WESTFIELD – The School Committee voted last night to approve a calendar for the 2013-14 academic year that reduces the number of early release day, a point of contention with many parents.
Superintendent Suzanne Scallion said the early release days for professional development have been cut from 10 in the current year to seven next year.
Scallion said that the district will maintain its goal of providing 30 hours of professional development for teachers and staff members while reducing the early release days which have been problematic for many working parents.
She said another change incorporated into the 2013-14 calendar is that the seven early-release days will be rotated over Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. The early release days in the current school year, which ended Monday, were all slated for Wednesday, another point of concern raised by parents who felt that students were missing too many of the same instructional periods, especially specials such as art and music.
The current schedule, approved by a 4-0 vote of the School Committee last night, will include early release days on the following dates: Wednesday, Sept. 25; Thursday, Oct. 24; Wednesday, Dec. 4;
Tuesday, Jane 28, Thursday, Feb. 27; Thursday April 3; and Thursday, May 22. There are no early release days in March and a makeup early release date of June 4 was included as a contingency if a scheduled early release date is cancelled because of weather, in particular snow.
A full day of professional development is slated for Election Day on November 5 when students do not attend classes because so many of the city’s schools are used as polling places for voters.
A full day of staff development is also slated for Aug. 28 before students in grades 1-12 begin classes on Aug.29.
New teachers are reporting on Aug. 26, while all teachers are attending the opening day and convocation on Aug. 27
Scallion said the schedule incorporates four “snow days” and that classes will end on June 17 if no days are cancelled due to weather and that for every day not used, a day will be deducted from the calendar.
An early release day is also scheduled for Oct. 24 and Feb. 27 when parent-teacher conferences will be held in the evening.
