By Gianna Ferace ‘25
Due to school days missed because of the teacher strike in November, Saturday school has officially been put in place for Beverly Public School students to make up for the days missed. In addition to completely removing February break, students will be required to attend class for one Saturday per month, from January to May. The School Committee voted 4-2 on December 11th, the option presented by Superintendent Charochak to help Beverly meet the requirement of 180 classroom days that must be completed by June 30th in accordance with Massachusetts laws.
After removing the December 23 holiday at the start of winter break and four days from February break to be used as make-up time from the strike, the five Saturdays will officially be enough dates to counteract the 12 days of missed school. The option was between removing April vacation or adding a full week to the end of the school year (not including snow days). While this decision makes sense to abide by state laws, every option that was laid out by the School Committee will always result in mixed reviews by the community.
The district must meet the 50% attendance requirement in order for the extra days to count, a low but crucial threshold. While the School Committee is hopeful they meet this, it is challenging to ensure the percentage is met by students. The outcome of holding Saturday classes but not meeting the 50% requirement for it to be counted would be disappointing and would involve more options to be considered to successfully make up the days.
Additionally, graduation for seniors has now been moved to June 8, as opposed to the original June 1. The decision to implement Saturday school and the removal of February break has allowed Beverly Public Schools to meet the state requirement of classroom days, and although it is not ideal to everyone, it’s a compromise to minimize the disruption of snow days and keeping April vacation in place. The success of this approach will depend on the collective attendance by students and if they can reach the 50% attendance requirement.
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