North Andover to Have School on Good Friday
Due to the high number of snow days, schools will be open during the religious holiday.
North Andover schools will have a half day on Good Friday.
The School Committee voted unanimously to add a half day on March 29 -- Good Friday, to Christians -- to the academic calendar. The measure is to compensate for days missed due to the sudden barrage of snow days brought on by our February and March snowstorm-a-week pattern.
The Reasoning
State law requires 180 days of school per academic year, and the town is short one day.
"We looked at the calendar and there are no professional development days left, so that is not an option," School Committee Chair Laurie Burzlaff said.
The options were to have school on Good Friday, Memorial Day, a day during April vacation or a Saturday. Superintendent Kevin Hutchinson recommended Good Friday as the least disruptive day to have school.
Memorial Day is a federal holiday -- it's contractually feasable to open schools on that day, but School Committee members said it would be wrong to do so -- and people already have their April vacations planned.
The Impact
Good Friday falls at the start of the third trimester, and students on the first day of a trimester are typically just handed information about their classes.
"Anybody who needs to miss that can easily be caught up the next school day," School Committee member Stan Limpert said.
And anyone who wishes to stay home and observe the holiday is allowed to, with an excused absence. There will be no tests given that day.
School Committee student representative Nick Cincotta said that he surveyed students and most said they would rather have a half day on Good Friday than go to school on a Saturday.
The Religion Factor
But as word spread about the potential of school on Good Friday, angry parents pushed back. The School Committee acknowledged many emails from parents opposed to the idea.
Observed during Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, Good Friday is a Christian holiday that commemorates Jesus' crucifixion and death.
Good Friday is not a federal holiday. Federal buildings and the Post Office are open. It is a state holiday in 12 states, but not Massachusetts. It's usually observed with schools being closed in Massachusetts, and it's listed on the state's Department of Education website as a holiday, but there is no requirement for schools to be closed on that day.
The Trend
This year, opting for school on Good Friday isn't very rare. Watertown's superintendent announced Thursday that students in that community would go to school on Good Friday to make up for snow days. And Andover's superintendent has recommended the same for Andover students.
So how exactly does a half day make up for a whole snow day? Guidelines mandate a certain number of hours and a certain number of days. North Andover schools are above the required hours but short a day. Having school even for a couple hours fills the day requirement.
If we have more school days, the School Committee might have to add even more unconventional days to the rest of the school year.
For complete details, visit: http://northandoverpublicschools.com/
Northandovermother
7:26 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Isn't there a PD DAY 4/4 and 5/1? I think the comment there are no PD days left is not correct albeit, a half day on Good Friday was a good idea in my opinion.
walkertdx
9:15 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Those PD days are half days already counting as whole days toward the 180 days. They meant there are no full PD days where the students have no school at all.
Michael Quinlan
9:37 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Socialists oppose Christianity so the decision was easy.
Bryan McGonigle2
12:40 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
How many snow/emergency days have there been? How many days did they plan for?
The school department must have data on this over the last 30-50 years and should be able plan accordingly for most years.
Although the snow storms been been on the large size, I'd don't think it been such an unusual year for snow that this needed to occur. Please correct me if I'm wrong (there's been only one or two workdays that I haven't been able to make it to Rolf's).
Adding this half day and excusing many of the students results in a day of school expenses but nowhere near an added day of education. If you can't find a full day in the schedule where everyone can make it, send one of those fat letters to the state explaining how a 179 day school year would be best for everyone.
Robert
1:36 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
yeeesh "coach" go back to Rolf's. Every school year allows for 5 snow days. If no snow days are used, the year ends early. This year the schools have used 6 snow days, so they are one day over, with no days left at the end of June. They had to find a day to fulfill state requirement. We have not had an abnormal amount of snow this winter season, but the several storms we have had over the last several weeks have each been significant snow dumps in a short period of time,
Bryan McGonigle2
1:50 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Thanks for the info about the number of snow days - no need to get all upset just because I didn't know the answer.
Wouldn't it be prudent to have a plan to accommodate more than five? Rather than have a half day with many kids and maybe teachers missing. And if there's more than a normal number of teachers out, there's an added expense of substitutes teachers coming in ...
Robert
2:29 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Five days has sufficed for a very long time, however, i believe the school committee last night announced their intention of reviewing next years calendar so that the year doesn't end so late. And, unfortunately, regardless of the expense, the extra day must be carved out and Good Friday was deemed to be less disruptive than a Saturday or a vacation day.
Michael Quinlan
4:16 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Why does a 'half-day' count as a full day? How many 'half-days' are there during the year? (There seems to be an extraordinary amount.) Does anyone believe kids get a 'full-day' worth of education on a 'half-day'? Why do we accept fraud and call it education?
Bill Callahan
1:55 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Yes, agreed. The state requires two measures of time and learning: 180 days and 900 hours in structured academic time for the elementary schools and 990 hours for secondary. North Andover would meet the 900/990 hours but not the 180 days without the rescheduling. The teachers' union has resisted a pre-Labor Day start which has restricted the days available for make-up if the five built in days are used.
Here is a link to the State DOE website explaining these calendar issues:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=6682
Lisa Malinowski Mucci
4:58 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Why couldn't they take a day from April vacation?
Andy Beresford
5:03 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Jews would go nuts if we did this on one of their holidays! I bet they are already complaining about the picture of Christ in this email! Anyone else notice Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are now official school holidays? Assert yourself, Christians!
Tara Maggard
7:53 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Andy thank you for using your real name. It is nice to easily identify anti semites, I hate when you haters pretend you are kind caring people to our face.
Joanne
6:30 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
I agree with Michael. The half-day on Good Friday is really 1/3 day. All the schools are getting out earlier than the usual"half-day".
Andy Beresford
11:39 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
I’m sure I’m not the only one who is upset that the schools call Christmas (celebrated by 90 plus percent of the students) “winter break” to not offend jews. Remember a few years ago when a rabbi threatened to sue the town of North Andover because he said candy canes in the school were a symbol of Christianity? We even had to take down the "Merry Christmas" sign that had been on the Main Street fire station for decades! Here is an article about removing “under God” from the pledge of allegiance, fifty years ago today! I’m the hater? They are the most intolerant people ever. http://archive.jta.org/article/1960/03/22/3062215/jews-oppose-introduction-of-prayer-to-almighty-god-in-schools?utm_source=Newsletter+subscribers&utm_campaign=f1cf652e0d-TWJH_2013_03_17&utm_medium=email
Tara Maggard
12:23 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Well your blatant prejudice saddens me. I have found North Andover a welcoming community. You forget that in every town there are ignorant people with small uninformed minds. But Andy, I appreciate the education and reminder that stupidity does now and will always exist. I was hoping I would not have to prepare my children that there are angry people that will hate them solely for their heritage. I do have some questions. Does your hate stay focused on Jews or do you have the same disdain for African Americans, Latinos, Buddhist, gay community? Also, do you have a special signal that you give off to your fellow bigots? I ask so that I can steer clear of your kind--that being racist and angry. Tell us your business, we will be happy to avoid that as well.
Bill Callahan
11:56 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Mr. Beresford, your anti-semitism and intolerance are only outshined by your stupidity. It doesn't matter if 99% of the population is of one religion or another - the government is not to sponsor, establish, or promote it nor interfere with its free exercise.
Andy Beresford
2:47 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Then the US taxpayer should not send 3 billion dollars a year to “the jewish state”. Then jewish groups should not get 97% of anti-terrorism grants from the DHS. Then AIPAC should not be the most powerful lobby in Washington. Then there should not be a 90 foot high “national Menorah” on the White house lawn. Then jewish charter schools should not get federal funding, etc. Maybe you should do your homework before you call other people stupid. This “separation of church and state” you speak of is very selectively applied.
Andy Beresford
3:15 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Tara, no one hates anyone based on their heritage or skin color. It is the behavior of specific groups that causes “anti-semitism” or “racism”. One needs only to look at israel to see how ethnocentric and “racist” jews are among themselves. For a tiny group of 3% of the US population, jews have always been at the forefront of removing Christianity in America. Right now there is a play being performed in a South Hadley Massachusetts school by homosexual jewish playwright Paul Rudnick that is pure blasphemy against Christianity: http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen2/13a/PVPA-play-031513/index.html
Robert
3:36 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
Beresford, you are plainly plainly a very disturbed and self deluded individual. No joke. You are the definition of intolerance, and a beacon of hate. What a sad small scary world you live in.
Tara Maggard
2:57 pm on Sunday, March 24, 2013
Oh Andy, this is where my dialogue with you has to end. You are never going to get me to hate my heritage or any other group of people based on stupid stereotypes. I am never going to stop you from being a bigot. With that, let us go in peace. I will continue to support disenfranchised minority groups and you will head off to one of your Klan meetings.
Andy Beresford
9:08 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
Have you noticed everyone’s response has simply been to call me names? That is because everything I’ve said is true, and I don’t believe there should be any group beyond criticism simply because they are powerful. The Jewish hostility towards Christianity is an important subject that goes back thousands of years. Actually it has been a very effective group evolutionary strategy to keep their tiny community racially intact and from assimilating into the majority culture. If anyone wants further research on the matter, I suggest Professor Kevin MacDonald’s “A People That Shall Dwell Alone”, “Cultural Insurrections”, or the courageous Jewish author Israel Shahak’s “Jewish History, Jewish Religion”. http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-History-Religion-Thousand-Eastern/dp/0745308198/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364216357&sr=1-1&keywords=israel+shahak+jewish+history+jewish+religion