Break out the lawn chairs, get the beach towels ready and place them all in the living room as Spring Break will continue as planned next week – though in the era of social distancing, staying home and COVID-19 school building closures.
Supt. Priya Tahiliani said this week that after meeting with the Everett Teachers’ Association (ETA), they have made a decision to go forward with Spring Break next week as planned – sticking to the existing school calendar.
“We have decided jointly with the ETA that we will carry on the calendar as originally drafted, meaning we will have vacation next week,” said Tahiliani. “Some school systems have decided to go ahead with school and get out earlier and continue online learning. Our thought was we were fine with going to June 19. If we do go back to school, it’s more days face-to-face with our students.
“If we don’t go back, it will be a good bread from screen time for everyone,” she continued. “Families are stressed and stretched, so it might be good to have a break next week.”
Spring Break comes at a time when the Everett Public Schools were just now getting their online learning program in place officially, though it has been ongoing really for many since the first day school was out on March 13.
Other districts, like Newton, who decided not to take a Spring Break cited the fact that they were just getting up to speed with online learning and didn’t want to break the momentum.
However, on the flip side, many of the seniors and underclassman want to be able to go back to school this year to say good-bye and finish up potentially shortened spring sports seasons. Having the last day stay at June 19 gives greater potential to being able to come back for those last days – particularly for the seniors.
That said, Tahiliani said it will also be up to individual families.
They will continue to post materials on the school district website and in virtual classrooms for parents to use if they choose not to give their children the time off.
“If there are some families that want to continue the enrichment activities during the break, they can pull up materials from one of their calendars,” she said.
The schools will also continue to take Memorial Day off in May – even if school is still canceled – and they did take of Good Friday last week as well.
“For those that had been doing the distance learning this whole time, many needed a break after starting at a screen for so many hours every day,” she said. “It does get exhausting.”