By: Kunmi Dosunmu

Some holidays and every weekend provide K-12 students across America a day off of school. Unlike these set days, school counties are able to set the calendar for schools in their jurisdiction. A break is a set amount of days issued by a county that allow students and teachers to take time off of school attendance. Recently, Fulton County had issued a three day break for their schools. Paired with two professional development days, it became a week long break for students and 3 days for teachers. Whether short or long, breaks have been a part of this county’s system for many years. As leisurely as these breaks are, it carries some important roles in their creation and implementation. From the spacing of each break and its effects on students and staff, to the necessity of rest in-between the school years, breaks have unique parts that combine into something more crucial.

The duration of breaks has an effect on both students and teachers. From an interview with Mr. Campbell of Innovation Academy, he provides his view on the spacing: “I think having the 2 month stretch in summer is not great. Because there is a fair amount of atrophy with the time. That’s gonna happen if students don’t do something to sort of keep those skills sharp.” From the student’s side, Neel Irkal[12] of Innovation Academy shares his as well.: “I mean, I personally prefer shorter breaks because if the breaks too long, I get with whiplash coming back to school. I go from somewhat bumming around all day, having my own schedule that I’m working by, sleeping later, waking up later, all that. And then having to immediately go back to school after like a long, what feels like a long time. It takes you a hot second to readjust to be participating in school.”

From their own experiences, both interviewees understand that as the breaks become longer in time, some students can have a rough start heading back to schedule. Using summer break as an example, Campbell notes that although the previous year has ended, the next year can be troubling for some students and teachers as they may not have the same fluency in their upcoming classes as they would before the break’s start. It’s important that the breaks give a breather within school cycle, but it also poses some detrimental effects when coming back to school. To counter act this, planning your breaks accordingly to accommodate for lost experience is helpful if needed.

The importance of breaks is to provide rest for everyone involved. It acts as some needed time away from the constant or even inconsistent cycle of the school schedule. From Mr. Campbell “Well, people need rest is one thing. We function better when we’re not overworked, right? I mean, there’s sort of an optimal, and it sort of different from person to person, but for all of us, if we work a certain number of hours a week, our effectiveness is going to start decreasing after a certain point.” Neel followed a similar reasoning to Campbell. “I think they’re important because they give the students in Fulton County a great mental reset from the stress that is school. It also gives you an opportunity to do work and catch up on work you might be behind on.” Repeating the same plan constantly can result in harmful effects to people’s state of mind. Stress specifically is on record to affect both parties. Breaks provide a way to alleviate potential stress by allowing time away from school. With this time, it can be used to catch up on work, study ahead, spend time with family and friends or do activities at their own pace. There are instances where a 2,3 or even week long break disrupts someone’s schedule, but are given time to work around the disruption, with extra time as a bonus

Breaks are one of the most well known and important aspects in the American school systems. Depending on how long the break lasts, its can be helpful or a hinderance to the affected parties by breaking their consistency. Its also important because they provide more time in between schedules for rest and relaxation. Its instated before each year starts, which is helpful for adjustments and planning around or based off of them. Without these breaks in the calendar, it leaves schools with the same, unbroken cycle year-round, leaving students and teachers with barely any time to themselves. If you’re looking for a short break, not initiated by your county and during working hours, tune into the Beacon’s weekly crossword puzzles. These can be found on the beacon website under the name: Beacon Brain Break.