Every year students and teachers face the cold, snowy, winter days longing for Spring and a nice getaway. Once that time rolls around, schools are let out, vacations begin, and teachers get to unwind. However, it’s been brought to school boards, teachers, parents and kids that some vacations are cut short. But does this issue apply to all schools? As everyone knows, different schools in NJ have Spring Break at different times. Some breaks start early through mid march, meanwhile others start early. Spring Breaks don’t start at the same time nor have do students have the same time off in every district in the state. So, should Spring Break be reconfigured with more time off or are students and teachers just overreacting?

Some people agree that Spring Break should be longer. Esther Young in seventh grade said this when we asked if we should have a longer Spring Break, “Yes because school is really long and we need more of a break.” 

Most students also think this too. Some students think that we have so much school, and we need a break to just step away from things. “You guys deserve a break for how much you guys do,” declared Mr. Crutcher, eighth grade math teacher. 

We have a school year of about 10 months and only about two and a half months off. Throughout all the 10 months we have 19 days off counting winter and Spring Break but not counting weekends. Without spring and winter break we have 8 full days off. Throughout 10 months we have 19 days off. Yes we do have 180 school days, but for how much work we have to do throughout the year and in each class, teacher and students both, deserve more time off. 

There are some people, however, that disagree and think that we should not have a longer Spring Break. Since we have to have 180 days in school, people do not want to extend the school year. Gavin Martin in eighth grade said, “I do not want to have a longer Spring Break because then the school year ends later in the year, and I do not want to be in school longer.” 

Other people would agree with him. Going into the summer with school is not enjoyable for a lot of people because people go on vacation or go down to the Jersey shore. People in EIS enjoy getting off on June 21st or June 23rd. This brings up a very strong argument on what people want. “I do not want it to be extended because it will then extend school longer into summer which will make summer shorter than it already is,” eighth grader Robbie Epstein explained.

As seen, this argument has two strong sides to why Spring Break should or should not be longer. Although, the staff and students at Edison mostly seem to agree on the fact that they are being sabotaged, since their Spring Break is shorter than others. This can be fixed by making all NJ districts have the same length of time away for Spring Break along with the same weeks off. So will the school districts of NJ finally step up to the plate and respond to students and teachers complaints? Or will they let both groups struggle with their inability to recharge for the last two months of school?