KILLEEN, Texas — Killeen ISD parents and teachers are voicing their opinions over the district adding a fall break to the 2023-2024 academic calendar for the first time in history.
The KISD Board of Trustees approved a new academic calendar for the 2023-2024 school year, with the fall break taking place from October 9-13, 2023 for students and staff.
"The inquiry came when they were looking into possibly going to a four-day week," KISD Superintendent Dr. Jo Ann Fey said. "Instead of moving to the four-day week, they move to this calendar for the purposes of trying to give some relief to staff."
Killeen ISD says employees were surveyed about the alternate calendar prior to the Board of Trustees taking action; 79% of employees voted in favor of adding the fall break.
However, parents and teachers disagree with the number, calling the move "totally unnecessary" and "absolutely crazy" on social media platforms.
A teacher for the district who wished to stay anonymous says this break will add on to the nationwide teacher exhaustion problem.
The teacher says, in previous years, KISD staff members would have at least one three-day weekend a month to recover and catch up on grades and planning.
"We don't have time to do what we need to do because those days were taken away for a long break," the employee said.
Another issue is getting students to refocus after a long break.
"Kids lose a lot of learning in the summer, and it's the same for breaks too," the teacher added. "Just like teachers don't plan over breaks, kids don't study, kids don't read, and so getting them back in focus takes a couple of days."
The KISD employee believes the data from the survey over the new calendar is not accurate.
"We had a lot of teachers that voted against it," the teacher said. "We're not even nine weeks in yet, and I've already had seven teachers tell me that they're wanting to quit or that they're looking for other jobs. We're tired because we're just worn down."
Despite the backlash across social media, the new KISD superintendent hopes students and staff can find some sort of relief.
"I can't speak for prior work that's been done other than to honor it," Dr. Fey said. "I will try to honor it gracefully in a way that is productive, and I want my teachers to take the time to really take some time off, and I want my students to enjoy their time off as well."
Dr. Fey says the district is already discussing potential calendar options for the next year to solve what they can.
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