Proposed 2013-2014 Stoughton Public Schools Calendar Approved by School Committee

With about five months left this school year, the Stoughton School Committee and school administrators already started looking ahead to next year's school calendar.

The School Committee approved on a 4-1 vote a preliminary calendar for the 2013-2014 school year, which has school starting after Labor Day and ending a week before July 4th if all snow days are used.

The calendar has students in grades 1-12 returning to school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. Teachers and Unit A staff return the day before, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. Labor Day is Monday, Sept. 2.

After students in grades 1-12 return that Wednesday they have the next two days off (Sept. 5-6) for Rosh Hashanah and then have two more days off for the weekend (Sept. 7-8) before coming back Monday, Sept. 9.

School Committee member George Dolinsky cast the lone vote against the proposed calendar because he was not in favor of the students having four days off between the first and second days of school. However, other members of the committee, while sharing the same concerns, did not want school to start on Sept. 9, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marguerite Rizzi said school could not start before Labor Day because the teachers' contract does not allow for a pre-September start to the school year.

Dr. Rizzi also said school administration opted for a longer winter vacation, starting Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013 rather than send the students back for one day on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013, with vacation starting Christmas Eve. Doing so saves the school from heating the building for a day she said would likely be a "low enrollment day."

The last day of school, including the five built in snow days, would be Friday, June 27, 2014. The last day without the snow days would be Friday, June 20, 2014.

The anticipated graduation date for the Stoughton High Class of 2014 (this year's juniors) is Thursday, June 5, 2014.

Some key dates were not discussed and still need to be plugged into the calendar, namely early release days and the first day of kindergarten.

Take a look at the calendar in the media gallery above. A list of significant dates and vacations are below ():

2013

• Sept. 3 - School Opens for Unit A  Pre-K-12 (Full Day)

• Sept. 4 - School Opens for all Students Gr. 1-12 (Full Day)

• Sept. 5 & 6 - Rosh Hashanah - No School

• Sept. TBD - First Day for Kindergarten

• Oct. 14 - Columbus Day - No School

• Nov. 5 - Election/Professional Development Day - No School

• Nov. 11 - Veterans Day  - No School

• Nov. 27 - Early Dismissal - Gr. 6-12 at 11:00 - K-5 at 11:45

• Nov. 28 & 29 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

2014

• Jan. 20 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No School

• April 18 - Good Friday - No School

• May 26 - Memorial Day - No School

• June 5 - Stoughton High Graduation (anticipated date)

• June 20 - Last Day (180 student days)

• June 27 - Last Day (5 snow days)

Vacations

• Winter: Saturday, December 21, 2013 – Wednesday, January 1, 2014 (school reopens Thursday, January 2, 2014)

• February: Saturday, February 15, 2014 – Sunday, February 23, 2014 (school reopens Monday, February 24, 2014)

• April: Friday, April 18, 2014 (Good Friday) – Sunday, April 27, 2014 (school reopens Monday, April 28, 2014)

Early Release Days