With the end of the school year, many seniors are complaining that they wish they could get out earlier than the rest of the school, something many of the surrounding school districts, such as Ft. Zumwalt do.

What would be a nice sentiment for seniors–allowing them to leave perhaps just a week earlier than the rest of school, a privilege that they’ve earned from going through four years of high school–is very unlikely for a few reasons.

While seniors would likely be able to learn all of the curriculum in their classes and take their finals early, there are some nationally run programs that would be scheduled for after they have gotten out of school.

Their early absence could have an effect on possible tests that they may be signed up to take, like AP tests.

If seniors were to leave one week before the last day of school, which would have been Friday, May 17, they could have been out of school for the AP Calculus, Literature, Macroeconomics, and other AP tests. All of these classes seniors have the opportunity to take, and if they were to be absent the week of the test, students would be missing out on a valuable week of in-class review for the test, which could ultimately decide whether they pass the test or not.

Because of this, seniors should be obligated to stay in school, regardless of whether they are signed up to take an AP test or not, so that every senior is on the same schedule and all of them are as successful as possible.

Besides, seniors will get an extended summer break anyways if they are attending college after, considering most colleges start at least a week later than Howell’s normal beginning-of-August start time, so getting out at the same time as all other students would still yield a longer summer break than all of the other classes.