East Windsor Students Will See No February Vacation This Year

The East Windsor Board of Education decided Thursday to use the February vacation to make up for some snow days.

Board members felt it important that students have more time to study for the Connecticut Mastery Tests, which will be given in March. The February vacation is scheduled for Feb. 21-25, with the first day being President’s Day.

So far, the schools have been closed seven days because of snow, officials said. The board voted to use four days of the February vacation.

With the number of days students have missed so far, school officials are concerned they would have enough studying time before the tests, especially if they came back from vacation.

“Clearly there’s a need for more time to study time before the CMTs,” Board Member Catherine Simonelli said. “It’s a no-brainer.”

Acknowledging that some students and faculty members may have made plans to be out of town for the February vacation, board members said they won’t penalize people who can’t be there for school. For students who can prove their families had made plans prior to Thursday that can’t be changed, the days will counted as excused absences.

For faculty members, who can prove they have made plans before Thursday to be out of town for February vacation they can use personal days. Acting Superintendent Carol A. Fox would have to approve those, Board Chairman John Pica-Sneeden said.

Fox said she spoke with the teacher’s union president who said she did a phone poll of teachers. Fifty percent of the teachers were in favor of using February vacation days to make up snow days, she said.

Board member William Schultz made a motion to use the four days of February vacation to make up for some of the snow days.

“ I absolutely advocate February,” Schultz said.

The state requires students to have 180 school days during an academic year. Any school days lost because of snow must be made up elsewhere during the year.

Fox had recommended only using two of the February vacation days and finding other days during the rest of the year. Fox said there are advantages to letting students out that time of year including getting cold germs out of the building.

Just tacking the days on at the end of the year could be problematic. Business Manager Linda Giuliano said if the days were the last week of June, it would cause problems for the schools’ finances. All of the school system’s books must be closed that week because it is also the end of the fiscal year, she added.