School Comm. Approves 2013-14 Calendar; Survey In Offing

Next year, anyway, school vacations will remain the same. There will still be weeklong breaks in February and April. There will still be days off for Rosh Hoshanah and Good Friday. School will still start the Wednesday before Labor Day.

The School Committee approved the calendar for 2013-14 at their meeting Tuesday night. That calendar has the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 28. It has the last day (supposing no "snow" days) as Friday, June 13, 2014.

That could change in subsequent years, depending on the results of a survey the School Committee plans to send out to parents this spring. The survey, which was discussed Tuesday night and sent back for revisions, would ask parents and staff to weigh in on when school starts, when it finishes, and how many days off are needed inbetween.

The school calendar came into sharp focus this year because . While weather events (Sandy, the blizzard in February) added four days to the calendar, it already extended well into the June because of days off for both the primary and the general election. In addition, the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur both fell on school days this year.

For the 2013-14 school year, there are no days off for elections and Yom Kippur falls on a weekend day, requiring no school holiday.

But with two weather-related events requiring cancellations this year and questioning by some on the School Committee about the need for vacations in both February and April, members want to get feedback about the school calendar before another year passes.

School Committee Chair David Green pointed out on Tuesday that it's a state mandate to close schools on election days. He did say he planned to ask EG state legislators to consider introducing bills that would abolish that rule. 

Committeewoman Carolyn Mark disliked that the survey asked separately about whether or not school should be held on Good Friday and Rosh Hoshanah. She said she'd prefer a question asking about religious days off in general rather than questions that singled out specific religious holidays.

After more discussion, it was decided to revise the survey and present it again at the next School Committee meeting.