Some people have asked why, with 15 Snow Days this year, we are still having a Spring Break in our school district (and countless others in our area).
Leaving aside that (A) it is contractual and (B) many parents already had vacation plans that they could not change, what about this question: why have a Spring Break?
For me, Spring Break has become ever-more valuable as I watch teachers and students become ever busier. The increased in-school and extracurricular demands on everyone involved in education can inexorably wear them down.
So for me, the why of Spring Break is stillness. A window of time to rebuild the capacity to make the last two months of the school year a time of productive learning and teaching.
I know my students will come back with their minds, bodies, and souls replenished and ready to make their best music of the year. And I know that without this break, their energy would instead continue a slow decline for the rest of the school year.