Teachers hold workshops on early release and late arrival days.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – School officials voted to bring back early release days and oust late arrivals when they set next year’s school calendar.

An attempt to change three early release days that fall on Fridays before school vacations and a long weekend was rejected.

School Committee Chairman Clint Brooks made a motion Thursday to amend the acceptance of the 2003-04 school calendar.

Teachers hold workshops on early release and late arrival days. Currently, Jay and Livermore Falls schools have late arrival days. Schoolchildren go to school later in the day just prior to lunch. Previously, the two school systems had early release days where students go to school for the morning and are released after lunch.

Brooks didn’t object to the change back to early release days but did have a concern with the early release Fridays on Dec. 19, April 16 and May 28. The first two precede school vacations and the latter precedes Memorial Day.

Brooks said his attempt to amend the days was to preserve the integrity of the early release days. He was concerned about the “quality of work” that the school system “could receive or not receive prior to the school vacation and long weekend,” Brooks said.

School Principal Peter Brown said the move benefits students and parents not the teachers. Teachers have to stay the full day, he said. One reason, Jay is returning to early release, Brown said, is to match up with schools that have students going to Foster Regional Applied Technology Center in Farmington.

Brooks’ motion failed 3-to-1.

The calendar, approved 3-to-1 with Brooks dissenting, shows the first student-day for kindergarten through grade 9 at school as August 26. Teachers’ first school day is Aug. 25.

There are 180 days built into the students’ calendar with five of those snowstorm days and six early release days. The last day of school is tentatively June 16. For each snow day not used, the students will get out a day earlier.