Ask any student anywhere about their thoughts on school and one of their first complaints will be about how school breaks never seem to be long enough. Of course, it is neither possible nor acceptable to fully indulge the whims of students on this particular topic — alas, the school board cannot grant us six months of summer vacation. However, I do believe something could be done for extending school breaks, due to the multiple benefits it would have on students, the numerous singular vacation days scattered throughout the year, and the school year calendar employed by other school districts in the area.

First of all, school breaks are vital to the health and well-being of students, specifically those in high school. During the year, the weeks pass by in total repetition: going through the motions everyday with only a small reprieve during the weekend. The stress builds up as difficult assignments come and go and we rarely get a chance to take a breather, to really sit back and rest our minds. This is why longer school breaks would be incredibly beneficial — to allow kids to take time to regenerate before they’re flung back into the never-ending, demanding school lifestyle. Now you might say the length of the current school breaks is more than enough recuperation time. But many students also go on vacations over the break, and with the current amount of time off we receive, these family trips often last the entire time. I don’t know about you, but although vacations are fun, I think they’re a little bit stressful. Breaks should be longer to accommodate slightly more time for just staying home and relaxing.

How do we find the time in the school year to make these breaks longer? After all, we still have to go the required 180 days (or 184 for us) and I don’t think anyone is interested in shortening our summer vacation. The answer comes in the form of the various in-service days that occur throughout the school year. Obviously, I acknowledge the value and purpose behind teacher in-service days, but at North Allegheny we have so many throughout the year that I’m sure a few here and there could be cut and added to lengthen school breaks. My reasoning behind this is that teachers typically still assign work over three- or four-day weekends and they never function as the extended break they’re supposed to be. However, if we were to rearrange the schedule just a little bit, we could have more time to rest and enjoy ourselves over school breaks.

Other school districts in the area manage to have longer breaks while still maintaining similar start and end dates. For example, Shaler Area School District began school six days after NA and ends only a day later but had an extra day and a half of winter break and an extra two days of winter break. Moon Area School District began school five days after NA, ends two days earlier, and has two extra days of winter break. And the most dramatic difference in school breaks comes from Quaker Valley School District. Although both schools started the same date and QV students get out five days later, Quaker Valley has an extra two days of Thanksgiving break, two days of winter break, and in addition to their spring break in April, Quaker Valley has six days (sandwiched between two weekends) off in a row in March. This is due to the fact that QV’s calendar counts in-service and conference days towards their 186 school days — even though the students aren’t at school.

All in all, I know this article sounds just like any other student complaining about how little time they get off of school. However, I truly believe that longer breaks would benefit all of our happiness and health. Just a few days that could be moved from in-service days to an extended break would be truly beneficial. After all, it’s just a balancing act.