If the full School Committee agrees to a change in its policy, classes will not be held again on Christmas Eve in Harvard.
In a unanimous 3-0 decision this week, the committee asked its policy subcommittee to note that Dec. 24, 2014, had been a “low attendance” day and that no classes should in the future be held on Christmas Eve. Members Bob Sullebarger and Patricia Wenger were absent for the vote, as was non-voting Devens representative Maureen Babcock.
‘It’s done’
“The day itself … went off very well,” schools Superintendent Linda Dwight told the committee, but based on the results of Harvard’s one-of-a-kind experiment, she said that she and her leadership team would not recommend having school on Dec. 24 in the future. The low attendance of both faculty and staff made this year’s trial “not a viable educational day,” she said.
School Committee Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger agreed. “It does not behoove anyone in the district … to hold school on a day when one out of four students attends,” she said. “The data is out here. It’s done. We have what we need … to show that that day isn’t worth putting on the calendar as a day of school.”
Last week the Press reported that 22 percent of Bromfield students and 30 percent of elementary school students were present for classes, figures that Dwight confirmed at the meeting. Less than half (46 percent) of teachers and staff participated in the day’s activities. Administrators compensated for the low turnout by hiring substitutes and recruiting volunteers, or by combining classes. (See “Spirits high, but day-before-Christmas classes not likely to be repeated” in the Jan. 9 issue of the Press.)
In December, as she and her staff planned for the day, Dwight had told the committee the administration hoped to convey a message of tolerance and respect for minority religions. “We wanted people to take a certain message away,” Redinger reflected Monday night. But, she added, “it is not the schools’ place [to follow] through with the delivery of that message, so people will take from that day what they will.”
Time to put matter to rest
“My hat’s off to the administration,” said Redinger. “It was not an easy day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Committee member Kirsten Wright, a member of the original committee that approved holding classes the day before Christmas, also had praise for Dwight and her administration. “I don’t think it could have been handled any better,” she said. “I really just appreciate that very much.” She said her son went to school that day. “He got a lot out of it, and we had a lot of good conversations at home.”
As the brief discussion ended, Redinger pressed for a vote. “I think it’s important to put the matter to rest.” Wright thought it important that the entire committee be present. “It seems like it’s been such a huge thing,” she said.
“We’ll have the opportunity to vote on the policy when it comes back,” offered Redinger. “I think it’s important that we act on it.”
In other business Monday evening the committee
- Approved a letter to the selectmen that asks that board to consider the old library for use as a future home for Harvard’s school administrators. This is the third such letter the School Committee has sent the BOS. Two years ago the committee voted unanimously to leave Bromfield House.
- Approved the job description for the educational technology coordinator it wants to add to its staff.
- Accepted a $369.75 donation from the Harvard Schools Trust to pay for the purchase of cameras for a news program at the elementary school.
