Westwood to Have Full School Day on March 18

Due to the vast amount of snow days already this school year, and the high possibility of another by winter’s end, the Westwood School Committee last week voted to have a regular, full day of school on March 18.

The day was previously set for a teacher’s , with students having the day off. Now, in an effort to avoid going deeper into June, students will be expected to come to school on March 18.

The move puts the last day of school on a Thursday (June 23), also putting administrators further out of risk of bringing students back in the following week in the event more snow-related cancellations occur this winter.

Superintendent John Antonucci said that jumping into the next week would have brought on a plethora of problems for all parties involved, including teacher contract issues and the start of summer jobs for students.

One problem that Antonucci has already fielded questions from parents about is summer vacation plans. He noted that camps and summer classes start that week, and schedules would be affected. Other possible ways to avoid this would be eliminating vacation days or even bringing students in on a Saturday. However, members of the School Committee agreed that these alternatives may not go over well with parents and/or students.

However, Student Liaison Harry Clapsis said that he has taken an unofficial poll of students’ opinions about having school on March 18 and they were very much against it.

“The students aren’t exactly excited about this,” said Clapsis.

But Antonucci and the School Committee felt that in order to avoid future problems, a decision needed to be made and that using that day would be the best solution. The Committee also didn’t want to wait until last minute and cause planning problems for families of students as well as staff.

“We can’t control what we can’t control,” Antonucci said referring to this winter’s inclement weather. “I think the responsible thing to do is to take action.”

Antonucci said that at this point, the winter is comparable to that of 1995-96, which brought upon record snow falls. Last winter, by comparison, the school system saw no snow-related cancellations, thus showing the unpredictability of New England’s weather. Antonucci also noted that, in 1997, there was a significant storm on April 1, so the possibility of additional snow days is real.

Meanwhile, School Committee Chair Josepha Jowdy expressed concern over teachers losing a valuable professional development day. The focus of the day was going to be on technology, and there was a national recognized speaker scheduled to make a presentation

Jowdy asked Antonucci if there was a possibility that the state could waive days if more snow was in the future. He said that he met with the Commissioner of Education recently, and that it would not be an option because it would be a detrimental loss of precious classroom time.

Westwood’s last day of school is schedule for Thursday, June 23.