Good Friday Debate Resurrected in Marion

Making Good Friday an early dismissal day at Sippican School instead of a full day would be a fair compromise, thought Marion School Committee member Christine Winters, given the higher-than-usual absentee rate this past April 3 when Tri-Town schools opened their doors on the religious holiday for the first time in recent history.

The committee was split on the idea, finally deciding not to act and to wait a year before revisiting the idea, but not without an ardent back and forth of opinions.

Winters proposed the half day as a way of reaching a middle ground between those who want school on Good Friday and those who oppose. Newly elected Chairman Christine Marcolini was first to disagree, then joined by newly elected Vice-chairman Kate Ellen Houdelette. Winters thought that trying it as an early release could be a test run to see if attendance would improve next year.

“We can try, it’s certainly within our purview to do it,” said Winters. “And given that it’s a half day, it may be easier to get substitutes. Is it worth a try?”

Marcolini asked if straying from the Tri-Town district-wide decision to keep Good Friday as a full day of school would “rock the boat.”

“That isn’t going to be well received with our sister communities,” said Marcolini.

But, you are your own committee, said Superintendent Doug White. “By law, you have the ability to manage your own school district.” Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet voiced her preference for the half day over the full day, since teachers reported the full day was overall an ineffective teaching day with the high absentee rate.

“Teachers taught, but they knew several students were not going to be there,” said Rivet. “You want a day that they’re there with a full curriculum. It was not the sort of day that I would’ve liked it to be.”

Houdelette said she thinks attendance would be even lower if decreased to a half day.

“Half days are sometimes questionable, at best,” said Houdelette. She said she sees both sides of the argument, but in her talks with area parents, the majority appreciated having school on Good Friday, which is easier for working parents, she said.

“I feel like, you stick to your guns a little bit,” Houdelette said. “I hate letting teachers down … but, personally, I’m not willing to do a half day.” She suggested reassessing next year.

Marcolini concurred, but new School Committee member David MacDonald disagreed. He said there were a number of reasons why he disagreed, specifically saying, historically, the day has been a holiday.

Speaking as a teacher herself, committee member Michelle Oullette said, “If absenteeism is high that day, it hurts us.”

“And I don’t think it could be any worse than it was last year,” said Winters in favor of the early release.

Houdelette said establishing Good Friday as a half day would muddy the data the committee is seeking to collect to later assess the matter. For Houdelette, going from a full day to a half day would provide inconsistent data. She said she did not think making it an early release day would necessarily increase attendance.

Winters referred to the past district-wide decision to give students the day before Thanksgiving off after assessing lower attendance data, pointing out that the threshold held to make the decision was much lower than the absentee rate for Good Friday this year.

“If we’re going to do this, then the same threshold has to apply,” said Winters.

Marcolini, seeing there was no united unanimous front amongst the committee to move forward with the half day, urged the committee to close the conversation until next year.

“But [with Thanksgiving], we did have the data on attendance for year after year,” said Marcolini. “If the attendance is poor again … then I think we can more safely say this is a pattern [or] this is just a blip.”

Assistance Superintendent Elise Frangos suggested the committee devise a “religious accommodation plan” as other school districts have done to establish concrete policy on the Good Friday full school day.

“It protects kids from being held to any assessment … and won’t be held against them,” said Frangos. “To say you cannot miss school on that day and be hard and fast about it can become a tricky issue.”

Also during the meeting, Rivet said she is still watching class sizes for kindergarten and Grade 3 closely as new families move into the new 40B housing development. Kindergarten is up to 54 students total, and Grade 3 is up to 70. Rivet said she expected Grade 3 to reach 71 by the coming Friday.

“Both of those grade levels are big watches at this time,” Rivet said. When asked if this was usual around this time of year, Rivet said no.

“Usually we have none other than kindergarten coming in for registration,” said Rivet. “This has been a little bit unusual.”

The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is September 2 at 6:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry

MRsc_061115

Leave A Comment...

*