Spring break is a time to relax: a time for students to tan beneath the warm, radiant glow of a SMART Board or explore European countries through the “Bienvenidos” posters of World Language classrooms, a time for watching TV on your phone during class or going on college visits via the pamphlets of the College and Career Center.
Yes, spring break is a time for all those things and more because, the Monday of spring break, students will get to recline behind their desks and take in that tropical Expo marker scent in order to make up for six snow days, one more than the five that were built in to the calendar.
Some students reacted negatively to having school that day. “The day itself is kind of pointless because so many students won’t be there,” Max Kaplan ’17 said. “A couple of my teachers have already said they’re not going to do anything big that day,” he added.
On the other hand, Claire Sampson ’15 would prefer not to miss school, but she may have to to visit colleges. “If I have to miss school that day for those visits, I probably just will,” she said. “It’s too hard to fit in all the visits when we don’t have a full week.”
Sampson is not alone. Because the school day will disrupt vacation plans, many students have reported that they will not show up to school on that Monday.
For this reason, teachers are unsure how they’ll treat this day. “It’s really hard to conduct a class with only six kids present,” English teacher Holly Sulzycki said.
English teacher Alex Miller agreed. “Whatever is covered in a class with less than half the students there needs to be covered again,” he said.
Therefore, Sulzycki doesn’t plan on teaching new content that day; instead, she’ll give her students the time to read or to work on projects.
In contrast, while physics teacher Joanne Klouda is also hesitant to teach new material, she is concerned about being behind, particularly in her AP physics classes.
“I’m going to give a test, and everyone who’s not there is going to get a zero,” she joked. “That’s the opposite of what I’d actually do,” chances are “I’ll teach whatever I’m ready to teach,” she said.
Sara Pinchback, who teaches US History and AP Economics, also plans on using the day as normal. “I plan on it being a productive day, and I don’t plan on reteaching it,” she said. Whichever students miss the class will have to make it up “just like any absence,” she said.
Despite the many students who will be absent, there are still those who plan on coming in to school to truly enjoy spring break. One such student is Connor Mitnick ’14. “I don’t want to fall behind in my school work,” Mitnick said. “I’d rather be sleeping, but school is school.”
