Winthrop Schools Snow Days

It’s going to be a little longer before the school department figures out how it’s going to compensate for all of this year’s snow days, but the superintendent of schools said he should have an answer at the March 9 School Committee meeting.

The committee held its regular meeting last week before school vacation week.

“It’s tough doing a three-day school week and I am working on a plan to make up days,” said Superintendent of Schools John Macero.

Several options were discussed by the committee including going back to school before Labor Day, adding an hour to the school day, or going to school on a Saturday. The idea of deleting February or April vacation was also tossed around. There’s also the reality that there also needs to be union and school committee approval if the town applies for a waiver from the State Department of Education.

Macero said that if there is no buy-in from the community then Saturday classes or the cancellation of April vacation won’t work.

“A lot of people have already made arrangements,” Macero said, with School Committee members Brian Perrin and chair Gary Skomro agreeing that taking away April vacation would not be a good idea.

“It’s kind of a catch-22,” Macero said. “For now it may be that we stay with what we have.”

One of Macero’s concerns is the impact the snow days have on the MCAS exam and other exams such as advanced placement exams. There is a loss of routine for the students.

Prior to this year’s snow days school was supposed to end June 17 with five built in snow days. Now that there have been seven snow days the release date is up to June 26. State regulations require school districts to complete 180 days.

“We’re trying to be proactive,” Macero said.