Taking Away Days From April Break Creates More Absences and Stress

Taking+Away+Days+From+April+Break+Creates+More+Absences+and+Stress

Skylar Slavin, Prospect Staff Writer

In June 2021, the state of CT Board of Education and State Legislature issued a public act that stated schools cannot use remote learning to be counted as a day of school. 

The Board of Education was worried about students, especially ones in underfunded towns and cities not having the appropriate technology to fully participate in a virtual day. 

Therefore, if there is a snow day or school has to be shut down due to COVID, we must make up the day instead of having a virtual day. If we have six snow days or no school due to rising COVID cases, the Board of Education will shorten the week of April break. 

With new COVID variants arising, many students have had absences due to quarantining and waiting for COVID tests. This has led to students being stressed with the workload, losing credit, and lack of communication with teachers. Having a shortened April break may lead students to have even more absences. 

With some families planning to travel over April break, it is likely that those students will not be able to come into school during initially allocated vacation days. 

According to the American Airlines website, cancellation fees start at $200 for domestic flights, and $750 for international flights. Due to the exceptionally high starting prices of cancellations, families may not cancel their trips.

 This is why virtual days would be more beneficial, rather than taking away days from April break, so students do not miss more school and fall behind in their classes. 

According to Greg Hatzis, the principal at FLHS, “From a personal standpoint, I agree that virtual days would be better than taking days away from April vacation.”

Additionally, April break provides students, teachers, and faculty with a week to relax from demanding school-related responsibilities. According to the Southlake psychiatry team known as Dr. Messina & Associates, “When students are given this week to decompress and not think about assignments, their health has the chance to benefit greatly from it. Keeping mental and physical health in tip-top shape is crucial and so very necessary, especially nowadays.”

Senior Peter Hinkle states, “If we could get it approved by the state, adding virtual days to the end of the year would be the most beneficial for the school as a whole because students are entitled to a break, and to miss out on that would be risking burnout for students, faculty, and the school community as a whole.”

Students and families deserve the April break that they were promised at the beginning of the school year, regardless of the weather conditions throughout the year. Providing students with a full April break will allow them time to destress, and provide them with the normalcy that has been missing for the past two years.