Evan Eisen, Junior, and William Pellicotti, Junior
After the teachers’ strike left a bitter aftertaste to close out 2024, we can hopefully look forward to 2025 to bring us some much needed joy, right?
Well, it depends on who you ask, but many MHS students, staff, and parents have voiced frustrations at having February and April vacations being axed off the school calendar. Due to missing 11 school days in November during the teachers’ strike, the new district calendar will now only have President’s Day in February and a four day weekend in April. Besides having a few other days off, students at Marblehead schools will not have any real extended breaks until June.
On top of all this, we will also have two days added onto the end of the year with the school year now ending on June 24. While we can all agree that education is very important to our success, however, the failure of the school district to reach a negotiated agreement with the teachers for over three weeks has left a huge mark within the community. Many families are having to cancel their already planned trips for February and April breaks. Some students are already planning to miss some of the make-up days anyway. So, what’s the point of having them if a large number of students will not be showing up anyway?
All of this could have been avoided if both the School Committee and the Teachers’ Union had come to an agreement together before letting it get to the point of the strike. It should also be noted that it’s not as if the teachers’ strike was a sudden occurrence; it was long in the making because of the stubbornness of both parties. The students now must be the ones to suffer the consequences.
School vacations aren’t just extended breaks where we get to kick back and relax. They are also a chance for us to spend time with our families. For many students, they are an important time to prepare for college applications and study for their SATs or ACTs. Over a long break, we can form new long-lasting memories and explore new places. It’s unfortunate that we now are no longer afforded that opportunity just in order to meet a state guideline of having 180 school days.