Excessive Snow Days Melt Away

Amity Schools will make up only five of the seven snow days the district has had this school year. February and April vactions will remain intact, but President's Day, Feb. 21, will be a school day. Students will also be in school March 30, a day that was scheduled for professional development for staff at both middle schools and the high school. Three days will be made up on June 20, 21 and 22 and two days were cut from the 182-day calendar, since the state mandates students to 'only' be in school for 180 days. 

Having school in the last week of June was not desirable for a number of reasons including the beginning of internships and student job commitments. 

Before last night's meeting of the board of education, Amity students were expected in school through June 28. But with a little schedule shuffling, the last day of school will be June 22. If there are more snow days, students will go to school through June 24, and if needed, the end of April break may be tapped. 

"I don't support cancelling February vacation," Brady says. Online surveys conducted by the schools revealed that 35 percents of students would not be in attendance if school were in session during February break. While the schools are closed in February, they're cleaned and scheduled checks of the sprinkler system, and safety inspections are performed.

"The point of making up these days is to restore educational continuity and that goal would not be accomplished by eliminating the February break," Brady says.

Superintendents from Bethany, Orange, Woodbridge and Amity made the joint decision, and since the elementary schools run on a slightly different schedule than the Amity schools, the last day of school for them will be Friday, June 24.

At last night's meeting, principals from all three Amity schools praised students and staff for their patience during a month of rescheduling exams.

Orange Middle School Principal Kathleen Fuller-Cutler commended her staff for doing a "fantastic job building continuity against the challenge of disorder" over the past month.

Teachers will still be required to work 185 days.

Even though the board of education has approved the 2011-2012 school calendar with the last day of school scheduled for June 15, Brady said he'll recommend to the school board to ammend the calendar to state that if five snow days are exceeded, days will be made up during April break.

Five seems to be Brady's magic number. "In 32 years, I've never seen more than five snow days."