Given that Rye schools lost a week or more of class thanks for Hurricane Sandy, there has been plenty of speculation about how those days will be made-up. And if those days will be deducted from February or Spring break.
During a recent board of education meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Alvarez explained that an update on the calendar will be provided by the December 11 Board meeting. Legal matters regarding the calendar are currently being reviewed by the district's attorneys, and if any changes are determined, they will be announced as soon as possible.
Stay tuned…
Let’s be clear about the day.
First, 5 days were lost.
Second, 3 buffer are included in the school calendar.
Third, 1 day was made-up by conducting classes on what had been planned as a “superintendent’s day”.
That means 1 day remains to be made up. Hardly a good basis for “nuking” spring break.
Of course, there is a chance that we’ll have some snow days this year which would have to be made up. But, there are a couple of ways of doing that.
1. Take another superintendent’s conference day (one scheduled for June 21)
2. Take days away from a break
3. Extend the school year
4. Have the required number of days reduced by the state legislature.
We’re supposed to hear from the Superintendent at or by the next Board meeting on the 11th.
Here’s an idea every parent will love (and the kids and the union will hate)… for a short time, simply extend the school day until 6PM until the missing hours of the cancelled school days are made up. With (roughly) 6 hours in a normal school day outside of lunch and recess, extending class time from 3PM to 6PM for just two weeks would make up for the missing time.
Just think of the benefits. Ecstatic parents will have time to clean the house and yard up, do some leisurely Christmas shopping, cook really heathly dinners for their kids, take extra-long afternoon naps, maybe get caught up on some soaps (if anyone watches those anymore). Kids will come home physically exhausted, too tired to log onto facebook or do any arguing about homework. And their two week dose of normal working hours for the rest of us might give them some appreciation of what it means to work for a living, as opposed to simply attending school.
If we take Bob’s equation, and I do agree, why take this any further?
The conversation should end right there!
That was funny stuff Matt. Thanks for making me smile.
Not a bad idea either…………..
what is wrong with the management of Rye school system ? How in hell do you wait this long to decide what NYC and others areas of NY took care of weeks ago ! Families have spent money on deposits for vacations / trips . The longer you twiddle thumbs on this , the more you will cost overstrapped Rye residents who will have to try and seek refunds on trips
Divman –
You bring up an option I hadn’t thought of… and it’s still a win-win for parents. If the school cancels the Spring Break for the kids, simply cancel the plane tickets for the kids, and Mom and Dad get a second honeymoon, while the kids stay in school… Thanks, Sandy!
matt : you and i can laugh because we haven’t written some huge checks for plane tickets ( non-refundable ) and condo deposits but i know a few families in Rye that made plans and very upset Rye has delayed making a decision so long given the ability to get any refund diminishes over time .
NYC made the decision to grab 3 days off February break weeks ago . Given how much Rye pays its school management , you’d think they could do better than this .
Obviously it is a liitle past tense but I can’t help to wonder why the big hoopla over when this decision will be made….Hell, the “Mandatory” evac from the City for the storm didn’t go out until Monday 4pm (the peak of the storm)…..
where was everyones comments on this, when lives were actually in danger and not vacations??????