SHARE

Ridgefield School Calendar Reconfigured Thanks To Sandy

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. – There haven’t been any snow days but the Ridgefield Schools are already six days behind thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy closed Ridgefield schools for six days due to power outages and road blockages. The school district has had to reconfigure the school calendar in order to keep the school year from expanding to the end of June.

Hurricane Sandy closed Ridgefield schools for six days due to power outages and road blockages. The school district has had to reconfigure the school calendar in order to keep the school year from expanding to the end of June.

Photo Credit: Alissa Smith, stock photo

The district is concerned about what will happen during the rest of the winter. After the storm, the district moved the last day of school from June 13 to June 20 to make up missed days.

The Board of Education decided Monday night to turn Feb. 19 into a full day of school, rather than a Professional Development day for teachers. Turning this into a full school day would push the end of school back to June 19.

Karen Dewing, director of personnel, told the board that since there were  professional development days Nov. 5 and 6, the district had an extra day to take back for a regular school day.

Teachers have already approved the use of Feb. 19 as a regular day, Dewing said, since that would give them an extra day of classes before the standardized tests. However, if there are more than two snow days before Feb. 1, the end of school will remain June 20 and another professional development day, April 1, will become a school day as well.

“An education day in April or February is far better than an education day in June,” said Irene Burgess, a member of the board of education.

Days will continue to be added on to the end of June if needed, though if the last day of school falls beyond June 28, any additional make up days would be taken from the April break.

“Our thought is that if that happened before Feb. 1 then we have also given families enough notice that that day would be turned into a student day,” said Dewing.  “Looking ahead, if we have another closure, snow day, we will add that to the end of the year.”

to follow Daily Voice Ridgefield and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE