Sandy Reshapes Ridgefield Public Schools Calendar

The good news is the April school break in Ridgefield so far remains intact.

The bad news is students will be in school later in June.

The Board of Education on Monday approved revisions to the 2012-2013 school calendar in order to make up for the six days of school lost due to Hurricane Sandy, which tore through the region on Oct. 29.

As per the revised calendar, the last day of school is now June 19 — four school days later than the originally-scheduled last day on June 13.

In addition a staff development day scheduled for Feb. 19 is now a full day for students.

The sixth day was made up when students attended a full day of school on the Veteran's Day holiday on Nov. 12.

During Monday's board meeting Karen Dewing, director of school personnel, explained that on Nov. 5 — nearly a week after Hurricane Sandy blew through town — the school staff reported to work, however the schools remained closed to students because many bus routes were still impassable.

As a result, "we decided to use [Nov. 5] as a professional development day," Dewing said, adding that this stroke of foresight is what enabled the professional development day scheduled for Feb. 19 to be used as a full day for students, without the loss of a development day.

Dewing said in the event the district needs to use an additional "snow day," the calendar will be extended and the last day of school will become June 20.

If the district needs to use two additional "snow days," with the second one coming prior to Feb. 1, she said, then a professional development day on April 1 will become a full day for students.

Dewing said the staff development day will be rescheduled for the end of the school year, in the event April 1 is used as a school day.

Dewing said the school administration would consider adding more days to the end of the school year should more than two additional "snow days" be needed.