As the 2019 school year enters its final month, underclassmen at Pleasant Valley are reminded they still have almost a full month of school left. Seniors on the other hand, only have a couple weeks.
This is in part due to the infamous snow day make-up schedule in March. A schedule that was painful at the time for most but worth it as school is nearing the end. School days in March were longer, and early out days were cancelled for the remainder of the school year.
While students at Pleasant Valley suffered through the longer days in March, according to senior Jacob Kammler, it was the best option. Kammler says “[The March schedule] was worth it, but the five minutes per class did not help much in catching up on content that we missed.”
Some schools in the area have extended the school year for underclassmen as well as seniors. Bettendorf High School’s class of 2019 will not graduate until June 1 due to the unusual weather this winter.
Bettendorf senior Karsten Martin was glad to graduate at the semester. He said avoiding the snow days and make-up time was an extra bonus to graduating in January, but it also has its disadvantages. “One of the main downsides is that there’s less time for me to hang out with friends,” he said.
The longer school year also affects students who want to start a summer job but are forced to wait for school to finish. “I know [friends] who want to start working more so they can make money for college,” said Martin.
Whether longer school days will be an option for future years is still to be determined. Kammler believed the value of longer days is rooted in a longer summer. “It is worth getting out of school earlier, but from an academic perspective [I believe] it was pointless,” he said.
With the 2018-2019 school year coming to a close, the effects of the record snow will be felt as PV seniors graduate the earliest of local high schools. Underclassmen will have two weeks of school past the graduation ceremony, and summer will be a little shorter this year for those students.
