Slight Revision Made to 2012-2013 School Calendar

Because of a conflict with mandatory state testing, the Lawrence Township Public Schools 2012-2013 school calendar has been changed slightly.

The changes, which were approved at the township board of education’s meeting on June 11, affect the three days that schools will be closed in Spring 2013 if the district does not need to use any emergency closing “snow days.”

Those days were previous set for May 22, 23 and 24, but under the revised calendar now fall on March 22, April 1 and May 28.

A copy of the revised calendar can be found on the school district’s website or in the Patch media box to the right.

Each year, the district builds into its calendar three “make-up days” in case inclement weather or other situations force schools to be closed. If no such emergency closures take place during the winter season, schools are instead closed on the prescheduled “make-up days.”

Such a situation happened this year. Because no snow days were used, . The closures of the schools on those days actually prompted the township recreation department to hold its annual Memorial Day parade a week earlier out of concern that may families would go out of town over the extended holiday period.

“We used to have the three days before Memorial Day in a row. In case we did not use our three snow days, like this year, those would be the days we had off. But on next year’s calendar those are make-up days for NJ ASK [New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge],” district superintendent Crystal Lovell explained during the June 11 board meeting.

“And we just found that out,” Laura Waters, board president, said of the conflict.

“So we had to go back and re-do the calendar. So what we did was, rather than put those three days in a row, we spread them out throughout the calendar,” Lovell said.

“The first day would be March 22, which is the Friday before Spring Break. So that would be a day [off] if we do not have snow. It would also be the first one we would take back if we did need a snow day. The next day would be April 1, which is the Monday after Spring Break. So we added one before and one after to make Spring Break a little bit longer.

“And then the third day, should we not have snow like this year, would be the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Those were the only changes we made to the calendar – moving that block of three, which would have been May 22, 23 and 24, and spreading those three days out,” Lovell concluded.