The first semester should end with the start of winter break.
Other schools are able to end their first semester with the start of their winter break. According to the Festus R-VI district calendar, their first day of school was on August 21, the same day that Howell started. But their first semester ends on December 20, with the start of their winter break. Their district is able to fit all of the instruction needed for students to have the information that they need to pass finals and finish the first semester. Seeing that other districts in Missouri are able to fit a whole semester in before winter break having started the same time that our district does goes to show that it is possible and that we can do it. If other schools around us can do it, why is it not possible for us?
Along with seeing other schools be able to accomplish the same thing that we can’t, we also have enough time to accomplish it. We have plenty of time to fit an entire semester in before winter break. According to Maria Sanchez with Save Our Schools, a high school semester normally lasts 18 weeks or 90 days. If we look at our calendar, we have 18 weeks from the the first day of school to the start of winter break. If we budgeted our time a little better, we would be able to use 18 of those weeks for instructional time and finish the semester earlier than we are right now. If we were to sacrifice our fall break, we could have plenty of time to finish the semester before winter break. If we have enough time to fit a whole semester in before winter break, why are we not taking advantage of our time?
There are a lot of arguments that can be used to show why the semester should not end before winter break. Some people might say that it is difficult to fit the entire semester in with the law stating that schools have to start later. According to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes, Missouri law states that schools cannot have a school start date earlier than 14 days before the first Monday in September. This law can make it really difficult to find the space to fit the entire semester into the short time between when we are able to start school and winter break. It may be difficult to fit the semester, but it is not impossible. As we have seen in the previous evidence, we have enough time if we use it wisely and other schools are able to do it as well.
Even though it might be difficult, and it might cause a lot of arguments, ending the first semester before winter break is possible and it should be done.
