Brighton school district decides to close for the solar eclipse
Brighton Central School District announced Friday that the district tweaked its school calendar and will now close on Monday, April 8, the day of the total solar eclipse. Until this change, Brighton was the lone Monroe County public school district that would have been open. Students had been expected to attend for a half-day.
The eclipse will take place the Monday after a weeklong spring break at the time most classes are dismissed for the day. Most Rochester area school districts opted to extend spring break by one day and canceled classes on April 8.
Previously, Brighton officials said the district already scheduled a full day off on Wednesday, April 10, for Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. District spokesman Dan Goldman said the district could not cancel classes on April 8 in addition to April 10, “in order to maintain the appropriate number of school days for our students” for the 2023-24 academic year. But school officials reviewed the school calendar and decided to set the last day of school now, rather than waiting until May as they typically do.
Brighton Superintendent Kevin McGowan said the district recently learned that five of eight daycare providers in the district will be closed April 8, a move that would require an anticipated 140 changes to transportation plans to primary and elementary students. Since few emergency closure days were used this school year due to a mostly mild winter, McGowan set the final day of classes as Monday, June 24. This date could change if any more emergency days are used, he said.
To date, only one emergency closure day has been used in Brighton for middle and high school students — that was due to a water main break. No emergency days were used for primary and elementary students.
“Although we felt as though our students could be safely transported home prior to the beginning of the eclipse, the change in logistics ... and our availability of days due to the mild weather have given us an opportunity to allow for families to be together on this day, including our staff and their families,” McGowan said.
District officials shared the change on the district’s website and social media and also directly contacted Brighton families.
Starting at 2:07 p.m. on April 8 in Rochester, the moon will begin to appear to move in front of the sun. Totality begins at 3:20 p.m. and will last for 3 minutes and 38 seconds (plus or minus a few seconds depending where you are standing.) By 4:33 p.m. the moon will have moved past the sun returning the light to normal.
Mary Grow, East Irondequoit’s Superintendent and the president of Monroe County’s Council of Superintendents, said state officials in 2023 reached out to the council regarding the effect the eclipse could have on the school day, particularly due to anticipated heavy traffic around dismissal time. The decision on whether to cancel class for the day was left up to each district, she said. Nearly every school district in the nine-county region opted to cancel class for the day, according to Dan Schneiderman, the eclipse partnerships coordinator for the Rochester Museum & Science Center.