A snowy winter will once again mean a longer school year for Capital area students, but just how long students will go to classes into June depends on where they live.
The school year for Concord students who live in Penacook and attend Merrimack Valley High School won’t end until June 22. Just down the road at Concord High, students will get out a entire week earlier on June 15.
Similar trends can be seen across districts separated by just a few miles that all experienced between six and 10 snow days this year.
Because of “blizzard bag” days and new ways of measuring the school year, administrators now have a range of options for making up canceled classes. Instead of the traditionally required 180 days, schools can opt to hold classes for a minimum of 990 hours at the middle and high school level, and 945 hours for elementary. (With blizzard bag days, districts send work home. If at least 80 percent of kids complete assignments, the day is counted as a full school day.)
In Concord, where school was canceled seven times, and delayed four times because of weather, the school year was extended two days to June 15. Students also picked up a day on March 16, which was originally slated to be a professional development day for teachers. Graduation will be held on June 16.
In Hopkinton, it’s a different story. Seniors will graduate on June 8, but the rest of the district will attend classes until June 21 or 22, depending on the grade. The district called off school seven times – the same amount as Concord – but decided to extended their school day by 20 minutes this spring, convert one professional development day to an instructional day, and add a week of school.
In SAU 67, which includes Bow and Dunbarton, students will be let out a week apart depending on the town where they live. Both districts had six snow days. Bow will make every one of those days and end the year June 21; Dunbarton’s kids will make up just one and start their summer vacation on June 14.
School officials decided to let Dunbarton out earlier to get going on a building project as quickly as possible, and both districts were well over the required number of hours, said superintendent Dean Cascadden. Still, the difference between the two districts led to a moderate amount of grousing in both towns.
“I had Bow parents calling me saying ‘how come we’re not getting out early?’ And I have Dunbarton parents calling me saying ‘how come we’re not getting the full time?’ ” he said.
In Merrimack Valley, school was called off for snow ten times and they had one blizzard bag day.
“It’s the first time that I’ve been involved in a school district that we’ve had double digits,” said superintendent Mark MacLean.
But the district often has at least a handful more cancellations compared to nearby schools – that’s probably because the five-town district covers a larger geographic area than most others, MacLean said, and includes a lot of rural roads in varying conditions.
“If you’re dealing with one road agent in one town, that’s different than five road agents in five towns,” he said.
The school year was extended seven days and will end June 22, except for high school seniors, who will end the year June 15, since they graduate the following day.
Here’s what other districts did:
Pembroke will extend the school year by 2 days and end the school year June 15. The district had 5 blizzard bag days.
Pittsfield will extend the school year by 6 days after 9 cancellations and will end the year June 22.
Epsom will end extend the school year by 1 day and end the school year June 18. The district had 3 blizzard bag days.
Chichester will extend the school year by 6 days and end the year June 21.
Allenstown will extend the school year by 3 days for elementary students and end classes June 20. For middle schoolers, it will extend the school year 1 day and end classes June 18. Middle school students also had 3 blizzard bag days.
(Lola Duffort can be reached at 369-3321 or lduffort@cmonitor.com.)