Community Debates Two Versions of 2024-25 School Calendar

In Version 1, school opens the day after Labor Day and there is a two-week holiday break.Earlier this month, the Scarsdale School District released its proposed drafts for the 2024-25 school calendar. For many in our community, a peek at the drafts can give insight into when school might start, when the breaks will fall, and when school might let out for summer, which makes planning for things like vacations and camps all the easier. But while this glimpse of the future can be helpful, each year the proposed calendars also garner a lot of feedback from parents who are both happy about the drafts and from those who have concerns.

This year there are two proposed calendars. While both drafts include the newly added holidays of Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr, the first version offers two full weeks of vacation for the holiday break in December while the second version has a shortened holiday break and adds the two extra days off to the end of the Labor day weekend.

Version One:

Version Two:

According to online chatter, the first version can prove to be difficult for some dual-working parents of elementary aged students. As one mom Andrea Hirshberg said, “The two week December break is incredibly challenging for families with young children- it was a very long time to be out of school, and it’s not feasible for parents who work to always take two full weeks off (especially when there are two additional weeklong breaks in the subsequent 4 months) creating significant childcare/coverage issues. Not every family in Scarsdale is able to travel abroad for two full weeks, for various reasons.”

Along with many others, one commenter agrees with Ms. Hirshberg, and had this to say about the long holiday break we had this year, “Two weeks off was so disruptive. Kids were out of sorts going back to school, parents were off routine and exhausted.”

Still, the majority of those chiming in seem to favor the first version which provides a full two weeks break over the winter holidays giving international families a chance to travel home, families with college aged kids a real opportunity to spend time together, and older students the mental break they need to truly recharge.In Version 2, school starts on September 5, and there are eight days off for the winter holidays.

Though sympathetic with working parents, Monika Desai shared, “I was not initially a fan of the two weeks off during Christmas as we are dual full-time working household w kids in elementary. Now that we had it, I loved it. We felt much more refreshed coming into the new year, can only imagine how important that is for middle and high school where academics can be stressful and rough. Plus, those families tend to have kids split in high school and in college and it allows all of them to be off together. I will appreciate that when I’m in that position.

This year, we traveled for the second week and did a hodge-podge of child care coverage for the post Christmas week while working, changing hours for our afterschool care, etc. I’ve noticed it tends to be a lighter workload in the medical/corporate world too since many people are away. It wasn’t easy but we did it. I can imagine if not traveling while working for either week with young kids would be rough.

I would rather start Sept 3 after Labor Day and have two weeks off during winter again.”

Esthela Lecouna, another parent in favor of a longer holiday break added, “ Two weeks break is great for international families, especially the ones who celebrate Christmas with our loved ones. It's also important for every student who needs a mental break for school. They work pretty hard during fall so they deserve time to rest, other activities, different routines and to recharge energy.”

Apsara Sriram shared, “Version one makes more sense. Most people are ready to start immediately after Labor Day. I don’t see a point of two extra days [For the Labor Day Weekend] when high school students start sports and other activities earlier. Makes more sense to get the two week break in Dec/ Jan.”

As they do every January, the Scarsdale Board of Education will carefully consider the drafts put forth by the District and in February, a revised draft will be presented at a Board of Education meeting with the final calendar being approved by the end of that month. During their deliberations, the BOE will not only take into account all of the various factors that are considered when the District thoughtfully develops the drafts (such as laws and regulations that apply to all public schools in the state, the legal holidays that must be observed, and agreements that exist between the Board of Education and the seven unions that represent employees in the district) but they will also allow consider feedback from our parent and student bodies. To learn more about how the school calendar is developed please see here.