State OK's June 23 as last day

Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll, who is known to be a stickler for enforcing the 180-day rule, is allowing the school year to end early for students in at least six school districts, including Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, and Reading.

In granting the waivers, Driscoll is requiring school districts to make up as many days as possible by June 23. After that, he is allowing districts to replace remaining school days with teacher training days. Andover will replace one day with training; Methuen will replace two; and Lawrence will replace three days at the high school and one at its elementary schools.

Classes were canceled in the three communities because of severe flooding last month.

The commissioner also granted a one-day waiver to Reading High School, which lost a day earlier this year to an electrical fire, so the academic year can end on June 22, the same day as other district schools.

Driscoll is excusing the districts from the 180-day requirement in consideration of the summer plans many families have already made for the last week of June.

``He feels strongly kids need to be in school, but at the same time he's a father and knows parents make summer plans," said Heidi Perlman in a telephone interview. ``The last week in June is not a good time for kids to be in school."

That sentiment contrasts with Driscoll's stance last year when he refused to approve waivers for districts hit hard by a blizzard and other snowstorms. He instead urged districts to start their academic years before Labor Day so there would be plenty of time to make up missed days before the end of June. Perlman said the difference between now and then is timing. The floods came late in the year, after school committees had officially announced the last day of classes and after families made summer school and vacation plans.

His decision came a week after New Hampshire Education Commissioner Lyonel B. Tracy started approving more than two dozen waivers to the 180-day rule in his state for those same reasons.

Driscoll isn't OK'ing all waivers. So far he has rejected four, including Winchester and Greater Lowell Technical High School, because the districts can make up flood days and still finish the school year on June 22.

Superintendents in districts that have received waivers thought Driscoll's compromise of replacing school days with teacher training days was clever: The school year will end early for students so family plans won't be disrupted, but teachers will still be required to work for all the days they are contractually getting paid.

In Methuen, where flooding forced schools to close for five days, Superintendent Phil Littlefield said his district will use the two extra training days to sharpen teachers' skill in assessing student progress in the classroom and in individualizing classroom lessons to each student's learning style.

``The flooding was so close to the end of the school year that we have very little flexibility to make up days," Littlefield said. ``Parents would have been choosing between plans they made or sending their children to school for the last week in June. It's a great compromise."

In Andover, the compromise also saves the district from the hassle of having students report for the last day of school on a Monday, June 26, for a half-day of classes.

``I think the commissioner realized that the last day might not be beneficial to students," said Superintendent Claudia Bach, who called off school twice because of flooding.

``But our teachers could really benefit from a day of professional development," she continued. ``Our assistant superintendent is always begging for more professional development. She thought it was a good turn of events."