February 2015 was the coldest month in Syracuse’s 113 years of record, and Central New York schools are scrambling to make up for lost time.
With several delays and closings due to snow and bitterly cold air, some districts have met or exceeded their calendars’ allotted emergency closing days.
The North Syracuse Central School District has already released a reconfigured calendar that shaves a day or two off April break in case the district needs to take additional snow days. The North Syracuse school board approved the new calendar Feb. 23.
“Although we have utilized all of our emergency closing days, please be assured that we will continue to base future closing decisions on the safety of all our students and staff,” said North Syracuse Superintendent Annette Speach. “Our revised calendar is posted online and any additional changes necessary will be communicated immediately with families and staff.”
North Syracuse schools will now be open March 20, which was previously designated as a conference day.
If the district chooses to close due to weather or other emergency reasons, school will be in session Friday, April 10, and possibly Thursday, April 9.
Baldwinsville Central School District Superintendent Dr. David Hamilton said Baldwinsville has met its limit of four emergency closing days.
Instead of revising the calendar, Hamilton is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I’m optimistic about the weather going forward,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said B’ville’s four emergency closing days is conservative compared to other CNY districts’ allocations.
“Most of the districts around here have built in six,” he said. “Next year, we’re going to figure out how to fit one or two [additional] snow days into the plan.”
Hamilton said he was reluctant to disrupt district families’ vacation plans by changing the calendar for the rest of this year.
“To cut into pre-scheduled holidays isn’t fair toward families,” he said.
An alternative calendar?
Between Upstate New York’s brutal winter weather and the so-called “summer slide” — the lag in children’s academic skills over summer vacation — one may wonder why New York schools don’t consider the “balanced calendar.”
In 2013, Michigan lawmakers introduced a bill to provide $10 million in funding for schools to transition to a year-round academic calendar, which includes a six-week summer break and a handful of week-long breaks throughout the rest of the year.
Students at year-round schools attend between 180 and 200 days of school.
Hamilton said New York state education law would have to change to allow an alternative calendar.
The law requires New York state schools to hold 180 instructional days, starting after Labor Day and ending with the June Regents examination period.
Hamilton said year-round school would require improvements to air conditioning systems in schools as well.
With other education reforms on the front burner in New York, revamping the calendar is not likely to come up soon.
For now, students will have to bundle up and brave the chill until spring comes.
