Sandy Make-Up Days Set for Somerset Hills Schools

By managing to open last Friday, Nov. 9, the Somerset Hills schools district manage to whittle its number of make-up days for Hurricane Sandy down to four, and last night the regional Board of Education went along with Schools Superintendent Peter Miller's recommendation for how to schedule those days.

As a result, students in the district's three schools will be in the classroom on the previously scheduled days off of Jan. 21, the Martin Luther King federal holiday; Feb. 15 and 18, the Friday and Monday surrounding Presidents Day; and April 5, at the end of a weeklong break.

If additional days are needed off for snow, Miller said the school district would next schedule school for April 4, and continue to work backward during that weeklong holiday if necessary.

The number of school days lost was eight, starting with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29. The hurricane's impact lead to a complete power outage in the borough, and then a continuing effort to restore power and clear roads of downed power lines and trees.

However, only four more days in school were needed after factoring in three snow days already built into the calendar and adding last Friday as the first make-up day. Thursday and Friday already were days off on the calendar for the annual teachers convention in Atlantic City. The convention was canceled as a result of the hurricane.

During his recommendation, Miller said that he had been informed by both the governor's office and the state Commissioner of Education that the state still will require school districts to schedule 180 days.

He noted that state approval would be required to hold school on a Saturday, and that approval was unlikely to be given unless all other options had been exhausted.

He said the last choice he would have recommended would have been to extend the school year, especially since some graduating seniors move on to attend college orientations immediately following graduation.

Miller said the subtraction of those days off from the school calendar means that school will be in session without a break between the winter recess that ends after New Year's Day until March 29, Good Friday.