Students are pressed with the difficulties of being full-time students, having an outside life, a job, sports, and social life. Lives for teens are jam-packed throughout the week, and it just never feels like enough time. That’s why I think students should be allowed more days off from school.

Connecticut Board of Education guidelines state that a full school year is 180 days. In Farmington, each student is allowed nine days absent from school without a doctor’s note. Nine days is a decent number, but sometimes students come upon with certain situations where they need to take a day off whether it be for family, personal, or other reasons. And sometimes, students just need one mental day off to recenter themselves from all the stress. That’s why I believe that number should be raised to 12 days. If not, then an extension on our breaks during the school year like winter break or February break should be included, though I know we function on a regional calendar.

Another route that was taken to increase days off from school was that schools in Colorado have recently implemented a four-day week school system, which has vastly taken over districts in Colorado with over 109 districts starting to use it in the 2019 school year.

According to the International Study cutting down to a four day week schedule can save as much as 20 percent on transportation costs and food service programs. However the school day in Colorado as a result does last longer to meet the 1080 hours (equivalent to 180 school days) of educational learning time per year. Instead of having six-hour school days, districts either have seven and a half to eight hour school days depending on the district.

To achieve a four day weekend there is a small price to pay, but I feel like its worth it on some level, it allows students more relief in their life, which everyone knows they need sometimes. If not that, then an extension on break would be nice. The positive outcomes of having more days off seems worthwhile in the end financially and for the health of students.