This year at Mira Costa spring break lands two weeks later than usual. Students and teachers have to deal with the consequences of that. Even though a later break may not seem like an issue, it distrusts vacation plans, family time, and creates more unneeded stress with AP test preparation.
For many families with kids at different schools, like an older sibling in public high school and another in a nearby private school, their spring break being staggered means no shared time for vacation. This makes having a family vacation impossible when each student is off during a different time. This is a lost opportunity for families to relax and spend some quality time together.
For Mira Costa student Thatcher Fahlbusch, his annual vacation plans got affected because of this. His family had to make the decision for him and his father to go on his yearly trip to Hawaii without his younger brother Blake, a student at Loyola High School.
“It was super frustrating to have a different spring break than my brother.” Said Fahlbusch. “Every year my whole family and I go to Hawaii, and because the break is later this year, we were not able to all go together.”
It is not just students who are dealing with the effects of the break. Teachers, teaching AP classes, are having to deal with this also. AP exams are always scheduled in the beginning of May, a later break means more interrupted class time before these high-stake tests. Instead of having the normal time to prepare for the exames. Teachers have to cram work during the students’ break, not properly letting them relax.
Even though there may be reasons for adjusting the calendar, the effects are negative. A spring break that doesn’t lineup with other schools causes issues for families and adds stress for students preparing for AP tests. In the future years MBUSD should take these aspects into consideration when scheduling breaks.
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