The Fayetteville-Manlius School District 2018-19 school calendar has been adjusted to account for lost instructional time due to the number of emergency closure days the district has used so far this school year.
The district budgeted five emergency closure days for the 2018-19 school year. It has used all five days districtwide and six at Enders Road Elementary School; the additional closure was so staff could clean after a small fire at the school.
Because Enders Road students lost a day of state-required instruction, the state mandates that the time be made up. As such, Enders Road will hold its last day of classes on June 26, with the school day starting at 8:45 a.m. and students being dismissed at 11 a.m. More information will be sent to parents from the building principal.
The district’s five other schools will hold their last day of classes June 25.
“We understand this could cause an issue for some families, especially those who have children enrolled at two different buildings,” Superintendent Craig J. Tice said. “Unfortunately, this winter we were forced to use all of our planned emergency days and cancel school due to unsafe weather conditions. Enders Road is in the unusual situation of having closed an additional day because of the small fire that took place there in November.”
New York state requires districts to meet a required number of instructional hours per school year. If school closures cause a district to dip below that requirement, vacations must be shortened or the school year extended.
Currently, the district is still planning for school to not be in session on May 24, as published in the school calendar.
However, if before the end of the school year the district needs to cancel classes for an event that would affect the health or safety of students and staff, such as hazardous weather or plumbing or heating issues, the district will hold classes on May 24.
Early release days on June 24 and 25
During the last week of school, June 24 and June 25 for all three elementary schools and the two middle schools will be early-release days, with the elementary schools dismissed at 11:35 a.m. and the middle schools dismissed at 10:40 a.m.
The district has built in more emergency closure days, a total of eight, for the 2019-20 school year.
“We know parents plan vacations and family events and activities based on the school calendar, so changing it mid-year is not something we take lightly,” Dr. Tice said. “We hope that by incorporating more emergency closure days into next year’s school calendar, we can avoid this situation going forward.”