District to Cancel Unused Snow Day

After the approved four make-up school days in the wake of the October snow storm, Interim Superintendent Dennis Fyffe said two of those days were no longer necessary.

Each year the district allows for up to four days of cancellations due to snow or other severe weather. When the area was on Oct. 29, school was canceled for five days because of power outages, downed power lines and tree branches and unsafe driving and walking conditions among the schools and both Chatham Borough and Chatham Township.

As a result, the district held school on three make-up days so far this year: Jan. 2, Jan. 16 (Martin Luther King Day) and Feb. 17, which was an early dismissal day.

A fourth make-up day was scheduled for April 9.

"We did [schedule] make-up days," he said, but with no other snow days required this winter and temperatures in the 60s and 70s this week, "I suggest we annouce schools to be closed on Monday, April 9," Fyffe said at the Board of Education meeting Monday.

April 9, the Monday after Easter Sunday, is traditionally a holiday in the .

The was debated among residents and board members because the days included Martin Luther King Day. Each school as part of their class activities that day.

Fyffe said he may also recommend at a future meeting that the board cancel school for an extra day around Memorial Day Weekend.