School Year Extended In Clarkstown

The Clarkstown School District Superintendent’s Office confirmed today that the school year would not end on Friday, June 21 but on Monday, June 24.  School closed for a snow day on Friday, March 8, however no more available days were left in the school calendar. A spokesperson for the superintendent’s office said the decision has not been made whether classes will be held for a full day or a partial day on June 24. 

School Board President Joe Malgieri said the format for the last week of school and the added day would be discussed at Thursday’s 8 p.m. board of education meeting.

He said the board members looked at other possibilities including the March vacation.  The spring vacation coincides with the religious holidays of Passover and Easter and Malgieri said that made it very difficult to open school for a make-up day. 

The school board followed the superintendent’s recommendation and voted on January 3 to extend the school year into the final week of June if additional snow days were used.  June 24, 25 and 26 were agreed to as tentative make-up days.  Malgieri hopes the students show up on June 24. 

“Our hope is parents will send their kids to school,” he said.

Clarkstown school officials had to revise the calendar after Hurricane Sandy forced the district to close for six days from Monday, Oct. 29 through Monday, Nov. 5, 2012. Schools remained closed on Tuesday, Nov. 6 as planned for Election Day. The district had four snow days built into the 2012-2103 calendar, which were used for Hurricane Sandy. 

The board decided to change the planned Superintendent’s Conference Days on Monday, February 4 and Friday, March 15 to regular school days in order to meet the 180 days of instruction currently required by the state education department. 

Now schools are expected to be open on June 24 in order to meet that 180-day obligation. The district had appealed to the state to waive the 180-day requirement after Hurricane Sandy and may do the same because of the March 8 closure

“The request was never answered,” said Malgieri.  “We haven’t discussed putting in another waiver which we will probably discuss tomorrow night.”

The Clarkstown School District Superintendent’s Office confirmed today that the school year would not end on Friday, June 21 but on Monday, June 24.  School closed for a snow day on Friday, March 8, however no more available days were left in the school calendar. A spokesperson for the superintendent’s office said the decision has not been made whether classes will be held for a full day or a partial day on June 24. 

• Pearl River: April 1 and March 25 were designated as the next two vacation days that could be changed into regular class days in the case of more snow. Due to the snow day Friday March 8, Pearl River Schools will be in session April 1. 
• Nanuet and Nyack will not be making up the March 8 snow day because they still will meet the 180-day requirement for state aid.