Half full or half empty, regardless of one’s perception Oak Harbor School District students will leave early on June 15 after the school board Tuesday reversed an earlier decision.

Linda Preder, Public School Employees co-president, and Peter Szalai, Oak Harbor Education Association president, appealed to the school board Tuesday to rethink their earlier decision to make the last day of school a full day.

“The contract specifies that the last teaching day will be a half day,” Szalai said.

When the confusion became clear, the education association president polled 60 percent of the membership, 94 percent of whom said they preferred a half day.

“The board has seen fit to shorten Mondays, every single Monday for professional training. So that instructional time is donated to another purpose,” Szalai said. Designating June 15 a half day would donate the time to another purpose, in this case tearing down and preparing for summer.

He claimed that Superintendent Rick Schulte reportedly said before that he did not feel strongly one way or another. Szalai added that misinformation has circulated. Teachers will still work a full day on Friday and the following Monday.

“This is only to continue a tradition that we’ve had for many, many, many years that the last day be a half day,” Szalai concluded.

Schulte said when he initially brought the issue to the board, he felt that he communicated to the members that June 15 would be a full day and he would need board action to change it.

“I think the association is correct,” Schulte said. “The correct interpretation of the contract makes June 15 a half day.”

The district was granted a waiver from the state to truncate the final day of school. Even with the half day, which the board agreed to Tuesday, the school district is over in the state requirement for hours.

“The waiver is only possible if the district still meets the 1,000 hour per year average that is required for all the different grade levels,” Schulte said. “We still do meet that.”