Putting on the Spring Breaks

Just like Bob Dunning, I am a parent of children in the Davis Joint Unified School District. Like all parents, my wife and I got a notice asking us to take vacations on school holidays. As everyone else saw, the letter also suggested a donation to DJUSD if our children are absent from school. So we might especially have made use of the school district’s spring break last week; it is the largest school vacation outside of Christmas break and summer break.

But we couldn’t, because we were teaching. This year, spring break in the Davis Joint Unified School District came two weeks after spring break at UC Davis. Two weeks ago the campus was dead, not only because classes had ended, but also because of furloughs. Almost no students were around, all campus stores and food shops were closed, clerical staff were gone, and the buildings were locked. We couldn’t go on vacation then either, because our children were in school.

The district didn’t lose any money because of us this year, because regardless we wouldn’t want our children to miss school. But some families in Davis probably are taking their kids out of school, and hence taking money out of the school system, just because the district’s spring break is offset from that of the major employer in the region. Obviously, if the district is concerned enough to send parents letters about vacation days, the school calendar could be better.

I have talked to a senior school official about this issue, and in all fairness, he was very receptive to what I had to say. In fact, it arose in a separate discussion, he already understood the problem, and I didn’t have to explain anything. I also told the school board and no one there seems to disagree either. So I’m satisfied enough that I have been heard. Maybe next year or the year after, spring break will be the same week. I am told that it’s difficult to change because it is subject to collective bargaining with school employees.

The one thing that I still wonder about is why this problem wasn’t solved a long time ago. In all the time that our children have attended school in Davis, the two spring breaks only landed in the same week once. Maybe some other important purpose is served by the current date of the district’s spring break. But if so, I don’t know what it is. In any case, it would surely help to add more voices to the request.