Syosset Mulls Sandy Make-Up Days

Syosset School District has joined many other districts on Long Island in requesting a decrease in the amount of state required instructional days for students.

In a letter on the district's website, Superintendent Carole Hankin said school districts are awaiting a possible waiver from Governor Andrew Cuomo's office that would decrease the required amount of school days.

Like Syosset Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

"Districts on Long Island are waiting to receive information from the Governor’s office about the possibility of a waiver that would reduce the number of required days of instruction," the superintendent wrote. "To that end, we have not finalized any revisions at this time. We will be updating all parents as soon as information is received."

Syosset district was closed a total of five days the week of Hurricane Sandy and the following Thursday as a result of the nor'easter the following week. Schools were open to faculty the Monday after the storm for Superintendent's Conference Day, but classes were not in session.

No approval has yet been given by Albany so the district is formulating possible calendar changes for the original amount of class days. If the waiver is approved, the district would not be required to add as many instructional days to the calendar.

The original 2012-13 calendar factored in three total makeup days, two in April during Passover and one the Friday before Memorial Day. The waiver will only cover a certain amount of lost days of instruction so make up days are still potentially being worked into calendar revisions.

"The district has already begun to review possible calendar changes to ensure compliance with New York State Education regulations," wrote Hankin. "Additional days will be identified if necessary."

In the original version of this story, it was reported that the district was closed for nine days. Patch regrets the error.