The City School District of Albany will have half-days of school on April 28 and June 23 to meet the requirements of New York’s new Paid Voting Leave Law.
The law allows employees up to three hours of paid time off to vote. April 28, the date of this year’s New York presidential primary, and June 23, the state’s traditional primary date for all other elections, are regular school days.
“The district supports the right of all employees to vote,” said Superintendent Kaweeda G. Adams. “However, the district does not have enough substitutes to account for a potentially high number of absences on those days.
“We are concerned that the unintended consequences of the state’s new voting law would leave us without enough staff to deliver instruction and operate our buildings.”
As a result, the district is planning for students to be in session in the morning only on April 28 and June 23. The district will designate the afternoon as the time off for those employees who provide the required notification of their intention to take the three hours to vote, Adams said.
The Board of Education approved the calendar change at its Jan. 23 meeting.
Here are the updated school schedules for those days.
Tuesday, April 28
The following schools will dismiss at 11:40 a.m.:
- Albany High School
- Albany International Center
- All middle schools
- Tony Clement Center for Education
- Albany School of Humanities
- Eagle Point Elementary School
- Montessori Magnet School
- Pine Hills Elementary School
- Sheridan Preparatory Academy
- Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology
The following schools will dismiss at 12:40 p.m.:
- Arbor Hill Elementary School
- Delaware Community School
- Giffen Memorial Elementary School
- New Scotland Elementary School
- Philip J. Schuyler Achievement Academy
Tuesday, June 23
Dismissal times will be the same as above, except for Albany High:
This is a Regents testing day, so only those students testing will need to report for their exams. Albany High will follow the state’s regular schedule for Regents exams on this day.
