Mid-Winter Break Coming Up by Sophie Kuipers
This year, Saugatuck High School/Middle School’s mid-winter break is from Friday, February 9, to Monday, February 12. This gives students, teachers, and staff a nice four-day weekend, with plenty of time to get a break from school, allowing for everyone to relax and recharge!
The next few months are relatively busy as a school, with parent-teacher conferences coming up next week (Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8), followed by mid-winter break, as mentioned. Following mid-winter break, exam week/the end of the second trimester takes place at the beginning of March, with Spring Break not far behind.
When asking around the High School what people’s plans were for mid-winter break, there were some mixed answers. Some people are looking forward to trips they have planned or activities like skiing. Other students are excited for a chance to take a break from school and relax, while some are planning on working, or are still coming up with their plans for the long weekend. Other students are even planning on having movie marathons, which does sound like fun!
In addition to it being a nice break for students and staff, there are some interesting facts about the mid-winter break. For example, in New York City, mid-winter break, also known as mid-winter recess, first occurred in 1977, after New York City’s Board of Education voted to shut down schools for a week as an experiment to save energy. At the time, the city was also in a fiscal crisis, and it was cost-saving to keep lights and heat off for a whole week in schools. This being said, today’s mid-winter break in New York is not to be energy-saving, but is the result of a budget-cutting deal from 1991 between the teachers union and the Board of Education. According to an article from KUOW, it isn't as common in most parts of the country, but many states in the Northeast from the energy crisis of the 1970s, similar to the break’s origins in New York City.
The next few months are relatively busy as a school, with parent-teacher conferences coming up next week (Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8), followed by mid-winter break, as mentioned. Following mid-winter break, exam week/the end of the second trimester takes place at the beginning of March, with Spring Break not far behind.
When asking around the High School what people’s plans were for mid-winter break, there were some mixed answers. Some people are looking forward to trips they have planned or activities like skiing. Other students are excited for a chance to take a break from school and relax, while some are planning on working, or are still coming up with their plans for the long weekend. Other students are even planning on having movie marathons, which does sound like fun!
In addition to it being a nice break for students and staff, there are some interesting facts about the mid-winter break. For example, in New York City, mid-winter break, also known as mid-winter recess, first occurred in 1977, after New York City’s Board of Education voted to shut down schools for a week as an experiment to save energy. At the time, the city was also in a fiscal crisis, and it was cost-saving to keep lights and heat off for a whole week in schools. This being said, today’s mid-winter break in New York is not to be energy-saving, but is the result of a budget-cutting deal from 1991 between the teachers union and the Board of Education. According to an article from KUOW, it isn't as common in most parts of the country, but many states in the Northeast from the energy crisis of the 1970s, similar to the break’s origins in New York City.