WESTBROOK - In a change driven by Storm Sandy's school closures, the Board of Education (BOE) voted to make Election Day a regular school day instead of the original calendar's day off for students. With this move, the school district re-captured one of the five student school days cancelled due to Storm Sandy.

The four other lost student instruction days will be added to the end of the school year within the third week of June. Since one or more school days could yet be cancelled due to winter storms, the BOE has not yet confirmed the exact final school day for students.

By state law, all state school districts must complete their school instructional year by the end of June.

Originally, Election Day was to be a day for teacher and staff training sessions-and students were to stay home-so the calendar change also means that teachers lost a planned professional development day. The BOE voted to re-schedule the teacher professional development day to the second to the last non-instructional day in the newly adopted school calendar.