BRISTOL — The Newfound Area School District has had nine no-school days due to winter snowstorms, just one behind the Shaker Regional School District, where there were 10 snow days and the school year is likely to extend into late June.
Superintendent Stacy Buckley asked the Newfound Area School Board to approve a plan to end school on June 22, rather than carrying it into the following week. By counting hours, rather than days, the district can shave a couple of days off the schedule and still meet the state requirements.
The option of counting hours is increasingly appealing to school districts with winters such as this year’s. The state requires 180 days of school, or 990 hours of instruction, for students in grades 7-12. The requirement for grades 1-6 is 945 hours.
Superintendents often consult with one another before deciding whether to cancel a day of school, but the decision comes down to one of safety.
The New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, provides a call-in service for superintendents, providing the latest weather information and answering questions about road conditions and travel. The superintendents also speak with their bus companies and road agents to learn the local conditions. Sometimes a delayed opening will provide the extra time needed to make sure the roads are plowed and treated, but, often, they will learn that it’s better to just call off school.
Doing so creates more of a problem than just extending the school year for students. Snow days also create problems for school employees. Contracts with salaried employees specify a number of workdays they must meet, and, while hourly support staff are not required to make up the time, it is in their interest to do so, since they receive no pay when school is called off.
Buckley asked the school board to allow the district to make up the teachers’ obligations by providing them with a copy of “The New Art and Science of Teaching” which they will have to read prior to returning to school in the fall. The book provides an overview of the changes in doing evaluations that will go into effect at the start of the 2018-19 academic year.
Buckley and Newfound Teachers Union President Deirdre Conway will come up with another book for teachers to read to make up for the last missed day — “something that will tie into our opening-day presentation and work to be tackled next year,” Buckley told the school board.
She also turned a scheduled early-release day into an all-day professional development day in which they were to focus on competencies and grading.
Teachers also will be required to attend the end-of-the-year barbecue sponsored by the school board on June 22.
To address the shortfall in income by the support staff, Buckley said she would work with the administration to find relevant training for them on the April 13 teacher workshop day, and she would determine interest in additional professional development days on June 25 and 26 for those who do not have to report to summer jobs at that time.
26 March 2018
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