Point Road Opening Tuesday, Little Silver Schools on Full-Day Schedules

Markham Place and Point Road School students will resume regular schedules Tuesday after attending classes on a split schedule Monday due to continued problems at Point Road.

However, students will only resume a full schedule after nearly two weeks of inactivity on Tuesday and Wednesday, with early dismissals Thursday and Friday for parent-teacher conferences, Superintendent Carolyn Kossack announced Monday evening.

Little Silver children split time at Markham Place Monday after plans to reopen both schools were dashed due to a smoking electrical panel discovered at Point Road Saturday morning. Kossack, in a letter to the community on the district's website, said Point Road was deemed safe and operational at 11:20 a.m. today.

"Thanks to the cooperation and flexibility of the Little Silver police and the Little Silver staff, the day went quite smoothly. As always, I appreciate parental support and flexibility in adjusting to the change in schedule for today," Kossack wrote.

The superintendent has said she choose to receive students on a split schedule because of the time lost due to Hurricane Sandy and the need to establish normal routines.

But the full-day routine will only be in effect Tuesday and Wednesday.

Children will be dismissed early for the parent-teacher conferences with Kossack saying she decided to retain the planned schedule after consulting with staff.

"Some parents have inquired as to whether or not consideration could be given to postponing the conferences... There is absolutely no disputing that we all want to resume a normal, full-day schedule. There is also no disputing that having half-days after school was closed because of the disaster is not ideal," Kossack wrote.

However, "the resounding complaint that I’ve heard from parents, as of late, is that they felt schedules kept changing... While I understand the desire to return students to a full-day schedule, I also know that many parents have planned for the upcoming conferences.  There is no single decision that will make everyone happy, therefore I must err on the side of minimizing change, and maintain the conference schedule as published."