School District Will Add 20 Minutes to School Days Beginning March 24, Preserving Spring Vacation

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the White Plains City School District. March 13, 2014: 

The City School District, having obtained approvals of the school unions involved, vendors, and administration, will make up the 6 snow days it has had to use this year by making up the 900 minutes  of lost instruction time by adding an additional twenty minutes to school days at all schools in the district beginning March 24.

Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors said Monday evening at the Board of Education that making up the lost days by holding school over the spring vacation has historically resulted in days of low attendance as many parents schedule vacations on the spring break. He said that 900 minutes needed to be made up and that in discussions with the teachers union and the administrations of the schools that the additional twenty minutes a day was the preferred solution.

Michele Schoenfeld,Clerk to the School Board told WPCNR Thursday afternoon notices would be going home to parents today informing them of the change.

She said at the middle school and high school equal numbers of minutes would be added to various periods, but it had not been worked out whether the periods would be lengthened across the schedules, or be alternating in length. It would be different at the elementary levels, which are not on a period schedule.

Connors told WPCNR Thursday afternoon  the district  experienced two  one hour delays; 1 hour closing and closed 6 days for snow. He said 3 snow days were built in to the schedule already, and that in order to avoid interfering with religious observations (Passover) the week before Easter when the spring vacation was scheduled (April 14 through 17) the district would make up the three days by adding twenty minutes to school days beginning March 24.

Shoenfeld  told WPCNR, the White Plains School year is 183 days, building in 3 days for snow. Those three have already been used and three more have to be made up. Had the schools not had to use those built-in snow days, they would have been added to Memorial Day weekend.

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