AIDAN COLGAN
Good Afternoon Mr. Jaurique, Ms. Specter, Mrs. Colgan, Ms. Wyman, and Ms. Bernstein,
My name is Aidan, an 11th grade student at LAHS. With countless advanced courses, extracurriculars, and exams that will have a large effect on my future, my stress is high, and my peers mirror this sentiment. With that in mind, it is imperative that Calendar B’s balanced format is not adopted for the 2023-2024 school year in order to preserve the well-being and futures of all LAHS students in the years to come - despite the idea that shorter summers will reduce review time.
Stress in high schools across the country are at an all-time high, and LAHS is even worse - and Calendar B will only exacerbate this problem. Andrew Bauld, a former teacher and journalist, wrote a detailed and compelling article titled “Managing High School Stress” that highlights how after COVID, “depression and anxiety are through the roof.” Academics remain a huge stressor for students my age, and in this town expectations are higher than most other locations - wealthy and educated parents put immense pressure on their children to be wealthy and educated themselves. Introducing a calendar that not only adds academic time and pressure to students, but also reduces their summer by a great amount and gives them a more off-and-on school year requiring a lot of transitional periods would greatly increase the stress of our students here at LAHS. Not only is the sudden change a stressor in itself, but the nature and placement of its breaks means that students will be forced to study in their free time so that appropriate instructional content can be covered, further increasing our stress.
Furthermore, LAHS is ripe with advanced courses and exams that are vital to the academic and professional future of its students - and with a balanced calendar the effectiveness of these resources will be reduced dramatically. Students at LAHS are required to take at least one AP, Honors, or Dual Enrollment class to graduate, and most take several. AP tests are in May, and bringing out a more balanced calendar that introduces more breaks before May means that teachers have more content to cover in less time. This puts more pressure and stress on students, who will surely have to do more extensive homework and study time over their breaks, meaning they will not be able to enjoy their free time as they should. This is a common sentiment I hear already among more academically advanced students at LAHS, and adopting Calendar B will only increase the amount of time students spend on academia during breaks.
However, some parents or other members of the community may argue that a more balanced calendar means teachers will have to spend less time after breaks going through review and making up for lost educational time. This argument stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of what occurs in classrooms from a student’s perspective. While this could be beneficial for teachers, it does not mean that students will perform better - in fact, it could actually reduce the effectiveness of the classroom: students who have not been given adequate breaks from academia to pursue other areas and be themselves show higher stress levels time and time again. In addition, having less review time means that students will be forced to have less of a transitional period between summer and the harsh structure and expectations of the school year, further leading to a decline in their ability to catch up on work and remember important material.
If Calendar B is chosen, students at LAHS will feel the negative effects in almost every aspect of their lives. Stress levels will rise, breaks will be harder to enjoy, and free time with family will be reduced. Calendar A or C must be chosen by the school board in order to benefit both the students and the community, and voting otherwise would be a great detriment to our town.
Thanks for all that you do and I hope that you will consider my stance when making your decision.
Sincerely,
Aidan Colgan
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