Spring break for Howard County students might be shorter next school year.

The county Board of Education has asked the committee developing the calendar for the 2009-2010 school year to consider including a shorter spring break.

"I think it's something we've just got to try at some point," board chairman Frank Aquino said at the board's Sept. 4 meeting.

Typically, the system's spring break is a full week, beginning the Monday before Good Friday and extending through Easter Monday, both of which are state-mandated holidays.

However, several Maryland counties have a shorter spring break that begins the Thursday before Good Friday and lasts through Easter Monday.

Proponents say a shorter spring break is preferable because it allows the school year to end earlier in June and also allows for more days of instruction before high-stakes state assessment tests, administered to students in the spring.

Board member Sandra French said it would be her preference to "frontload" as much instructional time as possible before the state tests are administered.

"It's all these little tweaks that really make a difference," she said.

Board member Ellen Flynn Giles agreed.

"We can't lose sight of the fact that we're looking at an instructional calendar," she said. "I think it's certainly time to reevaluate it, in the face of ever-increasing expectations and goals."

Last school year, Howard's spring break was March 17-24, and state assessments for all students were in April and May.

The current school year's spring break, which will not change, is scheduled for April 6-13. Elementary and middle school state assessments will be given before the break, but high school assessments fall after the break.

School system spokeswoman Patti Caplan, who also leads the annual calendar development committee, said the committee has toyed with the idea of a shorter spring break for several years.

"There are always people who are wed to the way it is now -- they don't want it to change. Generally, over time, those concerns disappear," she said of changes made to the school calendar over the years.

In fall 2004, Caplan worked with the PTA Council of Howard County to conduct surveys of parents and school staff on several calendar issues, including a shorter spring break.

Of the 802 parents who responded to the PTA survey, 52 percent said spring break should be shortened, 37 percent said it should not be shortened, and 10 percent replied that "maybe" it should be shortened.

The most frequent comments from those who supported a shorter break were that a three-day break is sufficient, provides greater instructional continuity, and would lead to a last day earlier in June.

Those who wanted to keep a week-long break commented that families use the time for vacations, that teachers and students are exhausted and need a longer break that time of year, and that band and foreign language classes frequently use the time for trips and competitions.

A survey of roughly 1,500 school-system employees, including teachers, administrators, instructional assistants, counselors and other staff members, showed that 29 percent supported a shorter spring break, 59 percent did not, and 11 percent were undecided.

At the time of the 2004 survey, 16 of Maryland's 24 school systems had shorter spring breaks.

Nearby counties vary

Of the counties surrounding Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties have a week-long spring break this school year, while Anne Arundel, Carroll and Frederick counties have a shorter break.

Veteran school officials from Anne Arundel and Carroll county schools said their systems have had short spring breaks for as long as they could remember.

The length of spring break in Frederick County varies from year to year, although it has not been a full week since 1994, schools spokeswoman Marita Loose said. Some years, Frederick schools have incorporated teacher work days into students' spring break, she added.

Frederick educators have scheduled a shorter spring break in an effort to have "as many full days, especially consecutive ones, of instruction as often as we can in the school year," Loose said, adding that working around state testing calendars and ending the school year earlier in June also are factors.

A proposed calendar for the 2009-2010 school year will be presented to the board Nov. 6, followed by a public hearing Dec. 11. The board is scheduled to vote on a final version of the calendar in early January.

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