Saturday Classes Won't Happen

Citing "ongoing religious events and other obligations," Saturday classes won't be held to make-up snow days, School Superintendent Barbara Dunham said today.

A new community poll Dunham launched last week includes these options for making up further snow days: eliminate the February vacation; eliminate the April vacation; going further into June, pushing exams and graduation back; Saturday classes; ending school one hour later until the missed time (about seven hours per snow day) is recovered; ending school one hour earlier until the missed time (about seven hours per snow day) is recovered; and other. Individuals also are asked to rank their choices.

However, "this superintendent will not support Saturday makeup classes that would mean many of our students would not attend school," Dunham told Sharon Patch in an e-mail.

Also, the preliminary results show that Saturday classes "will not be an option," Dunham wrote on the schools' website.

The deadline for completing the four-question survey is 10 a.m. Friday, extended from the 3 p.m. Wednesday deadline due to snow.

The results will be discussed at the Feb. 10 school committee meeting, according to the schools' website.

Sharon has used all five snow days accounted for in its calendar, pushing the last day of school to June 23. The poll includes the state law requiring schools to schedule at least 185 days of classes, but operate for at least 180 of them.

"The survey indicates all the choices on the website and choices do include Saturday," Dunham told Sharon Patch.

"The survey represents the typical type of options out there for other Massachusetts communities and was unedited for Sharon."