Warriors should prepare for a shorter summer and earlier school start date next year. According to the Pinellas County Schools district calendar and the Tampa Bay Times, the 2015-2016 school year will end on June 7, 2016, while the 2016-2017 school year will start for student on August 10. Warriors will then be released for summer on May 25, 2017.

One issue has been how this change would affect students’ summers. Juan Urquides, 11^th grade, said he didn’t think the shorter summer would affect his plans for break. However, he still liked the earlier end date, saying “It would be nice to end in May.”

Finally, Allison Holcombe, 10^th grade, also said the change would not affect her summer plans, and was apathetic toward most of the changes. However, she did approve of the new ending date; “Just to get out earlier,” Allison said.

One thing that probably will not change is summer homework. Ms. O’Mara, Environmental Science and Earth Science teacher, said she likely won’t change the summer homework she gives. Ms. Colton, World History teacher, also said she would not change her summer work, saying “the amount of summer work I give should only take a student no more than 10 hours.”

The change in dates will also change the length of the grading periods. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the first marking period will be 44 days long, the second will be 42 days long, and the third and fourth will be 47 days each.

Juan expressed concern about the length of the marking periods, saying “That is a long time for students to keep their grades, and also worry about tardies and demerits.” Ms. O’Mara approved of the change, saying that having 2 full 9-week quarters before the end of first semester will benefit students, as “Students will have more time to learn material for first semester exams.”

Ms. Colton was indifferent to the change, commenting “I have been teaching for quite a while and I have learned to adjust to any schedule – as my favorite Aussie colleague [Pre-Calculus and Calculus teacher Mr. Robinson] likes to say, ‘No Worries.’”

This is not the first time this issue has been discussed by the Warrior Record Online. For more information on this story, see our earlier article from November of 2015.