Melissa Bailey Photo
Top school officials confer at the Emergency Operations Center.
The decision to cancel February vacation next week prompted a flood of teacher complaints and a student petition drive Thursday, as school officials scrambled to work around people’s pre-planned vacation.
New Haven public schools closed all this week due to Winter Storm Nemo. To make up for the snow days, public schools will reopen Tuesday through Friday next week during what had been planned as February break. Schools will be closed Monday for Presidents Day.
Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo had told the Independent Tuesday he did not intend to touch February break because it would be too late notice for staff who already have plane tickets to warm places like Florida and Hawaii. Wednesday, he changed his mind. The school system alerted staff and parents of the news in a Wednesday evening robocall.
Some parents and teachers praised the decision.
“The majority of New Haven’s children don’t ever go on a vacation,” MagnetSchoolMom noted in a comment posted to an Independent story. “I’m sure most of the parents had to use their vacation/sick time to stay home with their children this week. If they stay home again next week they will probably either face not getting paid and or losing their jobs. … Having two weeks off would have a major effect on the children’s learning, and let’s face it, our children in New Haven need as much schooling as possible given test scores and dropout rates.”
“If we as teachers want to be respected professionally, our thinking should always be guided by what’s best for student learning,” wrote one high school teacher in an email to the Independent.
“When doctors go away, they’re on call to ensure patients’ care isn’t interrupted. Now we’re on call, and we’ve got to step up to the plate and say that what’s best for students after six days off in a row is to get back to school.”
Others were outraged.
Students started an online petition Thursday afternoon calling on Mayo to reverse his decision.
“This is not fair to students, families, teachers or administrators,” wrote Christine Puglisi, a student at Metropolitan Business Academy. “We could easily make up the 8 missed days by extending the school year 4 days and taking some of April break, when people are actually prepared to cancel plans.”
New Haven planned for only two snow days this year.
“I strenuously object to the decision to cancel February break,” wrote Wilbur Cross High School dad Ira Rosofsky in a letter to top school officials. He said he plans to spend part of the break visiting colleges with his son. “My child will not be attending school for at least part of next week,
although I abhor the idea that you are putting him in the position of missing school — even for a valid educational reason.”
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Teachers union President Dave Cicarella said he has been “flooded” with over 50 calls, text messages and emails from upset teachers, many of whom already had planned vacations, extra jobs, doctors appointments for next week. Students, parents and teachers also protested the decision on the New Haven Public Schools Facebook page.
“I’m resentful. I want my vacation back,” one longtime elementary school teacher told the Independent Thursday. “I don’t mind working, but I feel that we got shafted.”
“I’m not one of the lucky people” with plans for a vacation, she said. But she had plans to work a second job and visit her eye doctor and her physician. She said she lined up the second job, helping parents through the state Department of Children and Families, after Mayo’s public remark that he did not intend to cancel February break.
“My grandchildren are brokenhearted,” she added — they were going to sleep over Tuesday and Wednesday and spend time with grandma. “Now none of that is happening.” She said they cried when they heard the news.
Facebook is “blowing up” with teachers upset about the news, the teacher said.
“It was shocking,” she said. “Mayo should not have recanted what he said. He led us to believe one thing and then he caved.”
Schools spokeswoman Abbe Smith said at the time Mayo indicated he would leave February break intact, which was Tuesday, the school district was still hoping to have kids return to school Thursday and Friday. However, on Wednesday, it became clear that the giant mounds of snow on the street would make it unsafe for kids to wait at bus stops or walk to school, and the district decided to cancel school Thursday and Friday.
That decision raised the number of missed school days to 10, eight of which the district has to make up in order to meet state law. State law requires districts to complete 180 days of school before June 30.
The state commissioner of education declined to give New Haven permission to waive the 180-day rule, according to Will Clark, the city’s chief operating officer.
Winter Storm Nemo put the district in a bind, Smith said: The only options were to cancel February break, cancel a week-long break in April, or add school days beyond June 19.
“We’re sort of running out of choices,” Smith said “If we have another storm, then we might actually run out of days to make up.”
Smith said the need to prepare for upcoming state standardized tests, which are set to begin on March 1, was one of many factors. Other factors: Missing two weeks of school poses major setbacks to student learning and cancels meals for kids who rely on getting them at school.
Even with February break canceled, the district still needs to make up four extra days. The district has not decided how to do that, Smith said. The two options are to dip into April break and/or extend the school year.
“People are upset, but unfortunately we have to make up days,” union president Cicarella said.
Cicarella said when he was consulted about the decision, he saw “no good option.” Any decision — to cancel February break, cancel April break, or add time in June — would inconvenience teachers who already had plans, he said.
Cicarella said the final decision lay with the school district. “Frankly, I would have agreed to any way they wanted,” he said. “There’s no good reason” to pick one break over another.
Meanwhile, Cicarella is working on arrangements with the school district to accommodate teachers who had vacation plans.
“If you can reschedule your plans, please do so,” he said.
But if they have already booked a vacation home, plane ticket or cruise, they can fill out a form showing evidence of those plans and proceed with one of three options: Use personal days next week (by contract, teachers get two per year, with the option to roll over an additional two from a prior year). Make up the time, after school, on days off or over the summer. Or take an unpaid leave for the missed days. Teachers won’t be allowed to take sick days for vacation next week, Cicarella said.
Cicarella said the offer is more generous than in other nearby towns, where during the snowstorms of 2011, teachers were required to pay for substitutes for each day they missed school, regardless of whether they were using personal days.
Students with vacation plans will be given excused absences next week, according to Smith.
Principals are busy making plans for how they’ll cope with an expected shortage of staff next week.
“They’ll use as many subs as they can,” Cicarella said. Teachers will be asked to sub in for each other’s classes during their prep time. They’ll also use any certified instructor in the building, including paraprofessionals and social workers, to fill in the gaps, Cicarella said.
“It’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck week,” he said.
The prospect of working extra next week to fill in for vacationing colleagues, didn’t sit well with some teachers.
“Those of us in school will go from having a vacation to almost double time (we will have to give up our breaks/preps to cover missing teachers’ classes),” said one high school teacher in a message to the Independent. “Teachers need breaks like this to regroup, catch up on work, and spend QUALITY time with family.”
“Where’s the equity,” another teacher grumbled. “Here I am stuck in the classroom with no extra compensation and they’re on the beach in Florida!”
“Nothing! And I do mean NOTHING screams vacation more than being holed up in your home because the governor and the mayor ask for your cooperation,” wrote Andrea Barros on the school district’s public Facebook page. “And to top it off and make it the best vacation ever is the soreness and pain that comes from shoveling 100 cubic yards of snow!!! I feel so rested and relaxed!! I know I will be incredibly energized when I go back on Tuesday!!”