For the past several years, the Grosse Pointe Public School System has had approximately 175 days of school each year. However, the state of Michigan has chosen to add extra days to the required amount of school days per year. The teacher’s current collective bargaining agreements, negotiated between the teachers and the administration, don’t expire until the end of this school year, so the school system will add these days to the 2017-18 school year.

This addition has stirred up commotion on how the district plans to add days to the calendar for next year. Although many have come to the conclusion of the administration taking away the mid-winter break, they have chosen to have next year’s winter (Christmas) break be seven school days and two weekends off, totaling to 11 days instead of the 16 days in previous years. Adding three school days during the winter break and removing the unnecessary days off throughout the year was the best solution to allow students, staff, and their families less disturbance to any plans they might have next year.

When I first heard about this, I was upset to know that I would not have as much “me time” as I usually would, but after further investigation, I learned that this would barely impact me and my winter break traditions. Another bright side is that really kept me from being angry is that school will end around the same time in June, rather than waiting an extra week before summer vacation, so that means I will have the time for to relax and have fun with my friends and family. The break is still close to the same length, and we don’t have to stay in school later than usual. It’s not a full week that we lose, but three days.

But of course, nothing goes unnoticed without some form of miscommunication. Rumors were soon spread as students began to over exaggerate on how our district chose to accommodate the addition. Some students said that we would only have one week of break instead of the usual two, causing confusion among students. What students failed to ask their sources was how many days would be taken off of the break. This confusion has been causing students to overreact to this small change to the calendar, instead of going without a commotion.

It is one of the best solutions for the day addition. We will still have a break every couple of weeks to keep our brains from being overworked, and we don’t have to wait an extra few days during June just waiting to be released for our summer vacation. I know that some may feel that this is the end of the world, but in the end, we will have more time to learn and flourish in our classes. We will have more time to better prepare ourselves for midterms, and have extra time to help raise our grades.  So even though we have a few extra school days, there is no point in complaining, because our education should always come before fun and relaxation.