School Board Leaning Toward One Less Vacation Week

How do you feel about one less school vacation week in Bristol and Warren? And moving the vacation to March?

Most of the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee meeting Monday night, Nov. 25, was taken up with a discussion of doing away with the February and April vacation weeks and replacing them with a one-week vacation in March. 

School Committee Chairman Paul Silva put the item on the agenda to make Superintendent Melina Thies aware of the board’s perspective, he said.

“There’s been an on and off discussion on this for eons,” said Silva. “It’s been a popular discussion among superintendents. I wanted to give her our views.”

School Committee member Karen Lynch said she favors a week in March because it appears that students already get plenty of days off and frequent vacation days interrupt the swing of their education.

“It seems like they are just getting back in the swing of things and then there is more time off,” she said. 

School Committee member Lynn Wainwright, who moved from Southern California, where kids go to school year-round, said to Thies: “We need to know what’s in the best interests of the children.”

“I feel they need more instruction time,” said the superintendent. “Some schools already have longer days and more days. They need fluid and ongoing instruction. I would favor a March vacation.”

Thies said also that there is much more support among superintendents for a one-week vacation than two years ago. Superintendents also favor starting school after Labor Day.

The fact that the school district shares bussing and other services with some schools and district must be taken into account, however, she said. 

School Committee member John Saviano, who sits on the negotiations committee, said adding more days of instruction also would have an impact on the budget. And slicing out a week of vacation should be phased in because of many families who plan vacations a year or so in advance. 

School Committee member Bill O’Dell said he is “on board” with a March vacation. But he thinks a statewide consensus is needed, he said. And the union will have to buy in as well.

Another factor to consider if Bristol Warren decided to go it alone and cut out a vacation week are Rhode Island Interscholastic League schedules, said Thies.

All of these factors need to be examined, said Silva.

“The goal of this discussion was to make the superintendent know the board’s feelings,” he said. “We won’t be making a decision next week or even next month.”