OXFORD – The SAD 17 Board of Directors approved a traditional school year calendar for 2009-10 Monday.

“It was a lead balloon,” Superintendent Mark Eastman said of efforts to get the staff, students and parents behind a plan to combine winter vacations and have one spring vacation. “We couldn’t get any enthusiasm for it.”

The plan to do away with February and April vacations and make one break in March was recommended last year by the calendar committee after a stormy winter threatened to send staff and students to school on Saturdays to make up lost time.

The idea, which was discussed by other school systems, including Lewiston, had been given a thumbs-up by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron as being educationally beneficial to students.

The school board did agree last year to increase delays in school day starts from 90 minutes to two hours when necessary. The move was made as a quick fix to avoid lost time on a snow day or other emergency without making a radical change to the calendar before getting input from the community. The action was implemented after the school district was faced with its 12th day of school cancellation during the past stormy winter.

In February, Eastman testified before a state legislative committee about a bill providing for a four-day week that he said would provide flexibility to school districts trying to ensure the mandated amount of classroom time despite disruptions such as snow days.

Under the next school-year calendar, classes are set to begin on Aug. 26 and end on June 17 if all six storm days are used. December, February and April vacations will be be observed.