that it has been suspended to accommodate scheduled breaks.

“Once again, we’re spending a lot of time talking about this issue,” said Joy, noting that the policy was initially put in place to put families and staff on notice that they made travel plans at their own peril. “[Talking about the policy again] is not a good use of our time.”