Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath kept Clarkstown Central School District students out of their classrooms for six days. Now district officials are waiting to find out what the requirements for makeup days are from the New York State Education Department. Superintendent Dr. J. Thomas Morton said once he receives that information it will be shared immediately with the school board so they can decide how to proceed.
At Thursday's school board meeting, Morton said he had spoken with education department officials in Albany and Rockland’s state representatives about the missed days and the loss of instructional time. The state Education Department has a requirement of 180 school days per school year.
The cancellation of school from Monday, Oct. 29 through Tuesday, Nov. 6 also disrupted planned parent-teacher conferences. However, schools were already scheduled to be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 6 as a Superintendent's Conference Day.
Morton said the conferences for Felix Festa Middle School and Clarkstown North High School students will be held in March, which is when the conferences take place for Clarkstown South High School students. Over the next few weeks, he expects parent-teacher conferences will be rescheduled and held for students at all the elementary schools.
Why not extend the school day an hour or two for several weeks to make up the lost time? Either extend each class for 10-15 minutes until the missed time is made up, or add full classes after class on a rotating basis. Spread this out over many weeks and the missed class time will be made up. As a parent, I think this would work for me and my children. What are your thoughts? Would the teachers union and members agree to this? What after school programs would be impacted? Is it better to make it up slowly, take away winter breaks, or add days at the end of the year?