The administration added two new three-day weekends to this year’s school calendar, raising the number of long weekends from four to six.

The new vacation days are an additional Fall Break day held on Sept. 29 and another day for a teacher meeting held on March 9.

The second fall break day was added because of the sophomore and junior trips and the wish for an additional day to relax. Since the class trips were previously in the middle of two academic days, students and teachers found it inconvenient to miss class. To fix this, the trips were moved to the day before Matriculation.

By the end of September, students really wanted a break from school to get some sleep and catch up on their studying, so the additional fall break day was added.

“So we started school a day earlier with the trips and freshman orientation, and had matriculation on Friday,” Head of School Butch Keller said. “Now, the class trips have happened, students and faculty said that they were glad their day was not interrupted. Lots of students said that they couldn’t wait for the break, and they are telling me that they can’t wait for this [second Fall Break day] now.”

The vacation day on March 9 was added due to a California Association of Independent Schools’ (CAIS) teacher meeting. The CAIS meeting is a gathering for teachers and administrators where they can discuss ideas and attend workshops with their colleagues.

“The meeting happens every other year. Some schools send few teachers. Harker faculty presents at many of these workshops,” Keller said. “For instance, we presented the Eagle Buddy program for Harker. All of Harker faculty attends these meetings, which is why it’s a day off.”

Other three-day weekends on the school calendar include Labor Day in September, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January, and Memorial Day in May.

The addition of three-day weekends allows students and faculty more time to relax during the school year. Some students and teachers responded positively to the addition of more vacation days, saying that they can use this time to unwind.

“We teachers work really intensely like you students. I can understand some students getting tired,” history teacher Dr. Ruth Meyer said. “Teachers could also use a break like this here and there throughout the year.”

Other students encouraged the idea of having more vacation days but wished that

they were not spread apart from each other on the calendar.

“I think there should be one week-long break in October instead of small three-day weekends. That way, we can get all our breaks in a week and have a long, relaxing time instead of smaller [breaks],” Nina Levy (10) said.

The next three-day weekend that is approaching is the second Fall Break Day on Oct. 27.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on October 17, 2014.