Lia Horyczun ‘16
EE Senior News Editor
Woah, hold up. Did someone just say that there’s a proposed idea of having three-day-weekends? Yes, the Board of Education is considering the idea of getting rid of February break in place of multiple three-day-weekends. This proposed change was based off a recent Connecticut proposal to implement a better working system that has worked in other cities across the country.
Alexa Bragg, THS senior that has worked with the Board of Ed stated, “Well, I do think for at least next year the calendar should stay the same with a February break as it has done so in the past but as the state is moving to a regional calendar, the Board of Education may not have a choice anymore.”
Most students are on a busy schedule keeping up with friends, keeping school grades up, and staying active. If the one extra day to multiple weekends help boost our energy would we take it?
“I think that there are positives and negatives. The negatives are people not being able to go on vacation and not having a long enough break if there is not a lot of snow days. the positives would be that teachers would be able to stay on schedules for AP Exams and such and we would get out of school earlier. I know that the snow days have really put us behind in our classes and if we had a three-day weekend it still would be enough time to relax.” Bragg added.
Although, the idea of getting enough sleep, all school work done, and hanging out with friends is just a wonderful idea, what would happen to February break? Did we ever actually need the break?
“I think that for at least this year with the snow days so abundant we really didn’t need a February break but that is not always the case with other years.” Bragg said.
The purpose of the shift would be so that snow day cancellations could be done with more ease without disrupting the entire schedule. Currently the schedule requires taking the missed day out of the last day of break, which could be disruptive and has a relatively low attendance rate.
Kunal Jhaveri, the student representative to the BOE, stated, “I have talked to many students and teachers about the possibility of changing the February break into a three or four day long weekend and the overwhelming opinion I revive from my constituents are to keep the break.”
“The gap between the Holiday break and the Spring break is simply too long and would serve everyone for the better of it was retained. It is important to note that the Calendar Committee has kept the February break in next year’s district calendar. However, there is uncertainty after the point because the State wants all school districts to have a similar regional calendar and many districts are moving away from February break.” Jhaveri continued.
“In my personal opinion, I strongly feel that the break should be retained. I feel that this movement to cancel the break is also partly reactionary. I feel that due to recent weather patterns including a large amount of snow causing many closings, a lot of administrators feel that the break is not needed. I disagree with this point of view.” Jhaveri concluded.
Currently it is looking as if the BOE is leaning towards keeping the current calendar, however it is uncertain what would happen on the state level. If the state attempts to regionalize the calendar, programs such as aquaculture and agriscience could be affected. However, some important questions remain to be asked.
Would students actually get work done and socialize? Would teachers utilize the weekend to prepare beneficial classes? Does the sound of having longer weekends sound more appealing or is February break an event that should stick around longer?