Perspective of a working student, who plays sports and takes AP classes on the calendar options
KAELIN HANSON
Dear Mr. Jaurigue, Ms. Specter, Ms. Bernstein, Ms. Colgan, Ms. Wyman, Mr. Payne, and Ms. Guy,
I am Kaelin, a junior who plays high school soccer, club soccer, is an active member of our high schools NJROTC program, takes many AP classes, has a job, and volunteers often. I am very interested in helping the school board pick the best calendar for next year, and making sure that it benefits students of all ages, especially students who are younger and economically disadvantaged who would be impacted the most by these calendar decisions. While Calendar C is a valid option and would help students, especially younger students who will have to deal with the long term implications of any calendar chosen, Calendar A is a much better option for stressed students, which is what most high school students would consider themselves, along with some middle schoolers and even elementary schoolers.
Less breaks during the school year can help reduce stress in classes that have a time limit, such as SAT/ACT prep or AP classes. I personally took one AP class last year and am currently taking four. Last year in my AP class it was a rush towards the end of the year to make sure that we learned all required material. In calendar C, if all students have a whole week off during fall, that is a full week of lost time that AP classes use to prepare for the exams in early May. This is likely to cause a decrease in the average Los Alamos AP test scores. If there is less time to prepare for the AP courses before the AP exam, then students prior to the AP exam will have elevated stress levels due to the week of instruction that they were deprived of during the fall.
A week-long break in the fall would be very disadvantageous to student athletes who would not be able to go on a vacation or take a full week off of school because they may have to attend athletic events. I play high school and club soccer both seasons lasting for around eight to ten weeks in the fall and spring respectively. If Calendar C was chosen, then my family would have less time to go on vacation or tour colleges outside the school year, this is because I would be unable to travel during sports seasons as I would risk losing playing time or causing my team to forfeit a game. If Calendar A was chosen, then I would be able to be in school during soccer season. However, not all high school students play sports, this would mostly only be an inconvenience to the family who have children in sports. Families who do not have children in sports would be able to take advantage of these breaks in the fall where they could go to a popular destination while it is not so busy. Nevertheless, these potential benefits for non-sports families do not outway the harm that these week-long breaks will have while sports are in session.
Low Income families will not have to pay for childcare during the school year with calendar A as opposed to B or C, during these week-long breaks. In the Court case Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico, Yazzie and Martinez argued that for disadvantaged students of all types, claiming the state failed "to sufficiently fund these programs and services," which is "necessary for [students] to learn and thrive". By creating a week-long break, students may not be able to continue their education, or might not be able to access programs and services with their friends, which could be very beneficial for these students. Additionally, as opposed to having to pay potentially larger amounts for camps of some sort during the breaks in the school year, families can save money over the course of the entire year to spend on summer camps, potentially more expensive ones. By allowing a longer summer break allows families to plan earlier in the year camps they want their children attending or vacations they plan on going on.
Choosing a calendar that is best suited to as many students as possible will create the best learning environment for all stressed students, allowing all students to perform to the best of their ability. In my opinion, calendar A is by far the best option for not only current high school students, students in AP classes, middle school, elementary school and soon to be students in Los Alamos Public Schools school district. My preferred solution to meeting the 1140 minutes would be adding minutes on to the end of the school day. However, seeing as this is not currently being discussed, I would like to change the schedule from this year as little as possible. If Calendar A is chosen, I would like to see the inclusion of college and career preparedness days, such as shadowing a profession students would be interested in or allowing them time to talk to alumni of certain colleges. This would help high achieving students who are unsure what they want to do after college, increasing preparedness of trade school, students going straight into the workforce, and students planning to go to college. I think that if calendar A is not picked, many students in AP Classes will suffer with increased levels of stress and have to take more time outside of school to focus on those classes, and that student-athletes will have a decreased amount of time to have fun on their breaks, which would also increase overall stress levels.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this email, and taking the time to consider my opinion and proposed changes.
Sincerely,
Kaelin Hanson
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