SAD 29 debates harvest recess

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Harvest recess is back up for discussion in SAD 29 and if Monday night’s school board meeting is any indication, no easy answer appears imminent.
    The school board discussed harvest recess for nearly an hour Monday evening at Southside School, hearing testimony from several local farmers, who implored the district to keep — and if possible — expand the annual harvest recess. Ultimately, the board tabled action on its school calendar – and the harvest break decision – until its next regular meeting, Monday, March 7 at 6 p.m. in the Superintendent’s conference room.
    Interim-Superintendent Ray Freve presented the school board with two calendar proposals for the 2011-12 school year.
    The first proposal was to follow the harvest recess format used in the current school year of having one week off for all students in the district, followed by an optional week off for high school students age 16 and older, but only if they are employed by farmers.
    The second proposal was to have no harvest recess, but allow high school students the opportunity to be excused for a two-week period to work in the field. Elementary and middle school students, as well as those not working in the harvest, would remain in class. In addition, on any days that it rains, those students who were excused would be required to attend class.
    Because SAD 29 is part of the Region Two School of Applied Technology, it must create a school calendar that is similar, but not identical, to the other participating school districts — SAD 70 (Hodgdon), SAD 14 (East Grand), SAD 25 (Katahdin) and CSD 9 (Southern Aroostook). Each school district may have only nine “dissimilar” days in their calendar, as mandated by the state Department of Education, Freve said.
    There is the possibility that the number of dissimilar days may be reduced to as few as four, he added.
    If SAD 29 were to approve a school calendar that had more than nine dissimilar days from the other Region Two schools, the state would withhold its subsidy checks to the district until such time that the calendar is changed. Or SAD 29 would need to convince the other school districts to follow their lead on letting students out for multiple weeks.
    SAD 29 and SAD 70 are the only two districts in the Region Two group that still close school for harvest recess.
    Under plan A, school would start on Aug. 24 for students and close June 5. If plan B were approved, school would start a week later on Aug. 31.
    Board member Jennifer Johnston said it was brought to her attention that teachers were encouraged to take time off at the same time as the students, so that it did not create scenarios where substitutes were needed.
    “There are some teachers that have already made [vacation plans] before this calendar was voted on,” Johnston said.
    “Teachers do not have vacation days,” Freve said. “They work 175 student days and 180 total days. I understand that they [teachers] are trying to plan, and that’s good, but I am not in the business of arranging vacation time. I am trying to set up a calendar to meet everyone’s requests.”
    Farmer Dana Wright voiced his opposition to “plan B.”
    “I see this as a bad step backwards,” he said. “Last year, we made it work and we are not really asking for any more than that this year. If we throw it [harvest break] all away, kids will have to make up two week’s worth of school work.”
    Fellow farmer Dan Corey said ideally, he would like to see students have three weeks to work in the field.
    “We as farmers need from the 19th [of September] to the 7th [of October] to get our crop out,” Corey said. “If we can have two weeks [off with permission], and the kids only having to make up one week of school, that would be a blessing.”
    “We live in Aroostook County,” board member Cynthia Hillman-Forbush. “This is a farming community. I know historically that these farmers have done a lot for SAD 29 in scholarships and fundraisers. The kids have never been at a disadvantage. I think the kids should be allowed the two weeks. I actually think they should have three weeks.”
    Hillman-Forbush suggested that instead of having a February or April school vacation, the district could use that time for harvest recess. Freve noted that if the district were to do that, it would not be in compliance with what the other school districts are doing.
    Exact numbers as to how many students have actually been working in the potato harvest have been elusive. In the past, surveys have been sent home, but some of those surveys were not filled out honestly.
    Wright said he had collected data for numerous years and that results showed the student workforce was once about 50 percent, but that number had dropped in recent years. He estimated about 35 percent of the students were employed by farmers.
    One reason for that decline in participation is the fact that students have only one official week off from school and therefore some farmers stated they were reluctant to hire workers for just a week. Last fall, due to a high unemployment rate in the area, farmers were able to use adults seeking employment to get their crops out.
    “This is a business worth millions of dollars,” said farmer Francis Fitzpatrick. “We are not trying to take advantage of the kids. When the time is here, we have to harvest and we need people to do that. The problem, with only five days off, is that farmers have to look elsewhere. When we had three weeks off, we could harvest. How can we get the most bang for the buck?”