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Community Corner

Formal Request for Immediate Public Disclosure - East Shore Middle School Calendar Year Change

The below email was sent to the Board of Education, the Board of Adlerman, Mayor, Chief Operations Officer, East Shore Middle School Principal, and Superintendents regarding the below article posted on "Milford Now" on March 14th 2014:

Good Morning,
I read the below article on "Milford Now" regarding extending the last day of school for East Shore Middle School to June 25th, which concerns me greatly as it only impacts East Shore and no other schools in the district.  The 2013-2014 calendar published to parents clearly indicated the below. and the expectations were set, at that time, with all district parents on the approach being following in the event of additional school calendar delays.

"Note: The last day of school is tentatively June 17, 2014. If additional days are required for emergency/snow closures, they will be added to June, but not to go beyond June 20th. Should more days be needed, they will be deducted from the April 2014 vacation, beginning with April 14th."  What concerns me further is the impact is limited ONLY to East Shore and those that have voiced their support of this extension represent districts that will NOT be impacted.
I would respectfully request a FORMAL PUBLIC COMMUNICATION be sent to all parents about this change because the expectation was clearly set that any additional days would be taken from April vacation.
If the issue lies with the East Shore expansion, again, I submit this FORMAL REQUEST for justification because, again, the original communication sent by the district to parents clearly stated the approach to delays.  These 11th hour decisions for change to an already established calendar is completely unacceptable and cannot be decided in a vacuum, which unfortunately seems to be commonplace.
Any issues surrounding any delay in the schools construction should NOT impact our children's ability to finish the school year and should clearly be communicated.

Milford school board extends the year for East Shore Middle School MILFORD — There always seems to be healthy debate as to whether it’s best to or to get out early, but at East Shore Middle School the choice was made by an ongoing $22 million renovation project.While 12 city school’s last day is tentatively scheduled for June 17, East Shore students will remain in school until at least June 20.Ongoing construction forced the middle school to start the year three days later than the remaining city schools.The Board of Education voted unanimously to waive June 20 as the last day of school for the district. In fact, the school board’s vote allows East Shore students to remain in school until June 25 if in case there are significant cancelations the rest of the way.If for some reason school remains in session past June 25, then days would be subtracted from April vacation beginning with April 14.While the board’s vote was unanimous allowing East Shore students to remain in school until June 25 before losing days from its April vacation, board member Tracey Casey expressed some concern.“My concern is for any family that made vacation plans,” Casey said. “We said we wouldn’t go after June 30. It’s a little concerning to change that now.”School board Minority Leader John DeRosa said he prefers saving the school’s April vacation.“That’s the right thing to do,” DeRosa said. “To take days away from East Shore’s April vacation is unfair.”School board member Michael DeGrego noted that during April vacation some planned maintenance work is scheduled and the school needs to be closed.

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