February break canceled in Naugatuck

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February break has been canceled in Naugatuck, according to Assistant Superintendent Brigitte Crispino. The break, from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 was canceled after power outages forced school to close for five days following Snow Storm Alfred on Saturday. The school district also closed for three days following Hurricane Irene in August, for a total of eight days missed so far this semester.

Next Thursday, which was originally scheduled as a professional development day, will now be a full day of school. Also, the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT’s) originally scheduled for Nov. 5, have been postponed until Nov. 19.

The remainder of the missed days will be added to the end of the school year, in June, Crispino said.
Students’ last day will now be June 18 while teachers will have to stay an extra day to make up the professional development day.

Crispino said the decision to take away February break was built into this year’s school calendar after discussions following last year’s heavy snows. As soon as the schools had accumulated five unscheduled days off, three days were set to be taken from February break.

“When we developed the calendar this year, we made it very clear that February vacation could be eliminated,” Crispino said.

She said the change in schedule shouldn’t affect state testing, which can take place any time in March.

Crispino said she couldn’t remember another time February break had to be eliminated, but part of April vacation was taken away many years ago.