Fall break, as I’m sure you’re all aware, was a week-long break in between the first and second nine weeks. It was a time for students (and teachers) to recuperate and get some much needed rest after nine weeks of school. Many families went on vacation over fall break to avoid their kids missing multiple school days. 

However, multiple school systems only gave their students 2-3 day long fall breaks, and some only gave one day out. In fact, out of seven school districts, only Huntsville City and Madison County gave the full week. Hartselle City and Decatur City schools gave two days only while Athens City schools gave three. Blount County Schools and Morgan County Schools only got one day out. This means that these schools are essentially only getting an extra weather day out of school. Other than Thanksgiving, students would be in school for eighteen weeks straight before getting to Christmas break.

If that sounds awful to you, you’d be in the majority. In Madison, we’ve gotten used to having a full week out of school in October. We’re accustomed to having this time to rest and socialize before going back to school.

In fact, almost all of a polled group of 70 Bob Jones students think that fall break is a necessity for reasons like preventing burn out and recovering from stress.

Junior Caleb McDonald claimed that fall break helps combat the mental strain he feels. Matthew Pimmel, a freshman stated, “Getting rid of it [fall break] can lead to students being more tired and performing worse in class.” 

Most students tend to feel strongly about this topic, and as stated before, most assert the need for a long break between two periods. Fall break gives us a time to get away from school and responsibilities for a little while. It also gives us some time to be with friends and family.

Fall break was just the respite we students needed. Going into the future, it’ll hopefully stay that way.