The Stamford Public School Board may have thought adding to the calendar an extra day that needed to be made up on April 19 was the best solution possible, but less than half the city's student population agreed with them.
During the originally scheduled vacation week of April 15 to April 19, the board voted to add an additional day Friday to try and make up for the lost time caused by Hurricane Sandy.
A total of 53-percent of Stamford Public School students were missing from class that day, according to school board member Jerry Pia.
"I think that everyone in the administration realized this was going to be an issue," Pia said. "But you're stuck trying to make up the 180 days you have to have, and we were forced to try and find places to stick these days in at the last minute. We shouldn't be looking to have extra days during these vacations but we were stuck. It was not a great idea. It wasn't even a good idea."
During Tuesday evening's school board meeting, member Jackie Heftman was the one who broached the topic first, stating the numbers for the 19th were incredibly low in some circumstances.
"Based on the report that...53-percent of students were absent, and some school had as low as 23-percent turn out," Heftman said. "I think based on those numbers and that next year's calendar contains a note that [lost days are] going to come out of april vacation and we have Good Friday and Passover coming in that week, i think we have to look at that note on the calendar."
Pia said he couldn't see why the government at a state level wouldn't mandate exemptions based on the circumstances surrounding the days lost, and he didn't think it was fair to saddle families with juggling plans made long beforehand to fill an arbitrary number quota.
"There was a lot of devestation with Hurricane Sandy," he said. "When something like that happens and it's so catastrophic the governor is telling people only "essential employes" should report to work, I don't think it's unreasonable to dismiss those missing days."
Heftman said that the day was even more of a waste trying to host school than if the day had never occurred based on what was gained versus what families had to try and squeeze in last minute.
"I think nobody gained from having school on April 19, least of all the students," she said. "When you only have half the class there, in some cases a third or a quarter of a class there, there's no teaching going on. And with a whole school like that?"
In addition to the student absences, teachers had trouble covering their own plans April 19, with 265 teachers calling out of work.
"From what we understood from the union president, there were around 250 teachers out," Heftman said.
"[2]65, but who's counting?" replied Superintendent Dr. Winifred Hamilton.
The board agreed to send the 2013-14 calendar back to committee to discuss a note currently contained on the document informing parents that days lost to weather would be made up during April vacation. They will make a decision on where to add days at a future meeting.
This article has been updated.
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