JACQUELINE BARTHOLOMEW
To Mr. Jaurigue, Ms. Specter, Ms. Bernstein, Ms. Colgan, and Ms. Wyman,
My name is Jacqueline, a Junior at Los Alamos High School. In light of House Bill 130 and the changing of the school calendar, I would like to share my opinion concerning the decision to be made as a person who has struggled with anxiety throughout high school. While shortening summer break to any extent may have consequences, Calendar C is the ideal option for students such as myself, as it strikes a balance between the length of summer break and the frequency of breaks throughout the school year. This balance is ideal for students’ wellbeing, including mental health and the necessity of summer jobs for students.
Mental health should be a factor that is strongly considered when this decision is being made. For high school students, myself included, mental health issues such as anxiety have been on the rise (U.S. News), especially factoring in the COVID-19 pandemic. This anxiety has largely been academic based. Therefore, trying to reconcile this concern with a change of the school calendar could easily prove a difficult task. This can, however, be dealt with through implementing frequent breaks that allow students to recharge. Not only will this improve the well-being of students, but it will also improve their academic performance, seeing as poor mental health contributes to poor academic performance in return (Source). If additional school time is implemented without providing essential time for students with mental health issues to feel healthy enough to succeed. For this reason, I would not recommend calendar A, which does not have breaks as frequently as the other options, and could easily lead to unhealthy levels of burn-out among students
However, a calendar that simply implements more breaks -- or longer breaks -- replacing a large portion of summer break would also be detrimental to students. Students with summer jobs, for example, require longer summer breaks in order to make money for college and other expenses. Looking around my own school at people I know personally, I know that many students need to work and their parents may not necessarily be able to pay all their expenses. Furthermore, students are not the only stakeholders here. Local businesses here in Los Alamos (and the surrounding area) that hire high school students often struggle to find employees during the school year, when all their summer employees have to go back to school. A shorter summer break could mean that New Mexico businesses in Los Alamos and the surrounding area could struggle due to underemployment. For this reason, I would also strongly recommend against Calendar B, which makes much more significant cuts to students’ summer break than the other calendar options. Of course, Calendar C also shortens summer break, so these issues may still reside even if Calendar B is not implemented. However, Calendar C’s change in the summer break is not as drastic and therefore is a much preferable option than Calendar B.
Ultimately, Calendar C would be the best option for our county to implement, as it will provide the most seamless transition into the new policy introduced by House Bill 130, through accommodating students’ well-being. Therefore, I urge you all to consider the well-being of students, in order to prevent the detrimental mental health effects of a wrongfully demanding school calendar.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline S. Bartholomew
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