As spring break draws to a close, students eager for summer

By Jean Reid Norman

Sunday, April 12, 2009 | 1:59 a.m.

If you are a student in Clark County, you may be thinking one thing when you return to class on Monday:

Eight weeks left. That’s 36 days, minus the holidays. Make that 216 hours.

Then, summer and freedom.

“I want to sleep in,” said Trent Austin, 16, of Basic High School, who was spending part of his spring break Friday at the Galleria at Sunset mall. “I’m tired of waking up early.”

But first, they have to get through finals, said his friend Joey Wolke, 15, of Courtney Middle School.

“As soon as we get that done, no more school,” he said.

Keeping them and the other 300,000-plus students in the Clark County School District focused until June 4, the last day of the nine-month school calendar, will be the job of principals and teachers.

The calendar and weather have been on their side, Boulder City High School Principal Ann Nelson said.

“The weather was colder before the break,” said Nelson, who spent her spring break in her office. Students weren’t feeling the sun on their faces and tasting the warmth of summer. “I think that made a difference.”

In addition, she said, spring break came later than last year.

“When we get back, it’s going to be a mad dash to the end,” Nelson said. With prom, Advanced Placement tests and the end of the semester, “I don’t think anybody’s going to have time to be antsy,” she said.

Lyal Burkholder Junior High Assistant Principal Linda Rolle said her students were antsy before spring break, because they just finished standardized testing.

“I expect them to come back rejuvenated and refreshed,” she said.

That doesn’t mean she expects it to be easy to keep them focused. It’s important to keep the students engaged until the final minutes, she said.

“The worst thing that can happen is when a person gives free days,” she said. “That breeds trouble.

“You have to keep them focused. That’s so important in a classroom.”

Debbie Ryan said her two teenagers Missy, 17, and Tim, 16, have been focused the past couple of months and are relieved to be finished with the third quarter at Coronado High School. They tell her that is always the hardest.

Ryan said she’s trying to remind them it’s important to finish strong.

“Being at the end of the year, I want to make sure that everything that needs to get accomplished gets accomplished,” she said.

Seven Hills resident Joy Poste keep has started a new routine to ensure her three children, Carly, 9, Harrison, 7, and Stella, 6, get their school work done when the out-of-doors beckons. The three St. Viator’s Catholic School students have clipboards in their mother’s car. Homework is done during the 20- to 30-minute commute from school to home.

“When they get home, they just want to blow off steam,” she said. “If they can get it done in the car, they can do that.”

That’s important, she said, because even the 6-year-old is counting the days.

“She can tell you every day how many days are left and what the weather will be,” she said.

And as the days get longer, “they get bouncier and a little louder,” Poste said.

LeRae DeRasmo, whose fifth grader David attends John Beatty Elementary School, thinks the Clark County School District offers a good antidote to spring fever: year-round school.

Her younger son doesn’t seem to get as stir crazy with three-week breaks scattered through the school year as the older one did with nine months in school and 2 1⁄2 months off.

“By the end of track break, he’s ready to go back to school,” De Rasmo said. “My older son, he was bored with two months off and wanted to go back to school.”

It’s 83 days until the end of year-round school – but with another 3 1⁄2-week vacation to look forward to before the end.