The decision was made because of the Oct. 29 snowstorm.
LUDLOW – The School Committee has taken steps to alter the school calendar after the crippling Oct. 29 nor’easter that left hundreds of thousands of people without power, many for a week.
“We have canceled four days of the April vacation,” School Committee Chairman Michael J. Kelliher said.
He said there is a Monday holiday during the week so there will still be no school on Monday, April 16, which is Patriot’s Day.
The other four days of April vacation have been canceled. The revised school calendar is available on the Ludlow public schools website.
“We are giving people enough notice so they can plan accordingly,” Kelliher said.
Due to the Oct. 29 snowstorm, school districts in the area have already used a week of snow days.
By canceling four days of April vacation, school will get out for the summer on June 15. If five additional snow days are used this winter, school will get out for the summer on June 22, Kelliher said.
Many school districts last year were going to the end of June because of the heavy snowstorms last winter.
“We experimented with having two weeks of vacation at Christmas in recent years to save on the heating oil bill,” Kelliher said.
He said the savings was not as large as projected. He said that closing the schools for two weeks at Christmas caused disruptions to school sports teams that could not practice.
“We decided to go back to a one week vacation at Christmas,” Kelliher said, which will make it easier for students to get out of school before the end of June.
The state has a requirement that students be in school for 180 days per year and will not waive the requirement, Kelliher said.
Students will be given one extra day off following the Christmas vacation – Jan. 3. Teachers will have a professional development day on that date, Kelliher said.
“The weather has sent us a curveball already,” Kelliher said. “We wanted parents and staff to have enough notice to deal with it.”