You’re a senior in high school and it’s May 8th. You wake up and start to get ready for school. You get the urge to check your schedule,” We have another break? I thought we just had one,” you mumble. “Wow. A week off. In May.” That’s when a thought hits you, “With all these breaks, is the school year going to be longer?” You check the district calendar. It states that school ends in the middle of June. This could be a reality for DMPS students in the 2022-2023 school year if the proposed new calendar passes.
The summer break change for next year will bring more breaks throughout the year but it will also push back the end of the school year. Therefor seniors will graduate later, and the usual long summer break will be shorter. This possible change has brought controversy to the DMPS community.

“I don’t think this will be helpful because more breaks during the school year will most likely mess up some people’s way of learning. Not to mention that students, a lot of the time during summer break, travel or have jobs.” Junior, Ciel Meza said.

This change will result in getting more holidays off like, Ramadan, Lunar New Year, and Yom Kippur. It will also include getting election day off, too. Due to getting more time off, the last day of school will be pushed into June instead of getting out in May. The reason for this summer break change is because the summer break is so long that students tend to forget some of the stuff, that they learned the previous year.
Students, especially juniors, will be affected by this change because most will want to get summer jobs. However, since the summer will be shorter their experience in the workplace will also be shorter. As of now, the calendar committee have reviewed the survey sent by DMPS and have made changes to the calendar.

“The calendar committee reviewed the results of the survey and made changes sought by the majority of the respondents. In the current proposed calendar, the first day of school is August 24 and the last day is June 6. A proposed week-long break in May is eliminated and teacher conferences are reintroduced.”

Not only are the students and staff affected by this change but so are the parents. With more days off, parents with younger children must find alternatives for their kids, like daycare or people to watch over their kids while the parents go to work. However, some may say that this would be a good thing because it could lessen stress in students.

“I think this change could be beneficial to many students because it’s like taking a little break in stressful times. From seeing my kids in school, I believe this would be helpful to many.” Parent, Lucy Brown said.