Monroe Public Schools Propose Plan to Make Up Snow Days

Tropical Storm Irene delayed the opening of Monroe's public schools by four days, then Storm Alfred covered the town in snow and knocked out power, keeping students home for another five days.

A series of snowstorms caused the school system to scramble last winter and nine days have already been lost this year — before winter has even hit.

Interim Supt. of Schools John Goetz and Assistant Supt. John Battista have proposed a plan to prepare the district for any more snow days this academic year.

The school board had originally planned its calendar to start earlier in 2011-12 and to end the year by June 8, so there would be wiggle room in the event of another bad winter. If no more school is missed, Battista said the last day of school would now be June 21.

"On February 20 and 21, we will have school," Goetz told the Board of Education at its Monday night meeting. "February vacation is gone."

By doing that, Battista said, with no additional snow days, the last day of school would be June 19.

"The average is four to five snow days," he said. "But last year there were 11, which is rare. We're planning for seven snow days."

He said a total of seven snow days could be tacked on at the end of June as needed, making the last day June 28.

If snow hits the region harder, Battista said schools could be in session for three days of the April vacation, including April 18, 19 and 20.

All of those moves would allow the district to make up a total of 10 days if needed.

If the winter is even worse than that, the district can hold school for two less days, because its academic year is 182 days and the state requires 180 days.

After a discussion, the Board of Education voted 6-2 to allow the Superintendent's Office to make any decisions on the calendar as it deems necessary.

Thomas Taylor, a school board member, voted against the motion because he preferred to have the Board of Education vote to approve any adjustments to the calendar, so the district would not be on its own and the public could see it has the backing of the board.

Fellow board member Kelly Plunkett joined Taylor in voting no. She said she wanted to have more input from parents before any decisions were made.

Board secretary Mark Hughes had made the motion. He said by voting to allow the superintendent to make the decision, the board was showing its faith in the administration.

Goetz said administrators would discuss the proposal with the Monroe Education Association, which is the teachers union.

No Guarantees

Hughes pointed out that there were times over the years when the district closed its schools amid bad weather forecasts only for it to turn out that the storm was not serious enough to warrant the closings. He asked if there was any way to eliminate those instances.

"The short answer is no," Goetz said.

He said a superintendent gets email updates every two hours when a bad snow storm is predicted, one at 2 a.m. and another at 4 a.m.

"The first call I make is to Jim Robinson of the Highway Department," Goetz said, adding Robinson shares information on road conditions, as well as safety information obtained from the Monroe Police Department.

Between 4:30 and 4:45 a.m., Goetz said he is on a conference call with other school superintendents in the area.

"We have to make that decision by 5 o'clock," he said, adding that parents, radio stations and the bus company have to be notified.

"We can hedge our bets with a 90 minute delay, but there's always a chance that we can think we'll get slammed, cancel school and it doesn't happen," Goetz said.

In the worst case scenario, he said the district could decide to have school only for a snowstorm to hit the region hard. Then students have to be taken home in the middle of the day.

Of the district's proposal to adjust the school calendar as needed, Goetz said, "We think this is reasonable. We think it makes sense. Is it perfect? No. Does it work? We think so. It's the best we can do. I don't think anyone can guarantee what the winter will bring."