Large number of snow days again force addition of days to district calendar
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
EAST MARLBOROUGH — Mother nature takes away, the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District restores.
In an attempt to keep the school year from extending too deeply into June, the Board of Education is expected to approve adding student days on a pair of days originally planned to be off days: March 11 and May 17, with the school year extended to June 16. Although the board is expected to give formal approval to the change in the calendar on Feb. 22, the matter was discussed at length during Monday night’s Communication Committee meeting.
Already the district has moved to extend the school year, already formally approved to run through June 15. If there are additional snow days between now and the end of the year, more days could be added that week — or even into the next week, if needed. The district may also have to consider the option of deferring from using district policy of having 182 education days to the state mandate of 180.
The Presidents’ Day holiday had been on the chopping block as well — had there been another snow day last week, rather than a pair of delayed openings. Presidents’ Day will remain a school holiday, though.
The district calendar has been hammered the last two years because of the extreme weather seen by the region.
