School District Proposes Changes to Fall Break

Fall break for Woodbridge students may be abbreviated next school year under a proposed school year calendar for the 2014-15 school year.

District superintendent Robert Zega and board of education members Daniel Harris, Judy Leidner and Monica Michelle Smith oversaw a public hearing on the proposed calendar Thursday night in the cafeteria of Woodbridge Middle School.

Zega said the biggest change to the calendar is the proposed alteration to fall break. This past fall break entailed a full week of days off for students, something that is not done by many other area districts, Zega said.

Information provided by the district looking at other Middlesex County school districts showed that only three other county districts gave students the whole week off: East Brunswick, Edison and Spotswood.

The highest concentration of districts in the county gave their students three days off during the break, according to the information.

Woodbridge would have Tuesday, Nov. 4 off as well as Thursday, Nov. 6 and Friday, Nov. 7, under the proposed calendar.

They would attend school on Monday, Nov 3 and Wednesday, Nov. 5.

November also contains a half-day on Nov. 26 and two days off for Thanksgiving recess on Thursday, Nov. 27 and Friday, Nov. 28.  

Additionally, the calendar contains changes to half-days.

The elementary schools would see half-days on October 21-24 for parent teacher conferences, and again on Feb. 26-27, 2015. 

The high schools would have half-days on January 26-27, 2015 for testing. June 11, 2015 is also a proposed half-day for the high schools and middle schools. 

The last week of school in June would end in half-days for the entire district, with school ending on Wednesday, June 18, 2015. 

Zega said the half days were to accommodate finals and graduation practice at the high schools. By contract, teachers are also given that time to clean out their classrooms and get their final grades in, he said.

Ending the year earlier in June has advantages, he said.

Woodbridge High School does not have extensive air conditioning and one teacher there reported temperatures of 110 degrees in her classroom last year, Zega said.

A late end to the school year also conflicts with the start dates of summer camps and early college enrollment programs, Zega said. 

"All the more reason to get out early," he said. 

A final vote on the calendar will be on the agenda of the next board of education meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 at Avenel Middle School. 

To view the proposed calendar, click here. 

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the proposed changes to the school year calendar. The proposed fall break for the 2014-15 school year entails days off on Tuesday, Nov. 4, Thursday, Nov. 6 and Friday, Nov. 7. Thanksgiving break remains Nov. 26-28.