In a weekly update the Massachusetts of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchel D. Chester said school districts should be making a good faith effort to adjust school calendars for the rest of the school year. As of February 13, a general state-wide waiver was not on the table.
The area has been hard hit with snow; Upton has seen over 100 inches this season. School districts are looking at ways to make up snow days or eliminate future snow days. Some districts have discussed issuing “blizzard bags” for additional storms. Others have looked at lengthening the school day or eliminating April vacation in an attempt to make up snow days.
According to Chester, “Blizzard Bags” will not do if they are equivalent to homework assignments. “For this approach to count toward the student learning time requirements, school districts must ensure that such work is structured learning time, is substantial, and has appropriate oversight and teacher involvement. To the degree that learning outside of the school setting may rely upon parental involvement or access to technology, districts must also account for the widely varying circumstances in students’ homes,” Chester wrote.
Chester advised the ESE is willing to allow extended school days as long as every other method of making up days has been exhausted, including the use of April vacation and professional days. “The amount of time being added to a day must be significant, the reduction in the total number of days must be minimal, and districts will need to provide information on implementation issues including teacher contract provisions, bus schedules, parent input, and students’ ability to participate in afterschool activities,” wrote Chester.
Chester encourages school districts to alter future school calendars in a way to enhance student learning while at the same time provide more flexibility to deal with weather-related closures including starting before Labor Day, moving to only one week of vacation, and notifying parents, teachers, and students vacations may be cancelled or shortened if multiple days have to be made up.
The Mendon Upton School District made adjustments to the school calendar for the FY14-15 school year based on several years of dealing with lost school days due to both snow and hurricanes. Changes made this year included moving a full professional day to before students reported back for their first day of school. The district also eliminated the full release day in January before Martin Luther King Day. The adjustments put MU in a comfortable position, barring there are no additional storms.
The Mendon Upton School Committee will be looking at how to handle the school calendar if the district were to see additional snow days at their next meeting.
As of today Mendon Upton’s last day to report to school including snow days is June, 22.
BVT’s last day of school including used snow days is June, 24. BVT Superintendent Dr. Fitzpatrick said, “One of the many advantages of our longer school year is we start well before Labor Day (actually August 18). Thus, we have few problems meeting the state’s minimum contact days requirement. At this juncture we have used several delayed starts and five snow days.”
UPTON DAILY 