Date: Fri 22-Dec-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

weather-snow-schools-winter

Full Text:

The Calendar Finally Catches Up With The Season

Today may mark the first day of winter, but it seems like it kicked off weeks

ago with all the snow.

Believe it or not, the area was hit by more snow this fall than all of last

winter. On Wednesday, Newtown's schools were shut down by snow for the third

time this year; last year, Superintendent of Schools John Reed was forced to

cancel school just once.

"We had a bad winter two years ago, and last year we had one of the warmest

winters, and we just had one of the hottest summers. We're into extremes," Dr

Reed noted.

The winter of 1994-95 dropped 18.7 inches of snow on Newtown. This winter

seems to be making up for lost time as the snowfall figure neared the 30-inch

mark following the onslaugt of this week's storm, which dropped 12-14 inches

by the time it was done.

Two years ago, Newtown had nearly 10 days off from school due to inclement

weather. That year, the school system had to cut into its April vacation in an

effort to make up for lost days.

This year, the last day of school was originally slated for June 12, but has

been pushed back to June 18. Three more snow days, not an unlikely scenario,

and Newtown students will be in school until June 24.

"We always get nervous about going into the last week of June," said Dr Reed.

The state requires schools to be in session for at least 180 days in order to

receive accreditation.