Next Year is Last for Week-Long February Break in West Hartford

Students in West Hartford Public Schools will still have a full week of February vacation in the upcoming academic year, but in the future the break will be reduced to a four-day weekend that includes the President’s Day holiday.

The West Hartford Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt the alternative calendar option proposed by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen List at the March 19 meeting, which shortened the February vacation from the full week proposed in the original reading of the calendar on March 5.

Prior to putting the calendar options to a vote, the Board used Survey Monkey to poll residents during the past two weeks about their preferences for four different options: week-long February break, four-day February break, week-long March break in lieu of February and April breaks, and a full week in February with a contingency to begin to take days away in April after five snow days.

There have been six school closures in all schools for the past two years, with additional days lost at several schools this year due to lingering power outages. On Monday, the Board set the date of high school graduation for June 24, with the last day of school for other students falling on June 25.

A total of 4,521 responses were received in the survey, with 42 percent of those responding favoring the shortened February break. Although more teachers than parents favored maintaining the full week, the results were still clear.
“June is not a preferable time to be in school,” said Board member Terry Schmitt.

Vice Chair Elin Katz said, “There is no one answer for everyone.” Although she personally prefers a full week off in February, she said she would support the community.

The Board also considered a proposal to amend the calendar for 2013-2014, which was approved last March, by shortening the February vacation to four days.

Both Mark Zydanowicz, who proposed the resolution, and fellow Republican Board member Jay Sarzen, said that they favored the “consistency” of changing both calendars.

Other Board members disagreed, stating that although consistency is important, the 2013-2014 calendar was approved more than a year ago. “We plan calendars two years in advance. We know that people do make plans with their wallets and in their minds,” said Katz. “We said we were going to stick with this for next year, so I will not support the change,” she said.

“I feel badly that this is broken along party lines – this is clearly not a partisan issue,” said Board Chairman Bruce Putterman.
The Board voted to maintain the originally-approved 2013-2014 calendar, by a party-line vote of 5-2 with Republicans Zydanowicz and Sarzen voting in favor of a four-day break for next year.

Putterman said that full week will remain for 2013-2014, “with the caveat that in the very highly unlikely event that we are into the fourth week of June by the end of the calendar year, we will in fact consider taking days back from February.”