March 19, 2014
Dear St. Francis Parents,
Today marks the last day of winter. I believe I speak for all when I say that it has been unforgettable. Regardless of our age, the winter of 2014 will be remembered as one of the more difficult of our lifetime. The flexibility it has required with school activities/functions has been tremendous. Everyone in our school community is to be commended for enduring the challenges this winter presented.
Upon consideration of possible scenarios to encumber the instructional time missed this winter, we feel that we have been able to formulate a very honorable plan to account for the 17 cancelled days of school. The following layout is a breakdown of how we will account for all the days.
1- Cancellation Days #1-#11 are already accounted by being built into our calendar. They include: Feb. 17, March 7, March 10, April 24, April 25, May 30, June 2, June 3, June 4, June 5, June 6.
2- Cancellation Days #12, #13, and #14 have been accounted by our “Cyber” day assignments. We have received approval from the Diocese to allow every 2 “Cyber” days to count as one school day. Since we have had already had 6 “Cyber” days, we are able to count that as 3 school days.
3- Cancellation Days #15, #16, and #17 will be accounted by extending some of our school days. Because there is no available space in our school calendar between now and June 6, the plan to makeup the minimal amount of lost instructional hours (540) from these three cancelled days will be to extend our school day by 45 minutes. This will only occur for twelve total school days. The first ten extended-school days will occur Monday March 24 through Friday April 4 (two weeks prior to Terra Nova week). We will then do the same 45-minute extension to our days on April 14 and 15 (Monday and Tuesday after Terra Nova week) as well. Our school day hours on these twelve days will be from 7:50-3:15. Dismissal on these days will be from 3:15-3:45, as it normally would from 2:30-3:00. Please note the following regarding bus services:
*March 24-28 there will not be Mon County bus services in the morning or afternoon (due to Mon County Spring Break)
*March 31-April 4 and April 14,15 there will not be Mon County bus services in the afternoon (due to our extended days)
I have spoken to countless school administrators, both in public and private schools, and I can assure you that our plan to accommodate the 17 snow days is advanced compared to theirs. Our ability to, in one way or another, account for all the days missed is evident to academic rigor being a pillar of our school. Thank you for the commitment you have shown to holding your children to high standards of excellence. May the endurance of a hard winter bring a promising spring to all of us. Peace.