School’s out for the summer. Or is it?
For the upcoming 2012-2013 academic year, MHS will open its doors on August 28 for teachers, faculty, and staff, most of whom are already accustomed to beginning their school year a few days earlier. However, for students, this will be something new. On August 30, all will go back to school.
“It was a necessary implementation,” Principal Dr. Williams said. “It’s a matter of figuring out how many instructional days you need, and we’re required to have 184 days.”
Typically, the district begins its first semester the Tuesday or Wednesday after Labor Day, falling anywhere between the fifth day and the eighth day of September, according to the district.
“School would have started right after Labor Day—it would have been that Tuesday,” Williams said. “And so it really was just a matter of a few days difference.”
The reasoning behind the change is simple: it was necessary.
The district was presented with two options due to the way the calendar fell: begin on September 4, or begin on August 30. Had September 4 been chosen, this would have meant eliminating February break.
“I know from the teacher’s union standpoint, they did survey their membership” Williams said. “And keeping the winter vacation was the far more popular idea.”
MHS students are in agreement with the idea being the more “popular” one. Losing the February break would have created roughly 12-13 full weeks of school from January until Spring break.
“School starting in August is a little annoying,” sophomore Zach Zimardo said. “It takes time out of the summer, but it’s better to have February break. The district chose the better option.”
Ultimately, that week was chosen as the one to be taken out of the calendar because of its lack of religious affiliation.
“Particularly with the breaks, when there are holidays that have a religious significance attached to them, you can’t pick one over another,” Williams said.
Most students feel that keeping the February vacation is the overall better choice for their health and the quality of their academic performance.
“You need that break in there,” sophomore Jeremy Dreyer said. “It’s better to have that time off in the middle of the year so you can clear your mind. You’re not going to be able to function if you’re constantly going and going.”
In terms of the student’s traditional schedule of starting the first semester with the expectation of handing in multiple summer assignments within the first two weeks of school, any change to that schedule has yet to be decided.
“That would be something that the departments would consider,” Willams said. “But we expect everyone to be here, especially athlete’s, they’re back anyway. For them it’s not a change.”
Few concerns have risen as the news spread; however, many students and parents are getting ready to potentially alter some of their usual summer vacation plans.
“It’ll affect families who take that last week off for a vacation. Hopefully word gets around about that to avoid any confusion or delays.”
Above all, it has been stressed that the calendar change is solely a one-time deal for next year, and any alterations to the schedule in the future will be completely dependent on the way in which the days fall.
“I don’t think anybody wants to make this a permanent change but, if the situation should come up again we’ll have to take a look into it.”
And of course, one thing on everyone’s mind is not to be forgotten: air conditioning.
“School is already a sauna,” Zimardo said. “I suggest that people bring fans and lots of water bottles to school.”
Questions as to whether or not any air conditioning implementations will be made for the first few days have risen, as have questions about whether or not the school is significantly warmer than it is the following weeks.
“It depends,” Williams said. “We can have some very hot days in May and June. So, it can be hot.”
The temperature may be a little warmer, and the days may be a little earlier, but the Massapequa Public School District remains positive in its steps towards the 2012-2013 academic year.