School Days Are Not Optional

Branford public school students can breath easy. For now that is. Following Branford’s Superintendent’s Proposed Budget Meeting last night in the high school lecture hall, the decided to stick with the planned school calendar and offer February break as scheduled beginning Feb. 21 (President’s Day) and running through Feb. 25. As stipulated in planned documentation, the BOE will tack on six additional days to the end of the year and begin taking away days from April vacation due to excessive snow days. The school year will now end June 22 with one additional day taken from the start of April vacation (which by their calendar will be April 18). The students, who have had nine total snow days due to , were not considered in the discussion; determination about their school calendar will be done at a later date not stated by the BOE.

In what called an “anomaly,” Branford schools have had the worst winter the town has seen in more than 25 years. After some discussion, it was determined that schools have not had to have days taken from April break since the early 1980s. Board Chair Frank Carrano began, “You don’t think through the impact of that because it almost never happens and this year, it happened.”

New this year to Branford schools, Hernandez began the discussion asking not to be blamed for the onslaught of snow as a way to both literally and figuratively break the ice.

He explained that he called the meeting to discuss the calendar after many parents had expressed concern via e-mail about the large number of missed school days. Originally the meeting was planned for Feb. 16 but re-scheduled to Feb.7 with February break being just under two weeks away. One option was to explore if February break would be taken away instead of April break or if the school calendar should be extended to June 25, which is a Friday.

At the start of the meeting, many people were in support of taking February break; hoping “continuity of learning” was considered. CAPT tests are offered the second and third weeks in March, just five school days after students return from February break and some people, Hernandez included, expressed that this could disturb the students’ preparation. Additionally, students have not had a full week of school since Christmas, according to many in the audience.

Off the bat, the idea to extend school until June 25 if necessary and keep both school breaks was shot down by many in the audience. The elementary schools are not air-conditioned and parents complained of their children already coming home sweating during the regular calendar; additional days in June would not help this.

Branford, unlike some other municipalities, according to Hernandez, has a stipulated rule for making up snow days during April vacation and the town sets their school calendars ahead of time with this in mind. This means faculty and parents are aware that April break can be shortened due to make-up snow days, but February break will always be offered. The notion that February break could be taken started to not sit well with some.

Amy Delfini, paraprofessional at said she was concerned that teachers with planned vacations for February would still go on them because of the date being so close, and the students would end up with substitutes and ultimately a sub-par learning experience; counter to the notion that if students attended school during February break, there would be continuity in learning.

Tisko Principal Mark Rabinowitz noted that he already booked his vacation and it would cost the school $2,000 to hire a substitute for the week he was out.

With no way to determine how many of the faculty would actually go away even if they were expected to be in school during the already planned February break, the gears started to shift towards keeping the panned upon calendar.

BOE members discussed there would be no calendar adjustments enforced by the state due to the widespread weather problems for all school districts. They considered “out of the box” options like take-home work and highlighted the importance of better planning for next year but ultimately decided that the school calendar would be set at 180 days (the mandated amount) ­– it was previously set at 181 – and students would be give February break as planned.

Wanting to be seen as consistent with documentation, the BOE was firm in their decision to adhere to the set calendar but to consider other plans in ensuing years.

“I do believe that our kids,” said Hernandez, “regardless, will be educated and though continuity is important, I don’t think it will make or break what they become as adults. But they will remember if we modify the calendar and they too will become adults and sit in a Board of Education meeting.”