Bristol Warren to stick with March school vacation

School committee votes 5-4 to keep new vacation slot in March, abandon April

By Ted Hayes
Posted 4/24/18

The Bristol Warren Regional School Committee voted Monday night to schedule next year’s Spring school vacation in March instead of April, voting 5-4 to stick with a controversial decision it made …

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Bristol Warren to stick with March school vacation

School committee votes 5-4 to keep new vacation slot in March, abandon April

Posted

The Bristol Warren Regional School Committee voted Monday night to schedule next year’s Spring school vacation in March instead of April, voting 5-4 to stick with a controversial decision it made last year to move the vacation ahead a month.

Based on a recommendation by Supt. Mario Andrade, committee members reasoned in last year’s vote that there is evidence that time off in March is better for students than having to go from Christmas vacation to April without a full week-long break.

Students had their first March vacation this year, and in its wake many parents and teachers complained that the district was “out of sync” with the rest of the state and the timing of the off week was an inconvenience for students and families.

Several school committee members and a teachers’ union representative echoed those sentiments Monday night, citing a recent parent and teacher survey that shows support for returning to the traditional April vacation.

But the five committee members who voted to stick with March — Paul Silva, Diana Campbell, William O’Dell, John Bento and Marge McBride — said they need to give the March break more time to determine if it actually improves student performance:

“Trying something new, yes it makes people uncomfortable,” Mr. O’Dell said. “But I need more information to change my mind, quite frankly. I don’t have any compelling reason other than surveys and opinion on why (the district should revert to April). I’m willing to give this another year.”

“Opinions can go either way,” Mr. Silva added. “When we made this decision, we made the decision that we would run this for a few years before we could determine whether it was better for students. At this point we’ve only run this calendar for a year and that year is not yet over. I think we need to give this issue its due chance to succeed or fail. I don’t think that we’ve given it ample time yet.”

But others do.

Greg Chidester, a Mt. Hope High School teacher and vice president of the local teachers’ union, the Bristol Warren Education Association, said a survey put out by the union found a “plurality” of parents (about 41 percent) and a majority of teachers (70 percent), want to revert to the traditional April break.

“I do not feel personally … that there was any compelling case made for why we were moving to a March vacation,” he said. “I still don’t see one given.”

Several of the main arguments Mr. Chidester heard against the March break were the lack of student opportunities during the non-standard off week, and the fact that few other districts in Rhode Island have looked to change to March. Several committee members, including Warren parent Erin Schofield, agreed and said the decision to move seemed arbitrary:

“I share the frustration of many when it comes to not having the same” opportunities available,” said Ms. Schofield, who has children in the district.

“If the rest of the state is not moving in this direction, I’m not sure what the point is? I don’t know why we’re reinventing the wheel, unless we have some reason to do so?”

“From what I have seen, to the extent that there are any particular benefits for having a March vacation, I don’t think they outweigh the difficulties that a great number of people have expressed as a result of having that out of sync schedule,” committee member Adam Ramos added. “It’s important that we … consider the impact that it has on children and families when they’re not here.”

“I was in support of a March vacation but I’ve also received feedback that wants us to switch back to April,” said member Brian Bradshaw. “What I’ve seen from the surveys is significantly more in number than the feedback I’ve seen that says that March is OK. If we could entertain a motion for an April vacation, I would be in favor of that.”

Committee member Diana Campbell conceded that the district probably needed to do a better job alerting local museums and recreation departments that students would be off in March, not April. Still, she thinks those secondary issues can be addressed:

“There obviously should be some more coordination with the recreation boards, with the libraries,” she said. Still, “the feedback I got from people I spoke with did not feel any hardship from having the spring break.”

Mr. O’Dell spoke of “the process” of deciding to move from April to March, saying that despite the move’s unpopularity there was solid reasoning behind it. The district — parents, students, teachers and the larger community — need to trust that process and give the switch a chance. Mr. Silva concurred:

“In this district … we’ve prided ourselves on being innovative. We’ve committed to give time to allow these innovations to develop and settle in. I have no issue with this March vacation.”

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