Snow has schools scrambling to make up days
Yesterday morning was "hectic" for Carol Sassani, the office secretary at Kingston Elementary School in Cherry Hill. Presidents' Day was supposed to be a holiday for the children, but with the recent snow, it became a make-up day.
Yesterday morning was "hectic" for Carol Sassani, the office secretary at Kingston Elementary School in Cherry Hill.
Presidents' Day was supposed to be a holiday for the children, but with the recent snow, it became a make-up day.
Letters were sent to parents, and a notice was posted on the township Web site. But 32 of Kingston's 401 students were still no-shows as of the first bell, and Sassani spent most of her morning calling parents.
"Uggggh," she said with a smile as she held up the day's absentee report.
In Cherry Hill and across the area, school officials were revising their academic calendars yesterday to provide the state-required minimum of 180 days of school instruction.
Some planned to cancel holidays, tack on days at the end of the school year, or stay open during spring break. Others said they had not decided how to make up for the lost time.
In the Northern Burlington County Regional School District, students made up for a December snow day on Friday, which was to have been a day off.
In Deptford, officials will add three days to the end of the year.
In Haddon Township, all three snow days built into the schedule have been used.
"Here's hoping for sunny and 70 degrees 'til June 18," Haddon Township School Superintendent Mark Raivetz wrote in an e-mail. "In the event that does not happen, we will begin taking days off the spring break."
At Kingston and the rest of Cherry Hill's schools, yesterday's classes were to make up for a snow day on Dec. 21. In the school calendar released in the fall, Presidents' Day was designated the first snow make-up day.
Two more days will be added at the end of the year to make up for the closures on Wednesday and Thursday, principal Stanley Sheckman said, the first time the calendar has been extended two days since he joined the district.
"The last time was probably the blizzard of 1996," he said.
Many of the parents Sassani called told her they had not heard about the change. But despite the slightly-higher-than-average absentee rate, Sheckman said, the day went well.
The biggest problem was getting school buses up the snow-choked roads surrounding the school. Once children got inside, things were normal, he said.
At 3 p.m., violin music could be heard from the auditorium, where fifth and sixth graders were practicing for the spring concert. The tune was "Crystal City March," a show standard.
"OK, pizzicato now," Tamara Kimler shouted over the noise, and the students moved from bowing to picking the notes.
Down the hall, teacher Lynn Kahan and her class was finishing the day's work. Kahan said she was happy to be back in school. She missed her students, she said, and the two days off last week interfered with the lesson plans. Before the storm hit, the students had just begun double-digit math.
"They're second graders," Kahan said. "They need consistency. I'm looking forward to a five-day week."
It had been a productive day, she said. The students were focused. They did vocabulary.
"Attract?" Kahan asked the class. "Can someone use that in a sentence?"
Alexis Schneider raised her hand.
"If you drop juice on the floor, you better clean it up or else it could attract bugs," she said.
Alexis said she enjoyed her snow days. She played with her friends and built a snowman named Charlie. She said she was glad to be back in school yesterday.
"I was happy because I hadn't seen my teachers in a while," she said.
At dismissal, parents said the revised schedule had not been much of a hassle.
"What can you do?" said Mary Kay Atchison, who was waiting for her daughter, Katherine, a fourth grader.
Soon, Katherine came out carrying an all-but-empty tray of cupcakes. She turned 10 on Wednesday. She got to play in the snow, but her school birthday party was canceled.
It was held yesterday. Her classmates sang to her, then everyone ate the cupcakes.
"It was fun," she said.
