Students are always excited when a break is coming around the corner, such as winter and spring break. These breaks rarely seem to be enough time off and are so far spread apart. Often, these dates don’t always work out for family vacations either, and students have to miss time from school regardless. A Florida school district thinks they could have found a solution to their growing attendance issue.
Pasco County School board decided to add built-in four-day weekends or “mini-breaks” to the school calendar. Three mini-breaks are scheduled for the 2024-2025 school year, taking place in October, February, and April. Kevin Shibley, assistant superintendent of the board, announced: “We are hoping that by placing those four-day weekends strategically, we can encourage our students and families to take their trips or vacations on those long weekends instead of taking off instructional day…so, we’re going to try and market that to our families this year. And here are some mini-breaks throughout the year, so that if you want to take some time off, let’s do it then and not miss school during scheduled school.” 
One of the primary reasons for the district’s extreme absences was parents choosing to pull their children out of school for vacation. The times the breaks will take place were based on the months students are commonly absent for this reason. The school will encourage family bonding and parental responsibility to plan vacations during these scheduled breaks to serve this specific purpose.
California needs to consider implementing this into the school calendar. Not only do students miss vacation, but some are overwhelmed with their classes, causing them so much stress that they need mental health days. Parents often do not recognize that their students are struggling mentally due to their heavy workload from school, but with these four-day weekends, parents can be more aware of their kids’ internal struggles. “Mini-breaks” could potentially help with the high attendance problem since kids will have a break to look forward to between the long and tiring months of school. Not only will this excite students, but it will also hopefully increase classroom instruction hours with the assumption that students will attend school more frequently.
One of the main dilemmas among students is that they often have to choose between their extracurriculars, like sports and clubs, or academics, but the “mini-breaks” will allow them more time to balance their schedule between both. Participating in extracurricular activities will help teenagers be able to meet with their friends and socialize while also having time to work on homework or study through the extra long weekends.
Four-day weekends give families plenty of time to go out and fully rest their bodies to start their new week fully energized and focused. California schools need to consider implementing this new schedule by taking after Florida’s movement.
