By Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

TRENTON, N.J. – Despite pleas from Gov. Chris Christie, some New Jersey school districts will remain closed two days this week for the now-canceled New Jersey Education Association’s annual convention.

That will only add to the many days that New Jersey kids will have away from the classroom this month. And they’re not all the result of Hurricane Sandy.

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Last week the NJEA announced the cancellation of its annual convention due to the unprecedented damaged caused by the hurricane.  The convention was scheduled for Nov. 8 and 9 in Atlantic City.

Gov. Christie strongly urged teachers to voluntarily return to school on the scheduled convention days, even though they are not obligated to report.  Christie cited “extraordinary circumstances” and said students have missed too much class already.

New Jersey schools have been closed for over a week as the ravaged coastal state recovers from severe flooding and widespread power outages caused by the superstorm.  Many districts are scrambling to make up for the missed time.  State law mandates schools to be in session a minimum of 180 days.

To complicate matters, public school calendars in November are littered with union-negotiated public sector “holidays.”  On Election Day public schools were closed for “staff workshops.”  Later this week schools were scheduled to be closed for the NJEA convention.  Next week schools are closed for Veteran’s Day.  And finally, schools will be closed Nov. 22 and 23 for Thanksgiving.  That doesn’t leave a lot of time for learning.

The Vineland and Millville school districts do not seem concerned about the impact of missed classes on student learning, however.

Despite Gov. Chris Christie request for teachers to report to school on the scheduled convention days, “Vineland and Millville school districts responded by thumbing their noses at the governor and giving all their public servants a couple days off,” reports the Daily Mail.

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The reasoning?

Vineland Superintendent Mary Gruccio said the district would be closed on the scheduled convention days because she expects many teachers would be absent and the district would be unable to find enough substitutes, reports the news site.

Gruccio failed to mention her daughter, a teacher in the district, is getting married Friday.

Vineland teachers union President Lou Russo said teachers were prepared to hold classes if the district decided to stay open.

“If the board had us come back to work, we would come back,” Russo said.

Millville Superintendent David Gentile’s concern was for the parents.  Gentile reasoned it wouldn’t be fair to ask parents to change their plans on such short notice.

“In Gentile’s world, there must be parents all over the place who’d be very upset if they had to cancel their extra day care sessions and save money because school was suddenly in session,” the Daily Mail wrote.

Clearly this is another example of public schools putting students second.