School Superintendent: 'Our Academic Calendar is a Tight One'

Three Village schools will be open on Wednesday, but the damage to the academic calendar has been done: schools will officially be open on March 25, the first day of spring break.

When asked whether there was any flexibility in the school calendar at this point, superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said in a statement Tuesday that the district would be sticking to its original make-up day plan rather than altering it following the Feb. 8 blizzard.

"Our academic calendar is a tight one this year, as we have already taken away days surrounding our February break and Memorial Day holiday weekend," Pedisich said. "It is unfortunate, but we were simply left with very limited options for recovering the lost instructional time."

She described this year's scheduling challenges as "truly unprecedented," given the circumstances this area was dealt in Hurricane Sandy and Friday's blizzard.

While some school districts have taken back all of their planned February vacation days, Three Village school officials recommended taking Feb. 20, Feb. 21, and Feb. 22 back as school days, a plan which the school board accepted. Many school districts, such as Smithtown, Sachem and Port Jefferson, will attend school four days next week. Comsewogue students will attend school two days next week. At least one school district on Long Island, Commack, will hold classes on all five weekdays including Feb. 18 – a federal holiday.

Any changes to the school calendar would have to be voted on by the Board of Education. The BOE was set to meet Tuesday, but that meeting was postponed due to the snow day.

Pedisich asked for the community's understanding and support for the original calendar decision.

"I recognize that this adjustment to the school calendar may create some inconvenience, however, I can I assure you that the decision was made after a thorough and exhaustive review process," she said.