We are pleased to announced that the Newark Public Schools has decided to respect your legal rights and will be closed on Election Day. NPS sent out the below letter this afternoon. I will note there is quite a bit of mislead information in the below email.
1) At that time, NTU leadership raised no concerns regarding Election Day not being observed as a holiday this year.
When NPS officials sat down with NTU leadership to discuss the calendar in June 2016, this very concern was brought up by NTU and dismissed by NPS. This issue has been raised many times as a concern of NTU, especially since many schools are used as polling locations.
2) This was not surprising given that NPS held school on this day just last year.
Election Day 2015 was NOT listed as a state holiday. Election Day 2016 is.
3) Mr. Abeigon recently directly communicated to the teaching staff to ignore our agreed upon calendar.
NTU did no such thing. Any communication we sent out was to inform members of their rights. In no email did we encourage members to ignore the calendar.
AND calendars are NOT-Negotiable in NJ. It was never agreed upon. It was presented to us as a done deal. No changes we suggested to the contract were implemented.
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To All NPS Staff:
I am writing to share an important update to the school calendar. We will be closing schools on Election Day, Tuesday November 8th and will be moving this instructional day to later in the school year.
It is rare that we make a change to the school calendar once the school year has started; however, a recent communication from the Newark Teachers Union to members necessitated this change. When we developed the school calendar in April, we consulted with our unions on the proposed schedule, including with the President of the NTU, John Abeigon. At that time, NTU leadership raised no concerns regarding Election Day not being observed as a holiday this year. This was not surprising given that NPS held school on this day just last year. However, Mr. Abeigon recently directly communicated to the teaching staff to ignore our agreed upon calendar, and invoked a provision in state law to direct members to take Election Day off if they so desire. This action created a serious concern about whether there would be appropriate coverage for our students to receive quality instruction on that day.
Therefore, we will be closing schools on Tuesday, November 8th. Central Office will also be closed, with the exception of a small number of staff who will receive direct communication from their managers. However, as we have a calendar that requires 185 days of instruction, we will be moving this instructional day to later in the year. We are in the process of determining the make-up date, and will follow up with you when this date has been identified. We will also be providing a letter for schools to share with parents and families this week.
I do apologize for any inconvenience this causes to you, your school, and our students. I continue to remain optimistic that, in the future, the NTU will work collaboratively with us to avoid such issues.
Sincerely,
Larisa Shambaugh
Cc: Christopher Cerf, Superintendent
All Local Unions