by Kaylie Kirkham, junior
An Open Letter to the NASD School Board
I moved to the Nazareth Area School District at the start of my 8th grade year. Previous to that, I had lived in Houston, Texas for 12 years. Obviously, there were a lot of differences between my old school district and NASD, but the most noticeable difference for me was the short holiday breaks. I grew up getting 5 school days off for both Thanksgiving and Spring Break, as well as 10 or more school days off for Christmas Break. I was shocked at the meager long weekend Fall/Spring breaks and one week Christmas break that NASD provided.
This year, the 2021-2022 school calendar for NASD consisted of three Holiday Breaks: 5 days at Thanksgiving, 10 days at Christmas, and 4 days at Easter (all of which include weekends). In actuality, 8 of those “days off” are on Saturday/Sunday, which we would already have off of school. The School Board simply isn’t giving students enough time off to destress from school.
School is very taxing on students. We have to get up early to attend classes and stay up late to finish our mounds of homework due the following day. Not to mention the extra hours of studying for and stressing over tests. KidsHealth conducted a survey of students and their stress levels during the school year. The results of the study reported that 32% of students attribute high stress levels to school work issues and 30% attribute high stress levels to the social pressures of school (Bratsis). All of this stress compounds over time and it can have both physical and mental effects. Cynthia M Thaik, a Harvard trained physician, said on Psychology Today, “Stress that continues without relief can lead to… physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping” (Thaik). Students need to be given the opportunity to take time for themselves and to destress. I have personally felt some of these physical effects caused by stress and I know others do as well. We need a break during the Fall, Winter, and Spring to keep us healthy.
As I mentioned before, I have attended schools where we got longer breaks. I always looked forward to spending two weeks off with nothing but time for me, something I never get during the school year. I had no homework pressing my mind if I tried to relax, no test anxiety keeping me up late at night, and no alarm dragging me out of much needed sleep at 6am. Statistics prove that living a life of constant stress and anxiety can be dangerous for students' mental health. Michael Agnew, Heather Poole, and Ayesha Khan, researchers for Canadian Universities, headed a project on the perception of students who were granted a fall break. They reported that at Candian Universities without a fall break, “60% of [students] had felt hopeless, 90% felt overwhelmed, 88% felt exhausted, 65% felt overwhelming anxiety, and 13% had considered suicide.” The observed students attribute the cause of these emotions to “stress, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and depression” (Agnew, Poole, and Khan). Agnew, Poole, and Khan went on to study Canadian Universities who did have time off for the Thanksgiving Holidays and found that students perceived it as “a meaningful reprieve from their academic commitments.” Other students used the break as “an essential opportunity to attend to their emotional and mental well-being,” and even more as “a window…to recover from significant sleep deprivation and physical illness” (Agnew, Poole, and Khan). The students with a fall break felt that they were able to step out of the constant merry-go-round of stress for a few much needed days of rest. It gave them the time to refresh and refocus themselves.
Another common use of time off school is going on a family vacation. This is an especially popular activity during the holidays. It is now January, and the students of NASD have just returned to school from Christmas break, which began on December 24: Christmas Eve. School went right up to holiday, making it impossible for students to travel without missing school. Statistically speaking, this affects a significant number of students. Muntean and Wallace, writers for CNN, reported in an article that “AAA estimates more than 109 million Americans will travel over the long Christmas and New Year's week” (Muntean and Wallace). That is approximately ⅓ of the nation. Although Christmas is a popular time to travel, the single busiest travel day of 2021 was actually during the Thanksgiving holidays. Muntean and Wallace recount that “The Transportation Security Administration reported screening 2,451,300 people on November 28” (Muntean and Wallace). Both NASD’s Fall and Winter breaks went right up to the actual holiday, forcing students to either skip school or forgo the vacation. If the School Board would give us just 3 or 4 more days off, students would be able to travel for the holidays without having to worry about making up missed assignments.
Some people might claim that shorter holiday breaks still give students a chance to rejuvenate as long teachers are not allowed to assign homework. This statement would be true, if it were followed. I had several teachers assign work that was due the second day back to school so the students technically wouldn’t have to do it over it break. This either forced the students to do school work over break, or just push it off and have a very stressful first day back trying to finish a bunch of backed up homework. School officials in Princeton, NJ agree that breaks should give students “time to rest and recover from the stresses of school, as well as pursue interests outside the classroom” (Suresh and Cole).
This is hard to do with homework pressing down on our minds, but not everyone agrees that teachers should refrain from assigning homework over holiday breaks. One such person, Hansa Suresh, a student voice for Scholastic Magazine, explained, “We should get homework during breaks because…without homework, we might forget a lot of what we've learned in class by the time the break is over” (Suresh and Cole). Many teachers echo this statement, fearing that the students will forget what they have learned over a long break. If they feel the need to assign us work, then students should have adequate time off to complete both school assignments AND personal pursuits. A full two weeks at Christmas would give students plenty of time to do both.
Others might claim that lengthening the holiday breaks would shorten the summer. NASD usually gets out the first week of June and begins the next school year in late August or early September. If the School Board took just 2 weeks from summer vacation, (one for Christmas, the other to be split between Fall and Spring), students would receive adequate time off. No one would even notice the missing week or two during the long summer, but it would make it all the difference to students in January when they are tired, discouraged, and worn out.
Please, NASD School Board, consider the health of Nazareth students. We put everything we have into our school work, and we deserve time off. It isn’t fair to ask us to keep pushing past what we are capable of carrying. I am not the only one who believes this. A team of researchers from Stanford University and the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education conducted a study on the effects of stress management techniques on students. The study reported that American teens experience stress levels that exceed what is considered acceptable. The students reported a “5.8 versus 3.9 on a 10-point scale” for stress levels (Valosek et. al.). Long holiday breaks would reduce that stress rating significantly for many students. We won’t miss that lost week in August, but we wouldn’t be able to thank you enough for that extra week in January. Please consider giving the students the time they need to care for their mental and physical health.
Sincerely,
NAHS Junior, Kaylie Kirkham
Bratsis, Michael E. “Health Wise.” The Science Teacher, Vol. 79, Issue 9, Nation Science Teachers Association, Dec. 2021, p.74, Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.
Muntean, Peter and Gregory Wallace. “Winter Holiday Travel Will Be Back With a Vengeance, Travel Groups Predict.” Cable News Network, Cable News Network, 16 Dec. 2021.
Suresh, Hansa and Tanner Cole. “Should Kids Have Homework Over Breaks?” Scholastic News/Weekly Reader Edition 4, Vol. 78, Issue 9, 23 Nov. 2015, p.7. Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.
Thaik, Cynthia M. “The Effects of Stress on the Body.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 14 Nov. 2013.
Valosek, Laurent, et.al. “Effect of Meditation on Psychological Stress and Academic Achievement in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Study.” Education, Vol. 141, Issue 4, Project Innovation, 2021, p.129. Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.
School is very taxing on students. We have to get up early to attend classes and stay up late to finish our mounds of homework due the following day. Not to mention the extra hours of studying for and stressing over tests. KidsHealth conducted a survey of students and their stress levels during the school year. The results of the study reported that 32% of students attribute high stress levels to school work issues and 30% attribute high stress levels to the social pressures of school (Bratsis). All of this stress compounds over time and it can have both physical and mental effects. Cynthia M Thaik, a Harvard trained physician, said on Psychology Today, “Stress that continues without relief can lead to… physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping” (Thaik). Students need to be given the opportunity to take time for themselves and to destress. I have personally felt some of these physical effects caused by stress and I know others do as well. We need a break during the Fall, Winter, and Spring to keep us healthy.
As I mentioned before, I have attended schools where we got longer breaks. I always looked forward to spending two weeks off with nothing but time for me, something I never get during the school year. I had no homework pressing my mind if I tried to relax, no test anxiety keeping me up late at night, and no alarm dragging me out of much needed sleep at 6am. Statistics prove that living a life of constant stress and anxiety can be dangerous for students' mental health. Michael Agnew, Heather Poole, and Ayesha Khan, researchers for Canadian Universities, headed a project on the perception of students who were granted a fall break. They reported that at Candian Universities without a fall break, “60% of [students] had felt hopeless, 90% felt overwhelmed, 88% felt exhausted, 65% felt overwhelming anxiety, and 13% had considered suicide.” The observed students attribute the cause of these emotions to “stress, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and depression” (Agnew, Poole, and Khan). Agnew, Poole, and Khan went on to study Canadian Universities who did have time off for the Thanksgiving Holidays and found that students perceived it as “a meaningful reprieve from their academic commitments.” Other students used the break as “an essential opportunity to attend to their emotional and mental well-being,” and even more as “a window…to recover from significant sleep deprivation and physical illness” (Agnew, Poole, and Khan). The students with a fall break felt that they were able to step out of the constant merry-go-round of stress for a few much needed days of rest. It gave them the time to refresh and refocus themselves.
Another common use of time off school is going on a family vacation. This is an especially popular activity during the holidays. It is now January, and the students of NASD have just returned to school from Christmas break, which began on December 24: Christmas Eve. School went right up to holiday, making it impossible for students to travel without missing school. Statistically speaking, this affects a significant number of students. Muntean and Wallace, writers for CNN, reported in an article that “AAA estimates more than 109 million Americans will travel over the long Christmas and New Year's week” (Muntean and Wallace). That is approximately ⅓ of the nation. Although Christmas is a popular time to travel, the single busiest travel day of 2021 was actually during the Thanksgiving holidays. Muntean and Wallace recount that “The Transportation Security Administration reported screening 2,451,300 people on November 28” (Muntean and Wallace). Both NASD’s Fall and Winter breaks went right up to the actual holiday, forcing students to either skip school or forgo the vacation. If the School Board would give us just 3 or 4 more days off, students would be able to travel for the holidays without having to worry about making up missed assignments.
Some people might claim that shorter holiday breaks still give students a chance to rejuvenate as long teachers are not allowed to assign homework. This statement would be true, if it were followed. I had several teachers assign work that was due the second day back to school so the students technically wouldn’t have to do it over it break. This either forced the students to do school work over break, or just push it off and have a very stressful first day back trying to finish a bunch of backed up homework. School officials in Princeton, NJ agree that breaks should give students “time to rest and recover from the stresses of school, as well as pursue interests outside the classroom” (Suresh and Cole).
This is hard to do with homework pressing down on our minds, but not everyone agrees that teachers should refrain from assigning homework over holiday breaks. One such person, Hansa Suresh, a student voice for Scholastic Magazine, explained, “We should get homework during breaks because…without homework, we might forget a lot of what we've learned in class by the time the break is over” (Suresh and Cole). Many teachers echo this statement, fearing that the students will forget what they have learned over a long break. If they feel the need to assign us work, then students should have adequate time off to complete both school assignments AND personal pursuits. A full two weeks at Christmas would give students plenty of time to do both.
Others might claim that lengthening the holiday breaks would shorten the summer. NASD usually gets out the first week of June and begins the next school year in late August or early September. If the School Board took just 2 weeks from summer vacation, (one for Christmas, the other to be split between Fall and Spring), students would receive adequate time off. No one would even notice the missing week or two during the long summer, but it would make it all the difference to students in January when they are tired, discouraged, and worn out.
Please, NASD School Board, consider the health of Nazareth students. We put everything we have into our school work, and we deserve time off. It isn’t fair to ask us to keep pushing past what we are capable of carrying. I am not the only one who believes this. A team of researchers from Stanford University and the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education conducted a study on the effects of stress management techniques on students. The study reported that American teens experience stress levels that exceed what is considered acceptable. The students reported a “5.8 versus 3.9 on a 10-point scale” for stress levels (Valosek et. al.). Long holiday breaks would reduce that stress rating significantly for many students. We won’t miss that lost week in August, but we wouldn’t be able to thank you enough for that extra week in January. Please consider giving the students the time they need to care for their mental and physical health.
Sincerely,
NAHS Junior, Kaylie Kirkham
Works Cited
Agnew, Michael, Heather Poole, and Ayesha Khan. “Fall Break Fallout: Exploring Student Perceptions of the Impact of Autumn Break on Stress.” Student Success Journal, Vol. 10(3), 2019, p.45-54. Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.Bratsis, Michael E. “Health Wise.” The Science Teacher, Vol. 79, Issue 9, Nation Science Teachers Association, Dec. 2021, p.74, Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.
Muntean, Peter and Gregory Wallace. “Winter Holiday Travel Will Be Back With a Vengeance, Travel Groups Predict.” Cable News Network, Cable News Network, 16 Dec. 2021.
Suresh, Hansa and Tanner Cole. “Should Kids Have Homework Over Breaks?” Scholastic News/Weekly Reader Edition 4, Vol. 78, Issue 9, 23 Nov. 2015, p.7. Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.
Thaik, Cynthia M. “The Effects of Stress on the Body.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 14 Nov. 2013.
Valosek, Laurent, et.al. “Effect of Meditation on Psychological Stress and Academic Achievement in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Study.” Education, Vol. 141, Issue 4, Project Innovation, 2021, p.129. Gale in Context: High School, go.gale.com.