Andover Students Will Have School On Saturdays

ANDOVER, MA -- Andover students and teachers will be in class on April 28 and May 12 and yes, those are Saturdays. The extra sessions were approved by the Andover School Committee as a way to make up days that were lost to last fall's extended power outage and this winter's snow storms. The plan was adopted over an alternative plan to extend each school day by 30 minutes that had the support of teachers and Superintendent Sheldon Berman.

Even with the extra sessions, the district is cutting it close: the last day of school is scheduled for Friday, June 29. Schools are prohibited from extending the school year beyond July 1.

The decision to add Saturday sessions was made earlier this winter. But on March 23, Massachusetts Acting Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Wulfson said schools could add extra time to already scheduled school days to make up lost time, and Berman presented that proposal to the Andover School Committee.

The Committee held firm on its decision to hold Saturday sessions, even cutting off Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Administration Paul Szymanski when he was about to reveal the extra cost of opening schools on Saturdays during the public meeting. The Andover Townsman reported last week it had filed a public records request to make those costs public.

The Saturday school schedules conflict with varsity sports schedules, and many students have signaled they have the support of their parents to skip the Saturday sessions.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).