The Week before Break

'Twas the week before Holiday Break and all through the school, the teachers were grumpy and the kids were too! The office staff had had enough and the Principal was nowhere to be found!

Yes, the week leading into a break from school has many challenges and this week is no different. Staff are ready to begin their well-deserved days of relaxing and recharging and the students are high energy and emotion.

Throughout my tenure as an administrator I have lived through these many pre-break weeks and can attest to the increase in student incidents and discipline that seem to occur during this time. Students that have difficult home lives, have lived through trauma, or who have an emotional connection to school and their teachers suffer the most during this time. They seem to be unable to cope with the loss of school, or the consistent structure that it provides in their lives. This inability to cope often displays itself in the form of behavior such as acting out. Walk through any school building the week before a break and you can almost feel the energy of the student body in the hallways.

During this time, it is important to allow those students with the potential to be "off" to have extra supports in place. Those supports might look different for every kid depending on what they need to be successful. For some students it might be an additional walking break or visit to the office to deliver a note. For others it might be some extra time at recess to burn off that pent up energy. Whatever it is, staff would better serve their students by making accommodations for this student's needs. After all, the goal of education should not be to make the students meet us, but rather, meet the students where they are and move forward from there.

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