BUSD changes 2021-2022 spring break to before Easter

The 2021-2022 Bonsall Unified School District calendar was approved during the April 14 BUSD board meeting.

The 5-0 vote approved the calendar for the next academic year. A request to change spring break from the week after Easter to the week before Easter was approved.

“I think it’s great. I’m glad that we’re making sure that we’re incorporating the needs of the community at large,” Larissa Anderson, board president of BUSD, said.

The proposed 2021-2022 calendar was brought to the BUSD board March 8, but concerns about spring break being the week after Easter rather than the week before Easter caused the board to delay action. A revision in the calendar required concurrence from the school district’s classified and certificated employees, who had approved the calendar with the break after Easter.

Next year Easter will occur April 17. The 2021-2022 calendar, which was presented to the school board March 8, had a spring recess day set for April 15, and spring break week scheduled for April 18-22. Spring break on the revised calendar is April 11-15, and April 18 is the spring recess day.

At one time, school districts held Easter break during the week before Easter. The secularization of the weeklong school vacation eliminated the need for school districts to close campuses during Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday seven days before Easter.

The trustee area of BUSD board member Eric Ortega includes the Pala Indian Reservation, and Ortega said in March that many families travel for Easter celebrations. Ortega also teaches a Luiseño language class at Palomar College, whose spring break is the week before Easter.

Ortega said that the Bonsall High School students were off from school the week after Easter this year, but some of them had no spring break due to the Palomar College schedule.

“They still had to attend the language class,” he said.

Bonsall High School students taking other Palomar College classes were also impacted by the different spring break weeks, so the conversion of the BUSD calendar aligns the high school with the community college.

“They will be in sync with each other,” Ortega said.

“I am happy,” Anderson said.

The 2021-2022 BUSD calendar provides for 180 student days, 182 days for returning teachers and 183 days for new teachers. Thursdays, which are not full school holidays, will be early release days.

New teachers will start the 2021-2022 school year, Aug. 13, while veteran teachers will report to campus, Aug. 16. The first day of school will be Aug. 18, which is a Wednesday, and Labor Day which will be Sept. 6 in 2021 will be a school holiday. The first quarter will end Oct. 22 and parent conferences are scheduled for Oct. 26-29 which will be minimum days.

The Nov. 11 Veterans Day is a school holiday, and Thanksgiving Break will be Nov. 22-26, not including the preceding and following weekends. High school students will have minimum days Dec. 15-16, and all students will have a minimum day Dec. 17. A two-week winter break will be followed by the return to school, Jan. 3, 2022, and report cards will be issued Jan. 7.

Martin Luther King Day will give students and staff Jan. 17 off from school. Feb. 23-24 will be unpaid days since school will be off Feb. 21 for Presidents Day, Feb. 22 for Lincoln’s Birthday, and Feb. 25 for Admissions Day. The final holiday, other than spring break, will be Memorial Day, May 30.

Finals for high school students are scheduled for June 6-9, and promotion ceremonies are also scheduled to take place during those four days. The final day of school for students and 10-month district employees will be June 9, while 11-month district staff will begin their summer break after June 30.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].