School Committee addresses scheduling concerns

Date: 11/15/2011

Nov. 14, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW — The Longmeadow School Committee voted to accept an amended school schedule on Nov. 8, prior to the Longmeadow Special Town Meeting, that reconciles three of the days the school district was forced to miss due to the freak October snowstorm left the town with impassable roadways and no power.

School districts throughout Western Massachusetts are faced with the same task of trying to plan for the rest of the school year, given the fact that some missed a complete week of school as a result of the storm

Massachusetts requires students to attend class for at least 180 days and teachers’ union contracts stand firm in that classes may not be conducted later than June 30.

School was back in session by Nov. 7 but with winter still approaching, Longmeadow was proactive in attempting to make up the lost time in order to avoid a scheduling crisis in the event of a harsh winter.

Classes took place at all schools on Nov. 10, originally a day off that was built into the teachers’ contracts, as a full day for students and staff. Those teachers who already had travel plans involving reservations or travel tickets were allowed to take personal or vacation time.

Dec. 23, originally scheduled to begin the winter holiday season, will now be a half day.

March 16, originally a professional development day, will now be a half day of classes and a half day of professional development. Another half day of professional development will be added after the last day of classes.

With the revised schedule, the district’s last day of classes would be June 20. Should the district be forced to use all of its remaining built-in snow days, the last day of classes would fall on June 25.

Superintendent Marie Doyle said community and teacher feedback was a major part of the decision-making process in regards to scheduling.

“We sent an email survey with three options,” she said. “The first was to make up the days on Saturdays, but given the number of students who observe the Sabbath, we could not do that. The second was to make up the days during what would be April vacation. The third option was to fill in random days and it became clear the staff wanted the third option.”

From there, the district asked its calendar committee, which consists of teachers and administrators, to make recommendations on which days should be used to make up the time. Once the recommendations were made, the School Committee convened in order to make the final decision.

The Nov. 10 make-up date was a point of contention for teachers at Blueberry Hill Elementary School, who felt it was unfair to allow some teachers the time off while others were required to work.

“The feeling was that the district felt that the plans of someone with a plane ticket were more important than the plans of someone who was going to have lunch with a family member or some other engagement. It was almost a teacher against teacher scenario,” Doyle explained to the School Committee, but added that the district’s decision on the matter was supported by the teachers’ union president.