Now that winter is finally over, and the
weather changes from the frigid to mild, spring
break is all that anyone can talk or think about.
Plans are constantly being made and changed,
while vacationing places are starting to become
over booked. Most are looking forward to a relaxing
journey, wherever it is they are going.
Some look forward to catching up on some
studies to improve their grade. There are also
few who have nothing to do and nowhere to be,
but are just as glad as any to be out of school.
However, with previous online petitions
going around, almost all students and teachers
ask the same thing: Are we having an extension
to our spring break? If not, then what about the
end of year? This common question originated
from a poll for the FCPS school district to use
our untouched snow days as an extra week off
school or to be let out earlier. This gradually became
popular, giving everyone a hope that this
could happen. The Jagwire is here to tell you no
the extension won’t be happening, and the reason
behind it.
FCPS cares a lot about getting and receiving
as much additional help as possible.
That being said, they must submit to either the
180 days or 990 hours of in-class time. The 990
hours are only used when severe weather permits
it. For the last two years, our school board
has been using the 180 days, while just last year
they added three more days to account for snow
days or other emergencies.
This year, FCPS are going off the 990
hours’ law. Any additional hours are meant to be pushed into days, that can be used in the
event of inclement weather. In the winter of
last year, we had used up a lot of our addedon
days, from days off to late beginnings of
the school day, because of the storm. That was
the main reason of why we had gotten out of
school later than originally planned.
To keep what happened last year from
happening this year, an advantage is that now
days do not have to be added on at the end.
Because of this new system we’re using, no
days can be given back. That is only because
those additional days are just the excess time
beyond 990 hours and, if the days were given back, FCPS would fall short of the required
180-day school year. Not to mention, teachers
also have their own personal plans so the hours
they work per day are tied in with the amount
of school days per year, which also includes
teacher workdays.
Having a break should be able to make
anyone excited, even if we don’t get out early or
have an extra week. There will always be hope
for the years to come, but for now let’s look on
and try to make our next breaks really count.
And who knows, we might even get a few days
off this spring, for severe spring weather can always
appear and surprise us.