‘Bah-humbuggish' district policy has Jordan students, parents upset

WEST JORDAN -- Winter break is starting late this year for Jordan School District students.

The students will attend school through Friday, Dec. 23 this year. Secondary students are scheduled to attend a full day of classes, while elementary students will be released from school at 1:20 p.m.

Students have taken to social networking sites to express their frustration with this year's short winter break, using the hashtag "#HowTheJSDStoleChristmas" on Twitter to express their frustration and writing on the Jordan School District's Facebook wall.

To prevent inappropriate comments, district spokesman Steven Dunham has taken to taking the page offline when he cannot monitor it. He said he has blocked three students for spam.

"They were posting the same comment over and over again," he said. "There are other ways to work through a situation than spamming."

Dunham added that as long as students aren't being vulgar or crude, they can "go to town on Twitter."

Many students are doing just that, calling the extra week in school "pointless."

The "#HowTheJSDStoleChristmas" hashtag became one of the ten most-tweeted terms in the Salt Lake City area Tuesday night, mainly by students venting their frustration with the short winter break.

"It doesn't feel so close to Christmas because we have school," tweeted Spenser Jones.

Lawsen Parker, a senior at Bingham High School in South Jordan, said the shortened break takes away from family time and puts more stress on students.

"We have an extra surplus of errands we have to do to pull off Christmas," he said. "This puts a work overload on us to do both school work and all of our shopping, decorating and wrapping. Also, a lot of people go out of town to spend time with their families. Students have to be taken out of class to go see their families, which hurts their education."

Sam Schauerhamer, a junior at Riverton High School, said scheduling school on Dec. 23 was "the most pathetic thing the Jordan School District could have done."

"This time of year used to be a time you could have to spend with family," he said. "Now there's no time. My brother and sister came home from college and I don't get to see them that often; I still don't because I'm still in school."

Schauerhamer said the students turned to Twitter to voice their concerns because they did not feel like they were being heard elsewhere.

"We as students of the Jordan School District want to be heard," he said. "I personally have commented directly to the Jordan School District website and haven't heard anything since. That was Sunday."

Schauerhamer said the students plan to continue using the hashtag until the end of the week "to talk about a real- life Grinch."

"It just ruins the whole spirit of Christmas," he said.

Dunham said everyone who has submitted feedback through the district's website has been sent a response detailing the reasons for the late recess.

"The trade-off to have gotten additional days off for winter recess for this year would probably have been to shorten the spring recess from three days to one or two," the letter reads in part.

Students are not the only ones who are frustrated, though. The district has received feedback on the break schedule from parents and employees, as well, according to Dunham.

Brandon Riley, who has five children in the Jordan system, has used Twitter to interact with district officials.

"I was just trying to get some answers," he said. "I know there is nothing I can do about it now, but I'll definitely do my due diligence sooner rather than later in future years."

Riley said when he posted about the break schedule on Facebook, he received his biggest response of the year, with people nationwide commenting on how "baffling" the situation is.

"You have to thank social media for the ability to be heard," he said. "It's easier to ignore one email than it is to ignore a bunch of posts or tweets with the momentum that gets going there."

Riley's main concern with the schedule is that it takes away from the time he can spend with his children, he said.

"By the time they get out of school at 4:00, it's too late to do daytime activities, and they can't stay up too late for school," he continued. "It affects the ability of families to celebrate the way they might otherwise. It seems bah-humbuggish."

The shortened break time was the result of Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, according to Dunham.

"There was no way we could make it all work unless we went right up until the 23rd," he said. "If we let them out on the 22nd, we would have had to take away from vacation somewhere else."

Dunham said the calendar, which is created months in advance, is put together by a committee of parents, teachers and school officials from every level. The district has to take into account holidays, mandatory testing dates and parent and teacher concerns while adhering to the minimum requirements set forth by the state Board of Education. State law requires a minimum instruction time of either 180 days or 990 hours each school year.

Jordan School District faces additional difficulties because the district tries to align traditional and year- around schedules as closely as possible, according to Dunham.

"This allows families with children on both schedules time together where they can plan a family vacation," he said. "Whenever possible, we align the traditional holiday and the year-around holiday up so the students have a holiday together."

"I would hope people would at least read the explanation and try and understand where the district is coming from," he continued. "We take parents, teachers and principals from all schools on the committee for the calendar. They sweat over this -- it takes a lot of work."

Students said district officials have warned them not to talk about the issue on social networks.

"My only issue was the district reprimanding us for tweeting," Neal Barlow said. "I was told to stop talking about it Monday."

Dunham said the claim is false.

"That is absolutely not true," he said. "I did talk to an administrator about the three students I blocked from Facebook, but nobody was told not to tweet."

"Jordan school district approves its calendars years in advance and allows ample opportunity for public input and comment. Calendars can be found on the district website.

Email: sgrimes@ksl.com

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