Recently, the district published the calendar for next year, and instead of starting school on  Thursday, it’s been moved up a day earlier, which has disappointed some students.

Unlike previous years,the school has made the decision to start earlier next year in order to accommodate a fall break like many of the other school districts in the area. School districts such as Scottsdale and Paradise Valley have always found time to include a fall break in their schedule, even though they tend to end school later in the year than the Cave Creek district.

States like California and Oregon all start school around early September, usually after Labor day. However, some southwestern states are in session around the beginning of August, mainly Arizona and Texas.

The Calendar Committee, an organization made up of parents, teachers and administrators who decide the schedule for the following school year, has continued to move the start date for each school year further and further into the summer break for students. This is mainly in an attempt to make sure we get the appropriate holidays and breaks off as other school districts do.

Part of the reason that the school is continuing to push the start date back is to get out earlier in the year. The Scottsdale School District begins school next year on August 10th and Cactus Shadows starts on August 5th, however, they finish school on May 27th, and we finish a week earlier. 

Since the school is starting a little earlier, the teachers have their first day in July, which is also cutting into their break time. This is all just to add an extra day to fall break.

If the school was looking to accommodate a fall break into the schedule like Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, the start time should be pushed back in order to add a couple more days to get a full week off for fall break. While we will get out of school closer to Memorial Day, it will overall be better because we will get more time off in October, and get a third break, without having to start earlier.

In general, Arizona schools start much earlier than many parts of the country due to the agricultural calendar that the state follows. Historically, schools started earlier in August to satisfy the state requirements to still be out of school by Memorial Day to allow students to help their families in late spring and early fall.

Other parts of the country that used to start in September have also now shifted to early August in order to better adjust the times for fall and winter break, as well as get out earlier so graduates have more time to prepare for college.

Many of the changes in the school’s calendar have affected student’s time off and have changed the times for when school begins dramatically. In order to include a fall break, the school should push back when the first day begins, even though we will finish a little later than normal.