Spring Break to be longer in 2016
Durgin McCue
News Editor
Starting in 2016, spring break will return to being a full week long. The length of the break was originally shortened in the 2012-13 school year because of what a Hudson Valley notice referred to as “challenging timelines.”
For the past three years, spring break at Hudson Valley has consisted of an extended weekend in the beginning of April. This year the break coincided with Easter weekend.
“The college is currently committed to 75 days of instruction and four days of final examinations, as well as other contractual days off,” said Dennis Kennedy, Director of Communications and Marketing. Hudson Valley uses this calendar model, as well as leaving time for the college to communicate with students who are at risk of losing financial aid because of poor final grades.
According to Kennedy, the college cannot change this model easily because it was designed to adhere to state regulations. The model was also approved by negotiations with Hudson Valley faculty and staff.
The notice from the 2012-13 academic year states: “The identified solution to this timing is to start the spring semester one week later – Tuesday, 1/22. Unfortunately, ending the spring semester later impacts both graduation and the summer session meeting dates.”
“We cannot push the semester further back given the start of our summer terms and the academic calendars for summer session, and we don’t think it would be popular to hold commencement on Memorial Day weekend either,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy continued, “Essentially, a committee examined the 2013-14-15 calendars and the college’s contractual commitment to instruction and days off and determined it would be in the best interest of our students to have an extended recess around Easter, rather than a full week off. We will return to a week-long spring break next year.”
College officials chose to instead combine spring break with the days off during the Easter holiday for the three years. The “challenging timelines” referred to in the notice will not occur in the 2015-16 academic year.
The proposal to lengthen spring break in 2016 has been received positively by many students. “I’m kind of mad that I’m going to be missing it next year, but I guess it’s nice for everybody who will be here then,” said Nicholas Richards, business administration student. “A couple more days, maybe a full week, would have been nice. If the break had been extended, that would have been better.”
Despite the large effect that lengthening spring break will have on students, some students still did not know about the change. “I didn’t really know about it, to tell you the truth,” said Dwayne Williams, a physical education major.