Modified Schedule for RBR After Hurricane Sandy

A message from Red Bank Regional Superintendent Jim Stefankiewicz:

Dear RBR Community:
I hope that this letter finds you well. The past several weeks have presented challenges for everyone. I am so proud of the way that the RBR community has risen to the occasion. The lessons learned through the experiences related to the storm are perhaps more important than anything else our students will learn this year.

Now that the storm has passed, we are faced with the challenge of rebuilding our school community. We will continue to work together to do so. As part of our efforts to return to normalcy, we must restructure our school calendar for the year. State law requires that all students attend school for 180 days each school year. Due to the power outages, RBR was forced to use eight emergency closing days. Six of those days will need to be made up in order for our students to meet the 180 statutory requirement.

Over the past several days, the school administration has met with our PTO, the officers of the Red Bank Regional Education Association, our sending districts, community leaders. and the RBR Board of Education to solicit input into how we should make up the lost days.

We believe that the outcome of those discussions best represents the needs of our students. staff, and families. Please realize that that there is no perfect solution. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our calendar revisions. These proposed revisions will be recommended for adoption by the RBR Board of Education at the Nov. 28 Board of Education meeting.

The following days will be added back to the calendar:

• February 15
• February 18
• March 25
• April 1
• June 20
• June 21

The last day of classes for students will now be Friday, June 21. Graduation will take place on Monday, June 24.

In addition, there will be a change to the graduation time this year. Graduation will take place at 10 a.m. on the high school campus. More information regarding graduation procedures will be released later this year. For now, please save the date and time.

If there is a need for additional emergency closings, additional days will be added back to the calendar in the following order:

• January 21
• March 26
• March 27
• March 28
• June 24
• June 25

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or require any additional information. Again, thank you for your understanding during what has been an extraordinary year.

Warmest regards,

Jim Stefankiewicz, Ed.D.

Superintendent