DCPS removed the February break in the 2023-2024 school year. According to the DCPS website, they did this to align with other schools and to shorten the school year, adding days to summer break. Personally, I think its time to reinstate February break, and I polled ten DCPS students, all of whom agreed. 

Me and my fellow students agree that February break was the perfect time to go skiing, or a time we could use to catch up on sleep and spend time with family. 

Beyond just being relaxing for students, another student, Hugo Janos, noted how, “We should have it to give teachers the necessary break that they need and deserve so they can be productive and energized when the break lets out.”  

While DCPS is required to reach 180 days of instructional time according to federal rules, there is a 3.5-month gap between winter and spring break, leaving students and teachers without proper rest. According to a study by Kana Okano, “overall, better quality, longer duration, and greater consistency of sleep correlated with better grades.”  February break would provide students and teachers the opportunity to catch up on needed rest, setting them up for success in the classroom. 

Even if they DCPS doesn’t plan to bring the February break back, DCPS should at least make spring break earlier in the calendar year. Schools like St. Johns and the Field School have a spring break the 3rd week of March, in the middle of winter and summer break. DCPS spring break is in the middle of April, only a month and a half from the end of the school year. Making spring break earlier would solve the problem of too long of a breakless stretch between winter break and spring break and better align DCPS calendars with other school breaks. 

In conclusion, DCPS should bring back February break to give students and teachers a break between winter and spring break. If this is not possible, DCPS should move spring break to earlier in the year.