School Committee yet to make decision regarding lost days

Date: 11/28/2011

Nov. 28, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow School Committee will continue to weigh options for recapturing lost school days as a result of the severe October snowstorm.

On Nov. 21, Superintendent Gordon Smith presented the School Committee with two options that would help the district regain the lost classroom time in order to keep the schools from becoming riddled with scheduling problems at the end of the year. Currently the final day of classes is June 19, 2012.

The Department of Education requires students attend school for a minimum of 180 days and according to union contracts, the final day of classes must be on or before June 30 every year.

“I have discussed this situation with our leadership team and with representatives from the teachers’ union and have come up with these two options,” Smith said.

The first option would require students attend half-day classes on select Saturdays. Among the dates suggested were Jan. 7, Feb. 11, March 17 or 24 and April 28, 2012.

Smith said with this option, bussing would run as it would on a normal half-day of school, and classes would take place from 7:25 to 10:50 a.m.

“When we discussed this option, we looked at what days MCAS [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System] and SATs fell on and also building usage,” Smith said, explaining that several schools are rented out by churches for CCD classes or by other organizations, including the Parks and Recreation Department, during the weekends.

The second option would be to remove three days from the scheduled April vacation, giving students long weekends at the beginning and end of that week.

Smith did not suggest taking days from February vacation, however, when the subject was raised, he said it was not out of the question.

“The problem there is February vacation is during the snow months, so if we have snow, it could divide the makeup days,” he said.

Smith acknowledged that cutting into vacations can have ramifications on some people’s pre-established plans for that time off.

“No vacation, whether it’s April or February, is going to be easy,” he said. “That goes for family and staff.”

School Committee member William Fonseca expressed concern regarding what attendance would be like if classes were to take place on Saturdays.

“Ludlow did it last year and they had 22 percent attendance,” he said.

School Committee member Richard Freccero, however, disagreed.

“From an educator’s standpoint, things will flow easier with Saturday classes,” he said. “I think it’s less invasive on the personal lives of our students and teachers.”

School Committee member Joseph Cabrera posed the question as to why the district wouldn’t’ just add any snow days to the end of the school year in June.

“When I was a kid, that’s the way we did it and there wasn’t a problem,” he said.

The committee opened the conversation up to parents and students in attendance at the meeting and senior class president Andres Mejia-Ramon spoke against both options.

“In May, students have [Advanced Placement] exams, so having classes during April vacation could be counter productive because that is time when a lot of students study and relax before those tests,” he said. “As for Saturdays, as a student, I would see no incentive to go, especially if it’s a half-day.”