New Haven’s public school district can’t say for sure when the current school year will end — now that a blizzard has canceled classes for two days in a row, requiring the city to make up those days in June.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) remained closed Tuesday after a blizzard dumped up to 20 inches of snow on the city between Sunday and Monday. Schools were also closed on Monday.
The district decided to stay closed Tuesday in part because NHPS lots are still not ready to safely welcome back staff and students. “Safety has to be our highest priority,” NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent Tuesday.
NHPS lots are used by members of the public when the city sets a parking ban during storms. The citywide parking ban, which took effect Sunday at noon, remains in place.
This week’s blizzard comes less than a month after another major winter storm heaped more than a foot of snow on the city, canceling a day of school along the way.
Asked how this week’s two snow days will impact the district’s calendar for the remainder of the year, Harmon said “these school days will need to be added at the end of the year.”
NHPS’ last day of school was originally set to be Wednesday, June 17.
“Given the possibility of more snow days ahead,” Harmon said, “we cannot publish our ‘official’ last day of school until we feel confident the winter is behind us.”
The district initially built its calendar with 182 instructional days for students, exceeding the state-mandated minimum of 180 days. The extra days were intended to account for two potential snow days. With the board’s vote to close on Jan. 2, the district left itself with room for only one snow day — bringing the total number of scheduled instructional days to 181. Since then, there have been three snow days.
If the city gets no more snow this year, the additional school days needed to make 180 academic days would extend the academic year to Monday, June 22 after taking into account the Juneteenth holiday on Friday, June 19. State law requires that districts not extend the school year beyond Tuesday, June 30.
Reached for comment Tuesday, city teachers union President Leslie Blatteau said that, while state law requiring 180 day of school is a “non-negotiable,” she believes “today would not have been a good day to go to school.”
She said that any frustration about adding days on to the end of the year is understandable. She also pointed out that NHPS still needs adequate funding and resources “to address ongoing maintenance issues and that includes snow removal and making sure that our schools can handle the intense weather of all seasons.”
In a separate interview Tuesday, Mayor Justin Elicker said that the city will make a determination later in the day as to whether or not schools will reopen on Wednesday. He noted that another storm is en route, bringing potentially 1 to 3 inches more snow to the city.
As a dad, Elicker said, “My wife and I desperately wanted schools to be open” Tuesday. That decision is a more complicated one to make from his perspective as the mayor and a Board of Education member.
The city and the school district need to make sure that “the lots and the sidewalks are clear around the schools” before reopening, he said. “The contractors made a lot of progress, [but] they hadn’t completed the work” in time for schools to reopen Tuesday.
“It’s got to be safe for kids to get into schools.” It’s also got to be safe for people who have parked their cars in school lots during the parking ban to get out.
With the citywide parking ban still in place and the lots and sidewalks not sufficiently cleared, “we decided it was best to not open school for another day.”
“The desire from all of us,” Elicker concluded, “is to have school be open.”
Thomas Breen contributed to this report.