WOODBURY- Winter in New England brings many challenges for schools, snow days being one of them. Connecticut has been seeing winter weather week after week, resulting in school closures and delays across the state. While it feels great to wake up in the morning and see that school is canceled for the day, it adds up at the end of the year.
It’s required by the state of Connecticut that public schools run for a certain number of days every school year. In order to meet that quota, when school is canceled for a snow day, it has to be made up at the end of the year to account for possible emergencies or other events. NHS assistant principal Declan Curtin says that if the last day of school were to stay the same, it wouldn’t give enough time for exams and graduation preparations.
“We have to make the proposal to the Board of Ed and they finalize it,” Curtin says. “Students need to be in school for as long as we can, and we take four days to do exams. If we were to keep the same date, we’d be looking at a really early graduation date for seniors since they’ll be taking exams a week early, and that’s not what we’re looking for.”
Nonnewaug has had seven snow days, forcing the last day of school to be pushed back to June 19th. Graduation is most likely going to be moved up a week from its original date of June 13th, a date that will be solidified at April’s Board of Education meeting. Many seniors are discussing how a later graduation could impact their summer before college.
“I think that it’s unfair that they moved it up a week,” NHS senior Julianna Morriar says. “I’m going on a trip this summer and I might have to push it back depending on when graduation is. A lot of seniors have plans this summer, especially in June before it becomes super hot. If graduation is too late it kind of ruins those plans for people.”
With rumors swirling about the date of graduation, NHS seniors are dreading the possibility of a late graduation. Some seniors feel like it’s unfair to graduate so late into the month of June, especially due to snow days.
“I don’t think snow days should affect when we graduate,” Eloise Morse, a senior at Nonnewaug, says. “I know we’ve had a lot more snow days than usual due to weather stuff, but we live in New England which is notorious for snow and crazy weather. That doesn’t really have anything to do with graduation. It’s not fair to the seniors to have to get out late because of it.”
The heat can also create issues. Graduation is an hours-long ceremony, and the later it’s pushed back, the more it heats up outside, which can be uncomfortable for some people.
“If it’s sunny and hot enough, a lot of people aren’t going to be comfortable sitting in the heat for hours,” Morse says. “I think people are going to leave early or not be there due to the heat and how late in the month it is.”
With much to still be determined at the April Board of Education meeting, students and their families are eagerly awaiting concrete dates. It’s unlikely it will be moved any further up, though, as spring concludes the season of snow and slush here in Connecticut.
