School officials still sorting out weather makeup days
JANESVILLE — The issue of weather makeup days in the Janesville School District could be decided one week from today.
The decision is important because families who have planned travel or other activities would have to change their plans if the schools cancel upcoming days off.
Teachers will vote this week on options to make up two days off that snow or cold forced on the district this school year.
The vote of the teachers union membership will be advisory, said Jim Reif, chief union negotiator. Teachers union representatives will take the deciding vote Monday, as required by the union's constitution.
Then the Janesville School Board could approve or reject the teachers' decision when the board meets Tuesday night.
Union officials met Monday night to discuss their options.
The union and the board must agree on the makeup dates because the teachers' work days are set by contract. Any change in the contract needs approval of both sides.
Students must make up three days so far this year. The board and union already have agreed to make up one of those Friday, Jan. 23. That date was originally scheduled as a day off for students but an end-of-semester work day for teachers.
The school board also has approved Monday, April 13, as a makeup day, but the union has not yet agreed, so that date will be on the teachers' ballot, Reif said.
April 13 was originally scheduled as the last day of spring break.
Other options on the teachers' ballot will be to add a day to the end of the school year or to alter the parent-teacher conference schedule in February, Reif said.
As the calendar now stands, students' last day of school is Thursday, June 11.
The administration prefers rearranging the conference schedule and to consider adding days to the end of the school year if the weather forces more days off this winter, said Steve Salerno, director of administrative and human services.
Reif said union officials and district administration have had numerous contacts recently to discuss the options.
Middle and high school students are now scheduled for days off Thursday and Friday, Feb. 19 and 20. Elementary students are off a week later, Feb. 26 and 27. Teachers are scheduled to be at school for conferences those weeks from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on those Thursdays.
The solution might be to hold school on Thursday and do conferences from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, 4-7 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Salerno said. Another option is to hold conferences from 4-7 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday.
Jan 23, 2009 at 11:53 a.m.
Suggest removal
Not to alarm anyone, but it is stupid to just ignore this. When is the school board going to get with the program? Our climate is changing and it is a cyclic change. Our temps and the amounts of snow we are experiencing are the coldest they have been in 150 years. We are heading back into another ice age within the next couple of hundred years. They need to do their research and be prepared. I think the school year should set aside at least 5 days a year/versus the one day they have now. They need to get real. I for one as a parent think it's ludicrous to expect there will only be one day used a year. Just look at some of the headlines on this page alone http://www.iceagenow.com/.
It is so typical for people to hide their heads in the sand and then act like they are surprised when things actually come to pass.
Jan 21, 2009 at 6:52 a.m.
Suggest removal
I do think Beloit Turner had a year when they didn't use 1 of their snow days so they did get 1 day off in the spring. I could be wrong though. And for the comment about teachers not wanting to work...why don't you drive past a school on the weekend and see how many cars you see there. On any given weekend there will be 2-3 teachers working at my school. Of course you will always have lazy teachers but I don't recall the teachers were the ones with the problem last year when classes were held on Saturday. Most of the complaining was from the parents.
Jan 20, 2009 at 6:15 p.m.
Suggest removal
Milton is now using an automated call system to inform parents of school closings as well as emergencies that happen like bomb threats, ect. I think it would be nice if Jansville will do this too once Milton figures out if it works or not. BUT, Milton almost always closes WAY earlier than Janesville. It seems that Janesville doesn't announce they are closing until 4-5 AM.
Jan 20, 2009 at 5:25 p.m.
Suggest removal
Until last year I think we went 10 years straight with one or zero snow days. Duh why would any extras be built in? It's not like you can take them out if you don't need them.
Jan 20, 2009 at 4:17 p.m.
Suggest removal
I dont know why people get so "up in arms about this".. If your child hasn`t been missing a lot of days, then go on your vacation or whatever! Half the parents do not send their children on the make up days anyways.
Jan 20, 2009 at 4:14 p.m.
Suggest removal
mrs joe- FYI - The later start and later end to the school is thanks to Madison lawmakers and the efforts of the State Tourism dept. There is no choice in this matter at the local level. And actually, I believe the law states Sept. 1 is allowable. It doesn't have to be "after Labor Day". If Sept. 1 falls on a weekend, no ability to start before the day after Labor Day. But this year, Labor Day is very late, so I would be surprised if school doesn't start sometime after/on Sept. 1 with Labor Day weekend to follow.
Jan 20, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
chelleandlou:
Read what fmcoach66 said. The contract is signed for 2 years at a time so it couldn't be added last year. At least they will be thinking of it in the next contract.
Jan 20, 2009 at 1:58 p.m.
Suggest removal
I think the rational for that is alot of families go away for Labor Day. I personally think school should be out from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Jan 20, 2009 at 1:52 p.m.
Suggest removal
I still wonder why schools switched from starting the end of august to now starting after Labor Day. Anyone know why? we always got out the end of May when we were kids.
Jan 20, 2009 at 12:54 p.m.
Suggest removal
I would just like to express my gratitude to Milton School District for calling us the night before to inform us that our kids did not have school the next day. We were then able to plan our day accordingly.
Jan 20, 2009 at 12:48 p.m.
Suggest removal
Read the article.
Jan 20, 2009 at 12:36 p.m.
Suggest removal
After last year why didn't administration use common sense and add in more snow days? Schedule make up days during spring break. How hard is that. Vacation plans can be changed.
Jan 20, 2009 at 12:17 p.m.
Suggest removal
This current board has tied the hands of administration...no wonder Dr Evert is leaving. As an administrator, he can't make a decision on make up days without board criticism? What a crock. Maybe we don't need an administrator at all if the board want to micro-manage at this level. Good luck finding a new one--who wants to work with this attitude?
Jan 20, 2009 at 11:57 a.m.
Suggest removal
winter is still here IMO they should wait for the threat of more closings to end before they decide on makeup days,,,,,, This is Wisconsin
Jan 20, 2009 at 11:56 a.m.
Suggest removal
The JSD-JEA contract and thus calendar is a two year agreement. So I am sure that the next calendar will have these snow days pre-set aside, so that this does not happen again. They simply could not fix it last summer as the contract was not up.
Jan 20, 2009 at 11:49 a.m.
Suggest removal
it comes down to the fact that nobody wants to work more than they have to. I am talking about teachers, as well as students, here in this statement. If you told kids that there are 5 extra days in the calendar in case of snow and we have a mild winter where we use just one day, they would expect to get out of school 4 days early. More chaos.
Jan 20, 2009 at 11:38 a.m.
Suggest removal
Why doesn't Janesville build in more snow days? Most other districts in the area have 3-5 built in to their school year. Why is this such a big deal, it seems like common sense to me.
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.