Gus Leffers, Reporter
Photo provided by Dr. Bryan Luizzi
On March 16, the Board of Education announced an updated end-of-year schedule resulting from a number of unexpected closures this winter. Graduation will remain the 16th of June at 10:30AM, but may be pushed back one day if weather interrupts the ceremony. The last day of school at NCHS will be a half-day on Friday, June 19th.
An unexpected 5 school closures this year were the reason behind the big changes to the end-of-year timeline. Our last day was originally the 16th, which was extended to the 18th, a Thursday, after a power outage on December 5 and a snow day on January 26. However, after two snow days on February 23 and 24, NCHS ran into an issue: extending twice more would push us into next week, ending on Monday the 22nd.
This posed a problem. “We have a policy on the books that says, wherever possible, school will not go past Friday of the third full week in June,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Luizzi. “I wouldn’t say that it’s not allowed, but just that our policy advises us to avoid that, if possible.”
Thankfully, this kind of situation has been planned for in advance: our calendar is built for 182 days, offering a two-day buffer over the state-required 180. “We would love to have 182 days, just because a couple of extra days can only help and be useful. But there are some times where Mother Nature and the calendar itself sort of work against us, and we have to go down from 182 to 180,” said Dr. Luizzi.
“My recommendation to the Board of Education will be to end the year on Friday, 6/19. That reduces the student year from 182 to 180 days,” he said. “If we have additional cancellations, the BoE will decide between extending further into June or taking day(s) from April Break, starting with Friday the 10th.”
Thankfully for everyone excited for April Break, the Board of Education endorsed the Superintendent’s plan that Monday, placing the last day of the 25-26 school year on the 19th. It will be a half day, giving students an early entry into summer and time to celebrate Juneteenth.
One day that hasn’t changed since early February is the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2026, which will remain on Tuesday, June 16. Per Dr. Luizzi, “There’s a statute that says you can set the graduation date whenever you want in the school year, but it has to be on or after the 180th day in the calendar. So, on the day that the BoE locked in the date, February 2, June 16 was the 180th day: that’s why we wanted to have that vote early and get that date locked in before there could be more storms and more closures.”
With all this discussion of school cancellations, students might be wondering how they actually happen in the first place. According to Dr. Luizzi, who makes the final call for the district, the answer is long deliberation and early mornings: “I get up at four o’clock in the morning and get on a conference call with a meteorologist at 4:10, and we talk for about 15 minutes. Then, I get on a call with the Department of Public Works. Sometimes I’ll call the police department. I’ll talk to our custodians. I’ll talk to our bus company. I’ll continue to look online at the forecasts and I’ll talk with my colleagues throughout the region too — Darien, Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, Westport, Wilton, and Ridgefield.”
“Ultimately, I have to make the decision based on all that information. I know that it impacts 10,000 people, so I really try to be discerning when I make the calls.”
Dr. Luizzi
It’s hard to make the right call on such a complicated decision; indeed, there was some controversy over February 25, when snowfall caused delays on the road and both the elementary schools and Saxe’s 5th and 6th grades had to be abruptly delayed by two hours. “I made a bad call that morning,” Dr. Luizzi said. “I own that, and I admit to it, and I apologize to anyone who was negatively impacted by that. Our meteorologist was concerned going in, but, as we looked at some of the other reports, everything was pointing to it being very light. And then, once it started, it was very intense — that’s why I called a delay as quickly as I could.”
Ultimately, that day — and, hopefully, all of our turbulent weather — is behind NCHS now. There may be surprises in the future, but, barring extenuating circumstances, NCHS should have a clear path towards June and the end of the year. Mark your calendars!
