Superintendent Announces Snow Day Make-Up Schedule

February 7, 2011

Dear Farmington Parents and Students,

This has certainly been an extraordinary winter for every school district in Connecticut and the weather conditions in the coming weeks remain unknown. As we pass our 6th snow day, I am writing to inform you of how we will address school closures that exceed the five built-in snow days. By Connecticut Statute, every local public school district must be in session for 180 school days, and the 180th day must take place before July 1. Each school district has a unique school calendar and process for addressing excessive school closures. Farmington’s calendar was approved by the Board of Education and was published in February of 2010. This published calendar outlines Farmington’s long-standing snow emergency policy should we exceed the five snow days already built in to our annual calendar. The calendar includes the following statement:

*If the number of emergency closing days exceeds five (5) days, any additional days may be taken from the Spring Recess beginning Monday, April 18.

To help Farmington families address some of the personal strain this weather has caused and to allow for more continuity of teaching and learning, we will utilize our March 21 Teacher Professional Development (PD) day as one make-up day. As a result of using the PD day, the tentative last day of school will be June 20, 2011. This would in effect bring us back to having the five snow days that are already added to the end of the year, and we would not yet utilize any days in April break. However, if we have any additional snow days, we would in good faith follow what was stated in our published calendar and utilize April vacation days. The utilization of April vacation begins on April 18 and proceeds through the week depending on how many snow days we incur beyond the five built-in snow days. We would not utilize Friday, April 22 because it is Good Friday.

In terms of addressing the disruption to student learning from the six snow days, faculty are aware that adjustments to content delivery and assessment may be required. Principals and faculty will be communicating these adjustments to students and parents as needed. In addition, to address parent concerns related to the timing of the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and Connecticut Achievement Performance Test (CAPT), Farmington will push back their timeline so that our students will have additional time to prepare prior to taking these assessments. If we have to utilize April vacation, this will greatly assist our high school students who will be taking their AP tests in May.

Finally, I want to provide a status on our school roofs. Over the past week the town and school departments have been tirelessly coordinating safety reviews and clearing roofs on town and school buildings. Our maintenance and custodial staff have done an outstanding job clearing our school roofs and addressing snow removal at all school sites. Snow coverage on our school roofs will continue to be proactively monitored throughout the winter months as a safety precaution. In addition, I want to thank the men and women of the Farmington Highway Department for their exceptional work in keeping the roads safe for our students and families during this year’s extremely harsh winter.

I know that this particular winter has placed added burden and pressures on you and your family. I appreciate your continued support and patience as we continue to progress through the winter months.  

Sincerely,

Kathleen C. Greider

Superintendent of Schools

FAQ’s

School Closures and Make-up Days: Frequently Asked Questions: 

1.      After a thorough review of our calendar policy language and the published 2010-2011 school calendar, the February break will not be utilized for snow day recovery for the following reasons:

• We do not know the total amount of school closures until after the winter season. If we utilize February break to make up snow days, we may have additional snow days during the remainder of the winter that would necessitate the loss of April vacation days. We would not want to put families and faculty in the position of losing both vacations.
• If February were to be utilized, the timeline for notification is short and makes it very difficult for families and faculty to change their February break plans.
• The policy (dating back to 1994) and annual approved and published calendar states that April may be used to make up snow days that exceed the five built-in snow days. In turn, families and faculty make plans knowing that this is how we will approach snow day recovery.

2.      Why don’t you add days to the end of the school year?

Our calendar policy states that we can only utilize the five built-in snow days in June to make up school closure days.   This long-standing policy dates back to 1994. Any additional snow days may be taken from April vacation. In addition, the utilization of April vacation benefits students who are taking AP exams at the high school in May.

3.      What is the tentative last day for students if we use the March 21 PD day? What will happen if we have additional snow closures?

By utilizing our March 21st PD day to make up one snow day, our tentative last day of school for students would be June 20, 2011.

If we have additional school closure days, we would make up the days during April vacation beginning on April 18, 2011. Here is a summary of our approved and published calendar as it relates to:

• The original last day of school (without snow days): Monday, June 13*
• The five built-in snow days: June 14, 15, 16, 17 and 20
• The tentative last day of school (with five built-in snow days): Monday, June 20

*The townwide informational booklet’s calendar was correct, however, it had a typographical error citing June 14 as the last day of school (without the five built-in snow days). However, the approved and published calendar reflects the information above (see attached--click here).