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GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Most school districts have already used up their built-in snow days for Hurricane Sandy, so many Greenburgh students may see shorter vacation breaks during the rest of the year.
New York State Education Department Commissioner John King can excuse up to five of the necessary 180 school days for "extraordinary circumstances," according to the department, but only after all possible vacation days are used up in the district.
While the state implemented a provision for last year that pushed the requirement up to 10 excusable days after Hurricane Irene, NYSED spokesperson Antonia Valentine said it's too soon to tell whether a similar provision will be enacted this year.
"We can't predict whether the Legislature will act to provide relief from the 180-day requirement again this year," Valentine wrote in an email.
The department's regulations say that not even a state of emergency — which was declared by several towns in Westchester County and by Gov. Andrew Cuomo — will excuse schools to operate for fewer than 180 days.
Elmsford School District builds three snow days into its calendar year, which were already used before students returned to school Thursday.
"Once all buildings had power, which was today, classes resumed," said Elmsford Board of Education President Matthew Evans. "We didn't waste any time."
It's too soon to tell how Elmsford will handle the situation if it sees snow days this winter, but Evans added that because the county's areas were hurt in different ways by Hurricane Sandy, the commissioner should take things on a case-by-case basis.
"It's not a one-size-fits-all scenario," Evans said.
Greenburgh Central 7 District, however, remained closed Thursday and Friday as several of its schools were still without power. Board of Education member Terry Williams said he wouldn't be surprised to see school days cut well into the summer.
"Never in my nine years on the board have I seen anything this bad," Williams said. "Cutting vacation time is the only thing that will prevent us from the school year going into July."
Rachel Blair, a Woodlands High School freshman, said it is possible she will see a longer school year. But without electricity for entertainment, she's been spending most of her time doing school work at the library anyway.
"A lot of my friends have been coming to the library. I'm working on a five-page report now," Blair said. "It's not like we haven't been working."
Comments (3)
How about the teachers giving up a couple of their "staff development days"?
I was at the library three times since the hurricane. It was bustling with residents of all ages. A great place to study, stay warm, charge a phone and/or laptop, use the many computers, attend a program, etc. How the Town could even entertain selling off part of the property to a private developer is beyond me. The library is such an important part of our community center. The staff are working long and hard to make all of us comfortable. Some have even volunteered to work longer hours and come in on Sunday to support our community. The Town needs to stop slashing the library budget and treating it like an unnecessary service. It has proven to be the most necessary service of all during very difficult times. The library came through for us in this storm, the Town, not so much! I haven't seen a DPW truck or Con Ed truck and it is now 4 days since the storm passed. Maybe we should rethink whether or not we need a Town government at all.
Good job to Rachel and her friends for studying! The library was great as well as Theodore Young's Halloween Celebration. If we lose vacation time, so be it.