Woodridge School District 68 Approves Waiver Request for Five Holidays

The Woodridge School District 68 Board of Education Monday night approved a waiver request for five holidays designated by Illinois school code as days off for students and teachers.

The waiver would a modify a state law that says teachers can’t be required to work on legal school holidays. The board proposes a waiver application for an "all-purpose holiday," which could translate to regular class schedules and attendance, but also include parent-teacher conferences, school improvement session, teacher in-service days or teacher institutes, according to the District 68 website.

Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Administration Patrick Broncato said the district had already waived Lincoln’s Birthday and Casimir Pulaski Day in 2009. This year, the district is again requesting waivers for those days -- as well as for Martin Luther King, Columbus and Veterans days.

Broncato explained that state law now allows districts to simply seek waivers rather than having the holiday issue decided every five years by the state board of education and general assembly. He said most area school districts have already sought holiday waivers.

District 68’s request will now be sent to the Illinois State Board of Education and kept on file. But the school district will still have the flexibility to decide which holidays to waive, if any.

“The waivers will allow us to have the days in case we need them, but it does not necessarily mean that these will all be days off,” Broncato said.

He explained administrators will assess the school calendar and designated holidays with the teachers’ union and staff, then bring the calendar back to the board of education for approval before it's implemented.