Why is Brevard’s spring break so late this year?

Why is Brevard’s spring break so late this year?

Students and teachers in Brevard County awoke Monday to a frightening realization: two more weeks till spring break.

Since 2009, spring break in Brevard has fallen within the last two weeks of March. But this year, the week of freedom doesn’t start until April 10, five weeks before summer break.

“Anecdotally, what I’m seeing and hearing in schools is an increase in behavioral issues with students, an increase in frustration levels for teachers, an increase in stress levels for administrators,” said school board chair Misty Belford at Tuesday’s meeting.

Kim Hunt, a math teacher at the Alternative Learning Center in Cocoa, has seem some of the problems in her own classroom.

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“They’re ready for a break. Everyone is tired,” she said. Every day, she and her students walk around the school track and and take multiple stretch breaks to get out their excess energy.

The delayed break compelled the Brevard Teachers for Change, a group of teachers concerned about issues in the county’s schools, to pen a short Facebook plea to the school board:

“Dear School Board, I am running on empty right now and so are my students. Tomorrow should be the beginning of our Spring Break. It has been the last week of March for as long as I can remember. Yes, I will be thankful when we return in April and only have 5 weeks of school left. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that we make it through the next two weeks. Signed, One Tired Teacher”

Meanwhile, students in other Florida districts are beginning their spring breaks much earlier. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Orange, Seminole, Palm Beach and many others had theirs earlier this month.

It has teachers and parents asking, why is Brevard’s spring break so late this year?

The short answer: testing.

Ana Diaz with the district’s human resources department explained that although there are a lot of reasons behind the decision, one of the “highest-weighted” reasons is working around the state testing window.

“I shudder to think that we’re allowing a state accountability system and testing window that we have expressed extreme concern about drive decisions that may not be in the best interest of our teachers and our students,” said Belford.

Diaz assured the board that other factors, including holidays, are also taken into account. For example, the first day of spring break this year is also the first day of Passover, and the last day is Good Friday.

Still, the calendar committee, a group composed of teachers, support staff and district employees, does look for a week that will have the smallest impact on the testing window.

“Trust me, I know how we feel about assessment, but the brutal reality is our educators are still evaluated based on that assessment that we all have problems with. Our students have significant decisions made to them and for them based on these assessments,” said Superintendent Desmond Blackburn. “It does behoove us to consider that in all of our planning.”

Some of the largest districts in Florida, including Miami-Dade and Broward, have their spring breaks scheduled the same time as Brevard’s.

However, Eric Chisem, chair of Broward’s calendar committee, said it hasn’t been a problem.

“We haven’t heard any feedback around the spring break being an issue,” he said. “I can tell you, I haven’t gotten emails, I haven’t gotten phone calls.”

Like Brevard, other districts have to work around the testing window, which Chisem said is “a really big driving factor” behind when they schedule spring break. The number of workable teacher days and holidays are also important.

“A lot of days that we wind up taking off in the school are driven by data that we will have a higher absenteeism than a normal day,” said Chisem.

Even in Seminole County, where spring break is held mid-March, accommodating the testing window is prioritized, according to spokesman Michael Lawrence.

In Orange, however, because the testing window has been the same for many years, it doesn’t really come into play when laying out the calendar. Instead, school officials try to choose a week that won’t break up the nine-week periods, explained Shari Bobinski, senior manager of media promotions at Orange County Public Schools.

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Most districts have a calendar committee, and every year their respective school boards have to approve the district calendar months, sometimes years, in advance. The BPS calendar for the 2017-18 school year, for example, was released to parents in February.

“We do a very good job of promoting and publicizing those days ways ahead so people are not taken aback,” said Nadine Drew, spokeswoman for Broward schools.

The Brevard teachers union has long asked to be a part of the calendar committee. They were not part of the process this year, but will be going forward.

School board vice chair John Craig said the board takes part of the responsibility for some of the problems with the calendar this year.

“Bad on us that we didn’t look at it at the time,” he said.

A bill currently moving through the Florida Legislature would move testing to the last four weeks of school, which could solve the problem.

Next year’s spring break is currently scheduled for April 2 through April 6.

Contact Caroline Glenn at [email protected] or 321-576-5933, or follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like “Education at Florida Today” on Facebook.