Dear Members of West Hartford Board of Education,

We understand that you will be discussing and voting on the 2016-17 school calendar at the February 17th Board Meeting. We would ask you to consider reinstituting the traditional school calendar which provides students and faculty with a full week’s vacation in December, February and April. Please consider this for the following reasons:

• Having a full week off in February helps to clear the schools of winter ‘bugs’. This helps to break the sick cycle.
• When a full week is not scheduled into the academic calendar, many parents decide to take a week’s vacation during other weeks in February when the prices are lower. This makes it very difficult for teachers to present new material, as students are out and returning at different times throughout the month of February.
• Having a full week in February and April is important to high school students who would like to visit colleges. Having both weeks off makes it possible for high school students and parents to attend informative programs at various colleges.
• Most families who want to spend family time skiing with their children find the week in February to be the optimal time to do this. December is to early for reliable snow and April is too late.
• The traditional February and April week vacation breaks up the calendar more equally. There are approximately 8 weeks from December vacation to February vacation, 8 weeks from February vacation to April vacation , and a further 8 weeks to the end of the year. Students and faculty benefit from a week’s break at these 8 week intervals. Students and faculty come in rested, recharged and ready to go upon their return from these vacations.
• Please do not consider eliminating the February and April vacations in favor of a week in March. This would make a long hard stretch form December to March (approximately 12 weeks) and an even longer more difficult stretch to June (approximately 12+ weeks.)

We would be very grateful if you would consider these suggestions and reinstate the full week in February as part of the 2016-2017 West Hartford school calendar.