The news that President’s Day would be changed to a school day instead of a holiday was one that was unwelcome and surprising for many students. But in the calendar, it can be seen that President’s Day is a built-in make up day. This means that even though we have a day off, if there were any school days missed in the months before it would be changed into a school day. 

   These missed days are important to make up as there is a number of hours a percentage of students have to reach for the school year. 

   Around 1,250 students are enrolled at West Albany High School. Out of these students, 80% of them every year need to have the mandated number of school provided instructional hours. This means that if the school is open even if the student is not at school, those hours are still counted. 990 hours is how many hours that freshmen, sophomores, and juniors need and 966 hours are needed for seniors. 

   The few extra hours gained over the school year are enough to go without school for two days, creating the idea that the choice of making up days is easy, but this isn’t the case. The school board had a choice to take a waiver for two days missed as a result of the ice storm. However, the Greater Albany Public Schools school board dismissed the waiver of the missed school days in favor of making up the snow days. This was an unnecessary choice when the days that were canceled happened in the first semester and the make-up days are in the second semester.

   The choice that the school board made was one that did not help the mental workload of students and teachers alike. Instead of having an extra day of break, especially before the long months that have little to no breaks, the teachers and students had to have a normal weekend when some were expecting a longer weekend. This made the weekend seem even smaller and the week longer. 

   Although the school days did not extend more into the summer than is normal, having an abrupt end to the school year, by having a finals day last, will be like a sentence ended too soon. The last half day is still used by some as their goodbye before the school year officially ends. However, many people skip school in favor of not going to school as it is unnecessary to go to school as no homework is assigned. 

   This new schedule can not be changed, however, what can happen the next time a discussion like this is brought up is the inclusion of student voices, such as the ability to send in comments to the superintendent’s secretary and the board so they can be read at the meeting. Another thing that students can do is go to the meetings themselves as a majority of them are open to the public. 

   This adding of unnecessary school days is something that shouldn’t happen, especially when there aren’t many breaks scheduled in the calendar. These days should only be made up when they are being needed so as to not create more stress on teachers and students for a less demanding school schedule.