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Westport schools establish new snow day policy

Times have changed. If a natural disaster – snow or hurricane or terrible winds –  hits Westport, the Board of Education (BOE) will no longer have to scramble to reach 180 days of instruction per year.

Until last year, three days were built into the year to accommodate unsafe weather and loss of electricity, which force school to close. This year, that number is five.

Superintendent Elliot Landon refered to the impact of Superstorm Sandy, which led to five consecutive days off and a post-storm mess of reorganizing the school year. “We had to deliberate over what to do in fulfilling requirements,” Landon said.

Staples weather guru Scott Pecoriello ’15 predicts a lot of snowstorms in the 2013/2014 winter.

“It’s smart to build in the extra days,” Pecoriello said.

Math teacher Stacey Delmhorst agrees, considering the policy change a win-win. “It’s good if we don’t use them because then we get out earlier in June,” Delmhorst said. “And if there are snow days, we won’t have to worry about something being taken away.”

Julia Paljakka ’16, however, feels differently about the system in general. She is especially concerned about the arrangement of days, should they exceed the limit. “They go off our summer holiday, and if there’s more than five, they go off our April break,” Paljakka said.

In response, Landon assured students and faculty that the system grew from an  interest in an overall smoother response to school closings.

“Ultimately, we’re giving ourselves more flexibility,” Landon said.

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Justine Seligson
Justine Seligson, Photo Coordinator
Being a self-described political junkie and a teen travel writer, Justine Seligson '15 is not only, without a doubt,  a well rounded student and basically a mother's dream, but also a very unique addition to the staff. Seligson is extremely modest about her accomplishments, but it is very clear that her extensive journalistic experience outside of Inklings has largely influenced her presence on the paper. "I have a column on teen travel on my parent's website, which is called Farewell Travels," Seligson said. "It's a very different type of writing [than Inklings] but it's definitely helped me to grow as a journalist overall." Seligson goes on to describe the plethora of exquisite articles she has written for her column over the years. Seligson further explained how her experiences in traveling have shaped her journalistic presence in a large way. She explains why she is nonchalant about the amazing experiences she has had traveling the globe, explaining that it has always been a way of life for her and her family. "My family travels all the time," she said. "It's just part of our business." However, Seligson says that "...[she] would a much different writer if [she] hadn't traveled so much." She casually mentions how much of an impact a pre-college Kenyan writing program had on her, as what an honor it was to be featured in the National Geographic Student Edition. "It made me realize that even though journalism may supposedly be a dying business, there may be some hope for me to pursue my dream career," she said. With her in-depth knowledge of travel and politics, Seligson is sure to be an interesting voice on the paper this year. She hopes to improve her writing and photography even more this year, as well as to help other staff members to increase the quality of their own photographs.

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