Board of Education Approves Moving School Elections to November

During their meeting held Wednesday evening (Nov. 14), members of the Lawrence Township Board of Education voted to move the annual school board election to November, district officials confirmed.

Legislation signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie in January of this year allows local school boards to move elections from April to November to coincide with the state’s general election. Any district that makes such a move is no longer required to submit its budgets for voter approval provided that the budget does not exceed the state’s 2 percent tax levy cap. A budget in excess of the cap would still require the approval of voters.

The school board also took action Wednesday to revise the current school year’s calendar to build in additional emergency closing make-up days.

As a result of Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent loss of power to much of the township, all public schools were closed for the entire week of Oct. 29-Nov. 2.  

Three emergency closing make-up days were already built into the school calendar; to make up three of the five storm-lost days, school will now be held on those previously built-in days: March 22, April 1, and May 28.

The other two days lost because of Hurricane Sandy were actually made up last week when school was held on Nov. 8 and 9 due to the state teachers’ convention in Atlantic City being cancelled.

The four new emergency closing make-up days approved by the board Wednesday night are: Feb. 15, March 15, March 27 and March 28.

Feb. 15 and March 15 were previously scheduled as days off for students, with faculty reporting to work for training and professional development. If additional school days are lost due to snow or other events, those days will be made up on Feb. 15 and March 15, with professional development for staff pushed back to June 21 and June 24. If Feb. 15 and March 15 are not needed as make-up days, students will still have those days off and teachers will attend their training as planned.

The other two make-up days of March 27 and 28 fall in the middle of the district’s spring recess. The other days of that week – March 25, 26 and 29 – cannot be used as make-up days, district officials said, because they are religious holidays.