Ellington Board of Education Solves Snow Days

The held a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss the possible revisions to the school calendar. 

Due to the record amount of snow fall this winter, Ellington has had to call off school for nine days already this year.

While students may like the occasional snow day, nine days and counting are proving to be more of a nuisance. 

The state of Connecticut does not allow classes to be held past June 30, therefore all snow days need to be made up prior to the end of June. With that said, most parents, students, educators, and administrators alike agree that holding classes too late in June is also problematic. 

Superintendent of schools Stephen Cullinan made a proposal which was agreed upon by the board. He and the board added back both Monday, Feb. 21 and Tuesday, Feb. 22 as instructional days, and ultimately took two instructional days off of the school year - bringing the count down from 182 days to 180 days. 

This brings the last day of classes to June 21, and it leaves April vacation as is for the time being. It also leaves room for three more snow days, which could bring the last day of school for Ellington to Friday, June 24. 

If the town has more than three more snow days, which seems likely at this point, the date of the fourth snow day would determine when it would be made up. If the fourth snow day occurs before March 7, the board will have to start taking days from April vacation. However, if the fourth snow day occurs after March 7, the days get tacked on to the end of June. 

As of Wednesday, no final date for graduation has been set.  The board has until April 1 to finalize a graduation date for the class of 2011. 

With about six weeks left of real winter, everyone is keeping their fingers crossed for no more snow days.