State issues new rules on missed school days

Under the guidelines, schools will be required to make up all days canceled between the first day of school and March 31, while all days lost after June 1 will be waived. Days lost between April 1 and June 1 must be made up until the district reaches what would have been its 185th day of classes.

State regulations require that each district schedule at least 185 days in the school year, allowing for five built-in makeup days.

The state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Mitchell D. Chester, hopes the guidelines will provide clarity to a waiver process that proved controversial this year, when he granted exceptions to schools affected by feared outbreaks of the H1N1 or swine flu virus but did not give any relief to the Central Massachusetts districts affected by the December ice storm that left some residents without power for nearly two weeks. Officials were forced to cancel vacations or extend hours to meet the 180-day requirement.

In issuing the guidelines, Chester also reiterated recommendations that school districts make adjustments in their schedules to avoid similar problems.

He urged them to begin the academic year before Labor Day, to have a one weeklong break in March instead of breaks in February and April, and to notify parents, teachers, and staff in advance that vacations might be canceled if the district has to make up an inordinate number of days.

In his memorandum, Chester also suggested scheduling more makeup days.

“These options represent change to the traditional school calendar, but if scheduled well in advance, will likely be preferable to the type of sudden scheduling changes many districts were forced to make this year,’’ Chester wrote to superintendents and charter school leaders.

Superintendents of several school districts said they understand the basis of the commissioner’s new waiver policy and other recommendations.

“It makes very explicit now going into the future what districts can expect,’’ said Loxi Calmes, superintendent of the Lunenburg school district. “I think it is very helpful.’’

“There was nothing in here that was a surprise,’’ said Carol Daring, superintendent of the Gardner school district, which lost 10 days because of the ice storm.

Daring said based on the input of parents and staff the district canceled the February vacation to make up lost days.

For the future, Daring added, most people in her district seem to support a calendar that includes an early start to the school year but preserves the February and April vacations.

Breaking from tradition, schools in Gardner started after Labor Day last year, Daring said, but this coming year students are scheduled to return Aug.26. Labor Day falls on Sept. 7.

But Chester’s memo about expanding the school year beyond 185 days probably would require renewing contract negotiations with unions, which might be difficult to achieve, said Roseli S. Weiss, superintendent of the Narragansett Regional School District.

Weiss and others said that parents would be likely to resist the idea of settling for only one vacation in March. Eliminating holidays is also likely to result in increased absenteeism, Weiss said.

“The February and April breaks are pretty traditional breaks and changing that takes a lot of time,’’ said Calmes.

So far the commissioner has granted waivers to 25 schools affected by the swine flu virus, records show.

But none of the districts affected by the early-winter ice storm received the waiver because they had many months to make up the days, Chester said in the memorandum.

Jayakrishna can be reached at njayakrishna@globe.com.