Press Release

2012-2013 and 2013-2014 School Calendars

Calendars for the 2012-2013 and the 2013-2014 school years were unanimously approved at the January 17, 2012 meeting of the Supervision District Committee of the Chester, Deep River, Essex, and Region #4 Boards of Education.

The calendars take into account the statutory obligation to provide our students with 180 days of school per year and a level of consistency in instruction while balancing the needs of families, holiday observances, and the importance of ongoing professional development of our staff.

These calendars again include a fixed graduation date for Valley Regional High School. Two days are built in to the calendar for emergencies. Since the days are already included in the calendar, if schools are closed for emergencies two times, the date of graduation and the last day of school will remain the same: Thursday, June 20, 2013 and Thursday, June 19, 2014.

In the spring, after the time for possible “snow days” has passed, if schools have not closed for two days for weather or other emergencies, the district will announce that school will be closed for the number of days needed to equal two days. For the 2012-2013 school year the two days designated as potential vacation days are April 22, 2013 and May 24, 2013. For each emergency closing, one of the potential vacation days will become a regular day of school. For example, if school were closed on February 7, 2013 due to poor weather conditions, then April 22, 2013 would become a regular day of school. For the 2013-2014 school year, the two days designated as potential vacation days are April 21, 2014 and May 23, 2014.

In the event more than two emergency days are needed, the date of graduation will remain the same but the last day of school will move accordingly to the following plan. If there are three emergency closings, the last day of school will move to Friday, June 21, 2013 with graduation remaining on Thursday, June 20, 2013. For the 2013-2014 calendar, the last day of school will move to Friday, June 20, 2014 with graduation remaining on Thursday, June 19, 2014. If there are four emergency closings, the last day of school will move to Monday, June 24, 2013 with graduation remaining on Thursday, June 20, 2013. For the 2013-2014 calendar, the last day of school will move to Monday, June 23, 2014 with graduation remaining on Thursday, June 19, 2014.

If there are six or more emergency closings, the days will be made up during the Spring Recess in the following order – April 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 2013 and April 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 2014. Graduation will still remain on Thursday, June 20, 2013 and Thursday, June 19, 2014.