Schools

February Break is Still on for Naugatuck Students

Board of Education takes no action on canceling break, saying teachers already have vacation set. Board says it will look into taking from April break if necessary.

The Board of Education took no action on a proposal to cancel the district’s pre-set February break, opting instead to discuss redacting days from the April vacation if the snow persists.

After debating the issue for over a half-hour during the 7 p.m. meeting at Naugatuck High School (NHS), the board agreed that it would be more difficult to hire substitutes and staff to fill in for the 50 teachers that have said they already planned vacations during the week of Feb. 21 to 25 — the dates of the break.

Two of the days that week, Feb. 21 and 22, are already federal holidays and days off for students.

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So far, there have been 11 snow days in Naugatuck, pushing the last day of school to June 24, six days before the state-mandated deadline to finish 180 days of school of instruction. Parents and students alike have said they would prefer to cancel the break, given the impact it is having on preparation for tests.

“This is our first full week back in the 2011 school year,” said NHS senior Michael Decerbo, 17. “With all the preparation for [Advanced Placement] tests, our classes are getting extremely crammed. It’s tough on students, tough on grades and I hope it won’t have a negative effect.”

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Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson noted that the administrators in the school district were also in favor of having students go to school over the February break.

But the board ultimately agreed that students would be adversely affected if they went to school during the break, since many teachers would be out due to their already scheduled vacation time. George Macary, president of the Naugatuck Teachers League, said 50 teachers have said they have made plans for the break. It’s also a figure that doesn’t include all of the teachers in the district, Macary noted.

“The only thing I ask is if you’re going to change the calendar, there are 50 people who have made plans,” Macary asked the board. “Those people should not be penalized for making those plans, they do so in good faith.”

Rather, the board said a plan was put into place when the calendar was set in May 2010, which calls for days to be removed from the April vacation instead. That would only happen if too many snow days pushed the district’s calendar towards the June 30 deadline.

Board members James Jordan and David Heller requested Tindall-Gibson sit down with the three school unions — staff, teachers and administrators — and work out a plan or notice if the district decides to take days from the April vacation.

Jordan said he hoped there would be a vote on the matter by the March 10 meeting.

Board member Rocky Vitale argued that having students in school during the break might not have positive results in terms of test preparation.

“The bottom line is the students that are going to be in school, if we have school February break, are going to be at a deficit because they’re regular teachers are not going to be here and it’s not going to advance them for the [state-mandated] test any further,” Vitale said. “It’s also going to hurt the students that are not here because now they’re going to miss out on three days of instruction that they’re never going to catch up on.”

Vitale said he understood the argument that 2010 has been an unprecedented year for snow days, although he said the question follows as to what the district will do in similar years. Vitale said he is in favor of doing away with both set February and April breaks and instead having a combined break in March.

Board member Barbara Lewis, who acted as chairman Thursday evening due to Kathleen Donovan’s absence, noted that the staff made vacation plans in good faith for the February break, knowing that the April break could be compromised due to snow days. 


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