The day after Halloween was filled with tired high schoolers and sleeping elementary and middle schoolers.
Students and staff discuss the academic calendar for different schools, as well as how it is decided upon. Menlo Park City School District (MPCSD), Redwood City School District (RCSD), New York City Public School District (NYCPSD) and more had the day off. Woodside did not.
“[Having the day after Halloween off] was fun because I was sleeping,” MPCSD 6th grader Serra Bicer said. “I’m super tired after Halloween.”
Tara Dixon, a first grade teacher in San Mateo-Foster City School District (SMFCSD), has noticed student’s behavioral issues spike the day after Halloween due to a possible hard night’s sleep and excitement surrounding the holiday. Her district did not have the day off this year. It’s not just the students that are affected after Halloween, though.
“Principals are getting extra visits from kids,” Dixon said. “I’m sure for parents it’s hard to wake up their kids and get them to school after such a fun night…even teachers [have it hard with] the day before [being] so busy with parties.”
Sequoia Union High School District’s Calendar Committee creates the district’s instructional calendar, working to accommodate California’s required 180 days of instruction per year as well as prioritize student and staff needs. The committee consists of three certificates, or teachers and counselors, and three management personnel. The committee meets every November to plan the calendar out, two years ahead. This can help other districts in the area, as they model their calendars off of SUHSDs.
“What we try to do as best as possible is to make the first semester and the second semester days as equal [as possible],” Assistant Superintendent and Calendar Committee member Todd Beal said. “We also have to look at the teacher work days. They work 187 days a year, so what we do is try to figure out where to put the other seven days.”
Another thing they take into account are vacations and national holidays, like Veterans Day, when many schools have the day off.
“We put a draft calendar together with all that in mind, usually mirroring what we did the previous year,” Beal said. “[The] committee meets, we review it, see how it all works out. If it looks good, we then run it through our principals.”
The final step is to submit the calendar to the Board of Trustees for approval. Surrounding districts model their calendar after SUHSD’s calendar, so it is sent out to them after approval.
Not all schools completely mirror SUHSD’s calendar. SMFCSD has a Fall Break, the only district in the county to have one. The week-long break at the beginning of October helps students recharge after the back-to-school season, ready for the busy holidays to come, according to Dixon.
“It gives the students a chance to come in, get used to the routines, meet their teachers and classmates,” Dixon said. “Just when they’re starting to get a little bit tired and maybe a little burned out, there’s this nice little break.”
Another big holiday is Thanksgiving. Some schools have the entire week off for it, while others, like Woodside, only have some of it off.
MPCSD schools have the whole week off. Bicer plans on visiting her grandma during the break.
“[If we didn’t have those two days off], we might have to take a couple days of school off, which is not ideal,” Bicer said.
Teachers, admin and students seem to agree that a longer break is nicer, but having those longer breaks can affect the rest of the school year’s calendar.
“I think that our district has done a nice job collaborating with families and teachers and administrators,” Dixon said.
