School districts across the nation use a year-round school calendar. This schedule is something that many people are aware of but maybe have not taken the time to think about.
According to U.S. News & World Report, schools using this schedule dropped from six percent in 1999 to three percent in 2018.
Lakeland Joint School District 272 goes by the traditional schedule with a three-month summer, one week of Thanksgiving break, two weeks of Christmas break and one week of spring break. This gives LHS students a longer summer but long periods spent in school with no pause.
A year-round schedule includes a six-week summer break with all of our other breaks three weeks. This gives students more opportunities to travel during the school year so they are not missing school and have more time to take off to prevent getting burnt out.
The other benefit of a year-round schedule also incentivizes teachers to break up their lessons and units and not cram material on students. Teachers would also be able to explain material to students more easily.
There is also the issue of a year-round schedule affecting high school students’ summer jobs because the summer break would be shortened. However, many students do not see it affecting their work schedule much.
The idea of a year-round school year is controversial among students though. Some people like the idea and others find it unnecessary.
Makenna Hillman, a junior at LHS, thinks that a year-round schedule would be nice, but overall would not make a significant difference.
“I like it because I can travel more with my family because the only time I can travel now is in the summer,” Hillman said.
Along with many students, Hillman enjoys the idea of being able to travel more throughout the year and not have to miss school.
Hillman does not think a year-round schedule would make a difference in how draining the school year is and it also would not interfere with her work schedule.
Jasper Childs also has opinions on the year-round schedule. He is very against the idea of it and thinks the way we do things now is just fine.
“Some kids would enjoy a long summer and I believe it’s healthy to have a long time off during the summer and just grind from fall to spring,” Childs said.
Childs does not see the schedule we have now as draining at all. He said the way we do things now keeps our mental health and physical health on point and keeps his mind academically consistent.
One of the few students in support of the year-round schedule is Brody Walters, a senior at LHS who just transferred from Coeur d’Alene High School this year.
Walters finds the way we do our schedule now draining and stressful. He does not like how long the year is drawn out with only a big break for summer.
“I would be down for that because I feel like it would make school so much less miserable,” Walters said, “It’s too much school in a row.”
It is still up in the air on whether or not people like this way of LHS doing the schedule and there is not any talk of the district doing it, but with the long drawn out part of the year coming up, it is crucial to consider.
