On Feb. 7, the Board of Education (BOE) gathered in what will be remembered as the meeting that saved spring break.  After Westport was blanketed with what  meteorologists estimate to be over 20 inches of snowfall in the month of January alone, and the school district was forced to have five snow days, rumors began to circulate throughout town about the possible cancelation of April break to replace the lost days.

In a tight vote, with four board members in favor and three members in opposition, April recess was saved and a new school schedule was introduced.

This new schedule consists of one major change. Instead of 182 school days, the usual school year length for Westport schools ––The BOE decided there will be 181 days in the 2010-11 school year.

Although only one day is lost, any change to the schedule has an affect on the school. This has been demonstrated by teachers’ reactions to the loss of school due to snow. Social studies teacher Carol Avery said she would have to revise her plan for her classes, specifically her AP World History class, due to the loss of five teaching days.

“I will probably have to give more homework over weekends and breaks,” Avery said. “We have so much material to cover before May.”

May is a familiar month for AP teachers like Avery–it is the month where AP testing starts and the month where the teaching of the curriculum ends.

In the same light, AP US History teacher Eric Mongirdas said with less time before the test, he will have to adapt. Mongirdas plans to have more take home essays such as the ‘Document Based Questions’ format.

“It is a little more rushed with the loss of those days,” Mongirdas said. “But it is what it is…[The social studies department] budgets about a week of review, so we might lose some of those review days.”

Similar scheduling is made in the science department. It has a built-in week of review just in case school is cancelled for a long period of time, said Joanne Klouda, who teaches AP Physics. She was unmoved when she heard there would be  181 days, instead of 182 days.

“It would make a difference in June, not May, so as far as the AP classes go, it makes no real difference,” Klouda said.

Replacing the scheduled staff development day on Feb. 28 into a regular school day made a big difference, however, Klouda said.

“It allowed for me to teach more curriculum, which helped out my AP classes a lot,” Klouda said.

But even with the removal of one school day, the Westport Public School System is still above state requirements. According to Connecticut state law, all public schools must be in session for at least 180 days. In a letter to the Superintendents of Connecticut Schools from George A. Coleman, the Acting Commissioner of Education for the State Board of Education (SBE), “school districts that enact a school calendar with more than 180 school days do so voluntarily, and need not seek approval from the SBE to shorten or otherwise modify the school calendar, provided that school is in sessions on at least 180 days.”

Westport voluntarily has a 182 day school year, but some think that the 180 days the state mandates is an outdated number.

“If it were up to me, I’d have 220 days [in the school schedule],” Superintendent of Westport Public Schools Elliot Landon said. “182, 181, 180 days represent too few days… our schedule is currently outdated.”

In order to compete with students from other nations such as China, who have longer school days and shorter breaks, the Westport Public School system needs to revise its scheduling process, Landon said.

Principal John Dodig, however, believes our current system works.

“At the end of the day, when students come back from college they are well prepared,” Dodig said. “We are producing a good end product in the 182, 181 day schedule.”

When asked about adding days to the schedule, Dodig seemed to believe it wouldn’t work.

“If we wanted to add days, a new contractual agreement would have to be reached with teachers, and we would have to add money to the budget, which, right now, is not likely to happen,” Dodig said.