It’s about that time again, No School November. An endearing name that has grown in popularity the last few years. It’s what many staff and students in Davenport School District call this time of year. Out of the thirty-one days in November, students are not in school for sixteen of them. While some students and staff think having a break is beneficial, others do not agree.
Michael Orfitelli, one of the associate principals here at West, said, “I’d rather students be spending more time in the classroom, but I think everyone appreciates having some time off to spend with family and friends.”
Most staff members enjoy the break themselves, but it’s the coming back to school that is concerning. Students have to get back into the setting of school and having to do work. Some teachers have certain ways they think work best to ease kids back into school. Spanish teacher, Stephanie Hansen, said, “It’s difficult to make students want to feel productive when coming back from the long breaks. Some things I find helpful is to slowly ease them back into the idea of doing work. For example, I wouldn’t throw a really difficult lesson in their faces, instead we can work on some of the things we learned before the break or something simpler. Then at the end we can watch a movie, or a Spanish related video, the idea is that they will get back into the swing of things and eventually after a few days be ready to dive into some more challenging work.”
Some things that may factor into the teachers and parents’ opinions are the students’ opinions. Sophomore Samuel Meehan said, “I like having a break, to give my brain a break from school. I’m actually going on a few trips this November that I’ve been looking forward to. I’m going to Indianapolis for soccer and possibly Nebraska just for a small trip with my family.”
Students enjoy the break away from school to just relax and spend time with their families and friends. Most teachers enjoy the breaks as well, the overall issue is just coming back to school for the students, and getting back into the mentality of having responsibilities to get school work done.
Though some teachers and other staff members want students to be in classrooms, the schedule can not be changed due to holidays and elementary conferences. Every year the same holidays and conferences fall on random dates in November; it’s inevitable that there will be more days off during this month due to these events. One of these holidays is Veterans Day, and Davenport Community School District is actually the only district in this area that takes it off. It is not a law to have Veterans Day off, all school and work environments can choose if they want to take the day off for students and staff members.
