NEWTON, Mass — Amid the ongoing teachers’ strike, the Newton School Committee voted Thursday night to cancel February break to start making up for lost school days, including the following day.
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Students would have Monday off for President’s Day but have to be in school Tuesday through the end of the week, February 23, according to officials.
State law requires public school students to attend 180 days of school, and those attendance requirements must be completed by June 30.
The school committee also announced that classes would be canceled on Friday, February 2, the 11th day of classes students will have missed.
The committee has not yet voted on the last day of school and is considering several additional options to offset the days that have been missed as a result of the strike.
“We do need to be realistic about how much time has to be made up,” said Rajeev Parlikar, a Newton School Committee member. “If we don’t use February break, we are already looking at potentially Saturdays because there will be no other buffer.”
Options include utilizing the April 16-19 school break, using a rotation of weekend days and attending school until the end of June.
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When informed by a reporter that the school committee had voted to wipe out the break, Newton Teacher Association Mike Zilles stated he was unaware before expressing incredulity at the school committee’s decision.
“That was not what I read on the proposal but from what I read in the documents they put out on the docket, the proposal was to complete the school year through June 30 and then if there was a need for more days to go to April vacation,” Zilles said. “I think that’s pretty early after the strike to then once again disrupt people’s schedules. I think it would be very hard for anyone who has a vacation scheduled in that short of notice to do that and I think it’s unfair to both the students and the educators coming off this long and difficult strike to then ask them to change their schedules once again.”
“I would ask them to reconsider is what I would say,” Zilles added.
Attorneys for the Newton School Committee and the Newton Teachers Association are expected to appear in court Friday in response to an emergency motion filed by a Middles Sex Superior Judge Thursday to double fines for each additional day that the strike continues.
That motion is asking for a Middlesex Superior judge to double fines for each additional day that the strike continues.
The hearing is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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