A week off in October? I believe this would benefit the students of COS as well as the Staff.

In Exeter, California, the school district allows students and staff a week off in the middle of October to catch up on assignments that were missed, get ahead on assignments that will be due, or just to be relaxed and stress-free.

Most importantly, staff members were able to plan future assignments, blow off some steam, or even catch up on grading. I recently called the principal of Exeter Union High, Robert Mayo, to see what his thoughts were on having the week off in October.

Mayo stated, “October break is a nice intersection that really splits up that first semester. It’s an opportunity for students to refocus and catch up on any work they need to do. Also an opportunity for staff to kind of refocus to come back from that run from August until October so it does provide both an overall emotional break but also provides an opportunity to get caught up in work. I think it’s even reflective of how we have a spring break which is halfway through the spring semester, so it compliments that. It is very much accepted by our community and at calendar meetings. We definitely had our community and staff say that it is very critical and it’s something they don’t want to see go away, as they see both emotional benefits and academic benefits.”

Furthermore, in my personal experience, it felt very much needed and greatly appreciated as the school was thinking about our mental health as well as physical health. The week off in October is definitely something all school districts should have. As well as colleges since the workloads are different for every individual.