Make-Up Days Create Extended Period Without Break

To account for seven days lost when the school lost power during Superstorm Sandy, the Bedminster Township Board of Education voted Thursday to eliminate the long Presidents Day Weekend and Martin Luther King Jr. Day—but teachers are imploring them not to cut spring break.

During the storm, the school was closed for a total of seven days, but two of those days were made up when the school opened Nov. 8 and Nov. 9, both of which were originally closed for the NJEA Teachers Convention.

To make up the remaining five days, the school will be open Jan. 21, Feb. 15, Feb. 18, June 19 and June 20.

Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Koos said the district has no more snow days left, and if more are needed during the next few months, they will follow the example of the .

“We looked at the end of the year, it was something we realistically looked at,” she said. “But there were some problems with not aligning with the Somerset Hills School District.”

Koos said the district heavily considered keeping spring break intact, but it became a financial issue with the buses because of not aligning with the other district.

“That is disappointing because everyone looks forward to those breaks,” said board member Julie Goetz.

Koos agreed.

“Now we do not have any breaks January, February and into March,” she said. “There is really not a break, so that was a heavy concern that we spoke to teachers about. It was a hard decision to make.”

And several teachers in the district implored the board to reconsider eliminating spring break if more snow days are used, saying the students will suffer, particularly around testing time, if they haven’t had that break.

“To the best of my knowledge, spring break was always sacred,” said fifth grade reading and language arts teacher Nicole Mancini. “If we have a bad winter, our children will be affected right before state testing. We use those to try and raise our standards for the district.”

But without that break, Mancini said, students will be brought into grueling testing and hours of work without having had any break for about three months.

“If they are burned out because they don’t have those breaks, you will see a decline in scores,” she said. “I implore you to look at this and be creative. I would rather children get a little bit of a break so they don’t burn out and have to go later in June.”

Board of education president Louis Casella said the district is going to try and do delayed openings if possible before fully closing down if there is snow.

“Sometimes they get out and plow the roads, and they’re perfect by 10 a.m.,” he said.

Pat Palmieri, co-president of the Bedminster Education Association, said they spoke to all the teachers, who unanimously said they did not want spring break touched.

“It will also be a financial burden on teachers and parents who have already made plans,” she said. “They will have to try to change their plans, and they will lose a lot of money.”

“Many have already suffered because of Sandy financially and all other ways,” she added. "I think we need to look at this from other perspectives."