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The next school year isn’t for another nine months, but the calendar is in place.
The Westport Board of Education approved the 2006-07 school calendar during its meeting Monday night.
Students will again start school after Labor Day with classes starting on Sept. 5. School will end on June 22.
Students will also again have school on Columbus Day. Students had school on Columbus Day—a non-required holiday—for the first time last October.
Board Chairwoman Mary Parmelee said having school on Columbus Day provides learning opportunities about Christopher Columbus and the other explorers.
It is similar practice to having school on Veterans Day, which the district has done the last few years.
Parmelee said her son, a senior at Staples, came home happy he had gone to school on Veterans Day this year because of the things he learned.
“If we don’t have school it’s just another opportunity for the kids to sleep late,” she said. “This allows them to learn something about what the day means.”
The board was also supposed to vote on a calendar for the 2007-08 school year, but it put off doing that for another year.
Marge Cion, a board member, said she had concerns about voting on the second calendar because she wanted to see how the post-Labor Day start and having school on Columbus Day played out in relation to snow days and when school ends.
