Potato harvest delays County school recess

FRENCHVILLE – Spring rains caused late planting of potatoes in the St. John Valley, and now schools have delayed their annual harvest recess one week to allow extra growing time for the crop.

Officials of all four St. John Valley school units said Tuesday that the annual recess has been pushed to Sept. 23.

Those schools will reopen on Oct. 11, the day after Columbus Day.

The annual two-week recess was originally scheduled to begin Sept. 16.

SAD 33, Frenchville and St. Agatha, decided to push back the recess last Thursday at an emergency meeting. Superintendent Fern Desjardins did a survey of area growers, and the majority opted for the extra week.

SAD 33 has 17 growers, and eight opted for the Sept. 23 recess. Others were scattered, some preferring a Sept. 16 recess date and some without a preference.

SAD 27 and the Madawaska School Department also opted for the change. The three school units try to keep the same school calendar because juniors and seniors from all three school attend the St. John Valley Technology Center at Frenchville for vocational and technology classes.

“While making a change in the school calendar creates problems for staff members with prior commitments during the harvest break, the board and I want to meet the needs of our farmers as best we can,” Desjardins said in a statement. “Therefore, the board voted to postpone the harvest.”

SAD 27 followed suit. It surveyed growers, 12 in the seven-town district. Sandra Bernstein, superintendent, said the majority opted for another week of growing season.

The harvest recess in SAD 27 is for grades nine through 12.

The lower grades get one week off during the period. For those pupils, Oct. 3 will now be a regular school day instead of a teacher workshop day, and Oct. 11 will become a teacher workshop day.

Danny R.P. Michaud, superintendent at Madawaska, said two-thirds of the growers in Madawaska and Grand Isle wanted the extra week of growing time for potatoes.

Middle and high school students will be out of school from Sept. 23 to Oct. 12. Oct. 11 will be a teacher workshop day.

In Madawaska, the elementary school is not affected by harvest recess. Elementary pupils in Madawaska were starting school today. The middle and high school classes started during the week of Aug. 15.

Michaud said they surveyed 26 growers before making a decision.

Clayton Belanger, superintendent in SAD 24, Van Buren, Hamlin and Cyr Plantation, said they delayed the harvest because farmers made the request.

In SAD 24, grades seven through 12 have two weeks’ recess. Pupils in prekindergarten through grade six will have one week recess between Sept. 26 and 30.

Like the other St. John Valley schools, SAD 24 delayed their recess one week.