Everything has its flaws, and the schedule for this school year is no exception. Spanning 180 days (not including Holidays, Non Student Days or District Recesses), this year has one of the weirdest schedules Poway has ever had.

This November we have finals week and the start of trimester two before Thanksgiving break. Right in the middle of finals week is Veterans Day, on Thursday, pushing the start of finals a day earlier. After finals are over, there is only a week of trimester two before Thanksgiving Break.

Here’s the real kicker: trimester two finals week is the week right after February break. What high schooler is going to want to come back from break and then have to stress about finals? Time off from school is great, but where everything lands is really bad placement.

Finally, in the last, and longest trimester of the year. Days off are few and far between. Spring Break is from April 11 to April 15. Then it’s back to the grind because there are no days off until Memorial Day.

So far, there have been three days off in trimester one, with only two to four weeks of school between breaks. In trimester two, there are four weeks in District Recesses, one day for a Holiday and one day for a Non Student Day. Trimester three is slim pickings for days off.

There are so many days in the school year that could be given to students as days off, especially in trimester three. There are two, six week periods where students are at school for 5 days a week. Students are already prone to taking days off towards the end of the school year, and not giving students days off is not helping.

Students want to succeed in school. Having to take their own mental health days is not beneficial because students miss more assignments, leaving them behind the class.

I propose that in future years we start school a week later. This would be great to let students rest and trimester two would not start until after Thanksgiving break, and winter finals would not be immediately following February break. As for trimester three, adding Non-Student days would be helpful because we are at school for two six week periods with a one week break in between.