Election Day Remains School Holiday Despite Email Protests

As knocked off another five days from the school calendar, Wilton’s spring break has been shortened by two days—and it’s only the beginning of November.

According to the current calendar plan, . Spring break, which normally begins on April 16, will begin on April 18 to make up for lost days.

However, some parents have been emailing Wilton’s public schools, asking that tomorrow—which is both a professional development day and Election Day, a regular holiday for public schools—be reinstated as a regular school day, presumably to curb the shedding of more vacation days in the future. 

Their request was denied. This morning, Wilton’s public schools’ website issued a statement from Superintendent Gary Richards which said that Election Day would remain a school holiday.  

For convenience, you can find the full text of the letter below, as it appears on the Edline front page.

“We have received some inquiries concerning the Wilton Public Schools' calendar and tomorrow’s Election Day. As many of you know, Miller-Driscoll, Middlebrook and Wilton High School serve as polling places on election days and the associated logistics of holding classes on this day would compromise our citizens’ ability to access polling places while making it difficult for us to operate normally.

A second factor is that we have a District professional development day scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8, 2011.The opportunity for continuing learning is important for our staff and is also required by state law. We have been planning this day since last spring and have contracted with outside presenters who will be leading many of these work sessions tomorrow. The cancellation of these sessions would result in considerable cost to the District. 

The past week has been a difficult one for us all. In light of the fact that we have now lost ten days of instruction, we will be recommending further calendar modifications to the Board of Education. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this trying time.

Respectfully,

Gary G. Richards

Superintendent of School”