By Mercer Sullivan

Every year students are given two days off at the end of quarter as a fall break. This year we are given those days on October 29 and 30. Just days away from Halloween, fall break is just a tease and forces students back to class on Halloween.

   Students should receive Halloween and the day after Halloween off as a fall break instead of the Monday and Tuesday before. That way kids can stay up late on Halloween and not worry about having to wake up early the next morning.

   Kids of all ages spend the night trick-or-treating and eating candy which makes them very tired and makes it difficult for them to pay attention the next day. Not to mention the fact that you can not do anything to make kids focus on Halloween. It is nearly impossible. Teachers used to try to center lesson plans around Halloween, but students still see the day as an opportunity to joke around with classmates.

   Halloween is celebrated in schools and games were played and candy was handed out, but once sixth grade hits that all stops. Regardless, kids of all ages have built up energy on Halloween making learning very difficult. Teachers get annoyed with students, students get annoyed with teachers, it is just an endless cycle of nothing getting done.

      Halloween was previously a day celebrated for Saints and has been turned into a day of scares and candy.

   “I don’t think we should have school on Halloween because before it became a holiday about spirits and candy it was a holiday for Saints,” RJR sophomore Amelia Thomas said, “I think having school on that day takes away from the original meaning of the holiday.” RJR sophomore Amelia Thomas said.

   All Saints Day is a holiday that dates back to the early fourth century and is still celebrated around the world. Halloween branches off of this holiday, yet these two days are not observed. Now they may not carry as much weight as other holidays, but they are still observable, and should be observed like many other holidays around the world.

   Another logical solution to this issue would be an early release on Wednesday, which this year is Halloween and then get Thursday and Friday off, so early release and fall break are taken off according to an actual holiday and can be celebrated properly.

   If schools just took off Halloween and the day after there would be no need to spend basically an extra day or two of nothing. Halloween and the following day are days where virtually no work gets done in schools because kids are too focused on the excitement of the day and then the recovery on the next. It would make the most sense to take these two days as a fall break instead of right before.

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