Madison Schools Open Thursday, Friday

Madison Public Schools will be open on Thursday and Friday, the superintendent announced Monday.

The schools originally were closed those days for the annual NJEA convention in Atlantic City, but the event was canceled on account of Superstorm Sandy.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Rossi said a higher than normal student and faculty absentee rate and some maintenance projects will be disruptive, but the district would be able to work through any issues.

Dear Madison Employees, Students and Families,

As promised I am contacting you regarding the Thursday and Friday schedule. After due consideration, conversations with faculty and staff, and conversations with students, school will be in session Thursday and Friday. These days will be full schools days and we will seek to provide as much continuity of instruction as possible given some challenges. Those challenges include a higher than normal student and faculty absentee rate, along with several critically important maintenance projects that we need to go on. At CAS, MJS and MHS we will be resurfacing our gymnasium floors which will alter instruction for Physical Education classes and disrupt the normal flow of lunch in those buildings. Additionally, a critical and scheduled change to our voice mail and phone system server will make phone service within the district unavailable for at least 2 hours on Thursday. These will be in combination with several other maintenance projects that are normally part of this Thursday through Sunday. However, given that the two days will enable us to provide a full week of instruction we believe these disruptions can be overcome and that school should go on. I thank you for your patience in waiting for this decision to be made and should you have any questions feel free to contact us at your child's school. The block schedule for the high school for Thursday and Friday will be posted on the website by Wednesday afternoon. Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that the weather on Wednesday night and Thursday morning does not force us to change our plans!