Outside leaves are changing colors and the cool breeze of fall has arrived. Students may know that with the coming of the cold weather means that fall break is near. Senior Seth Vang is one of the students excited for the break because it gives him time to relax.

“During fall break I usually hang out with friends or stay home and catch up on my sleep,” Vang said. “School takes up a lot of energy and time so I can’t wait until I have more free time to do what I actually want to do.”

These past eight years, the school has had a shortened fall break that lasts only two full days not including the weekends. This year, those days are Thursday, Oct. 22 and Friday, Oct. 23. Many students may dislike the short break because it does not allow much time for families to go on a long vacation or a trip.

“I want to go to Colorado to visit my older brother but I have to save up until Christmas to see him. The flight to Colorado is about 8 hours and so that wouldn’t be worth the time if I only stay 3 days there,” Vang said.

School districts such as MSD Lawrence Township, Noblesville schools and MSD Warren Township are allowed long breaks. Lawrence schools are allowed one full week of break from Oct. 19 through Oct. 23. Noblesville and Warren schools run on a balanced calendar schedule throughout the year. This means that they start school earlier but have longer fall, winter and spring breaks. Noblesville and Warren schools are allowed two full weeks of what they call intersession. Noblesville’s intersession this year is from Oct. 12 through Oct. 23 and Warren’s intersession is from Oct. 5 through Oct. 16.

The reason HSE school district only allows for two days off is because that is the calendar that was supported and approved by the teachers association and the district administration a year in advance. Also, if the school lengthen its fall break, those days must be tacked on to the end of the school year.

Currently, the district is scheduled to be done with school before Memorial Day.  If fall break were to be extended, those days would either be removed from winter break or added onto the end of the school year, pushing school past Memorial Day.

“I would honestly enjoy having at least one week for fall break, but I wouldn’t sacrifice those fall days for my summer days,” Vang said. “I guess in the end, it’s cool the way we have it now.”

To learn more about the school district’s important dates and breaks, visit the school calendar at www.hse.k12.in.us for more information.