What do the Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Beverly Hills school districts all have in common? 180 school days, four days more than the Palos Verdes Unified School District. These four days nicknamed “ski week” have become a “pre-spring break” but is actually four days of cancelled instruction and pay cuts.
Teachers, parents, students, and administrators have started a “180 campaign” trying to gain the 180 days back for a number of reasons. However, the most important reason is more instruction for students. With ski week in place, pupils miss at least a week of instruction. For fast paced classes where a section is taught each and every day, this can become an issue. Not only are students in the Palos Verdes Unified School District potentially behind, they may not be able to compete with other students with 180 days of instruction. Ninth grader, Abigail Whitman brings up another good point when she says,”I want the four days back. They’re taking four days but we still have STAR testing. They’re not compensating for it.” Those four days, although they may not seem important, may make students miss standards or allow teachers to only mention things on the standardized test than teach it in depth.
The district imposed the non-federal holidays in order to have more money in the reserves when the state began enacting budget cuts.They also have been adding money that have been donations to the Peninsula Education Foundation, an organization that raises money for the PVPUSD, and to schools’ individual Parent Teacher Student Associations. The 180 campaign is trying to persuade the district to use donations for current students rather than saving money donated by current students for future students. The campaign believes that because budget cuts inevitably will happen, the school district should learn to cope and spend money to secure the current students’ success. In summary, they have 11% of unrestricted funds that can be used for adding school days, ultimately, allowing students in the PVPUSD to have 180 days of school.
Many students are in favor for this even if their mock vacation has to disappear. Lauren Hadley, a ninth grader attending Palos Verdes Peninsula High School says,”I believe that 180 [days] would increase our competitiveness and intellectual capabilities,so I hope this 180 campaign will persuade the school district to give us our days back.”
Naturally, it seems like a good idea to add the four days back to the school day calendar because it benefits the students in the PVPUSD by allowing them to be better suited to compete with other school districts and the school district is capable of doing it.
