The Sun Prairie School District on Thursday afternoon canceled school for Friday, citing a large number of staff who said they will be absent on a day when activists are planning a major immigrant rights and labor solidarity march in Madison.
Sun Prairie’s decision to cancel classes Friday follows the Madison School District’s decision last week to also cancel classes. The Madison district said the decision was made because too many staff members planned to be absent so they could participate in the May Day Strong national day of action.
“Events across Dane County have been organized to support a variety of topics such as Labor Solidarity and Immigration Rights,” Sun Prairie district spokesperson Perry Hibner said in an email. “Unfortunately, last evening and throughout the day, we have seen a significant increase in absenteeism of staff across the school district.”
While classes are canceled in Sun Prairie, all after-school activities, practices and competitions will still be held as planned on Friday, Hibner said.
Students in 4-year-old kindergarten through eighth grade will not need to make up Friday’s lost instructional time, Hibner said, as students will still meet the state-required minimum number of instructional minutes for the year.
Students in grades nine through 12, though, will need to make up the lost instructional time from Friday, he said, and the district will let parents know about how that will happen “as soon as the details are available.”
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Sun Prairie Area School District and Madison Metropolitan School District canceled school tomorrow so teachers can protest deportations.
Sun Prairie gave parents less than 24 hours’ notice.
In both districts, fewer than 50% of students are proficient in reading.