CHICOPEE — City buildings will be closed and employees will get an extra day off to recognize the Junteenth holiday, but schools will remain open.
Instead of taking the day off, teachers will lead age-appropriate lessons and activities about the history and meaning of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
Gov. Charlie Baker designated June 19 as Juneteenth Independence Day, in a bill signed in July. This is the first year the holiday will be celebrated.
Since June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, the city will observe it the Friday before. Municipal buildings will be closed and employees will be given a paid day off, Mayor John L. Vieau said.
“When you talk about Juneteenth many will celebrate and many will mourn,” Vieau said, adding he wanted to recognize the importance of the day.
The city observes all state holidays and it is also a provision in most employee contracts, so it is consistent to give employees the day off with pay, Vieau said.
In addition, Vieau said he wanted to thank city employees for all their hard work dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 15 months.
But the holiday falls at an awkward time for the city schools. The school calendar, which is usually adopted in late April before the end of the previous school year, was set before Baker signed the declaration and did not include the holiday.
The last day of classes for the year is June 21. If the schools were to give teachers and students the Friday off, an additional day would have to be tacked onto the school year, Superintendent Lynn Clark said.
“To extend it a day for families after this turbulent year is difficult,” she said. “We don’t want to be departing from the city. We will be back next year.”
If school officials decided to extend the school year by a day now, they run the risk of not having enough bus drivers, teachers and other staff because they may have already made plans they cannot change, Clark said.
Even more complicated is the fact that outside child care programs, which parents rely on if they have to work on school vacation days, may not be prepared for the new holiday, she said.
The state allowed all schools to shorten the number of days in the school year by 10 this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but if students do not attend 170 days, the state will require the department to return some Chapter 70 grant money it receives every year, Clark said.
State guidelines will allow communities to honor the holiday on Saturday, and representatives for the Chicopee Education Association agreed it makes more sense to do that, Clark said.
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