MAXIMUS POSADA
Dear School Board Members, Superintendent Guy, and Assistant-Superintendent Payne,
My name is Max Posada and I am a Junior concerned about district-wide equity. As a School Board Liaison, debate captain of the Hilltalkers Speech & Debate team, and principal cellist of the Los Alamos String Orchestra, I have valuable insight into student opinions regarding the proposed School Calendars. While shortening the summer seems like it will not affect student income, Calendar B disregards the financial situation of students at our high school.
Calendar B raises a lot of concerns about equity within the district. Many of my friends work at the Barranca pool during the summer and rely on their summer job to attend college or post-secondary school. Pursuing Calendar B will reduce summer break by two weeks, seriously harming students who rely on their summer paychecks to pursue further education after high school. As the price of education seems to rise throughout the country, it is crucial that we still maintain a longer summer break in order for students to save up for college. On the surface, it may seem that two weeks will not drastically affect student income and allow for more breaks. However, if we add up the time through 4 years of high school, students can be missing out on 8 weeks of pay under Calendar B. As job opportunities are more common during the summer, creating two-week breaks during random times throughout the year will restrict working opportunities for students. Furthermore, this raises serious concerns about equity for families that commute from poorer counties such as Rio Arriba county which has a median household income of $59,420. Families that are unable to take time off work to supervise their children will have increased difficulty finding child care during Calendar B’s implementation of a Fall break and a longer Spring break. As child care is very expensive and difficult to find, Calendar B hurts impoverished families who do not have the financial capabilities to provide care for their children during prolonged breaks.
Serve in the best interest of high school students and vote against Calendar B. Calendar A and C are better alternatives that allow for longer summer breaks and are closer to our current school calendar. I hope that this increase in instructional time will provide me with more opportunities to explore my future career and get involved within my community. Vote against Calendar B to help families who are the most impoverished and students who rely on summer jobs.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
Max Posada
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