HOULTON, Maine — For as long as SAD 29 has existed and farmers have been growing potatoes in Aroostook County, area schools have taken a recess in the fall to allow students to help with the harvest.
But prompted by declining student participation and by legislation designed to align the calendars of schools sharing technical education centers, SAD 29 district officials said Tuesday that the harvest break will be eliminated next year.
During a meeting on Monday evening, the school board reviewed the calendar for the 2012-2013 school year. Superintendent Mike Hammer said that district officials had met with representatives from the Region Two School of Applied Technology to align their calendars. The move was made based on LD 1865, An Act to Enhance Career and Technical Education Centers, which was recently voted ought to pass by the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.
It was sponsored by Sen. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth.
As part of the legislation, districts sharing a Career and Technical Education Center would have to develop a common school calendar with no more than five dissimilar days. The current limit is nine days.
All of the schools sending students to a center would have to be in or out of session at the same time except for five days. If one school is out of session and the other sending schools are not, that counts as one dissimilar day.
Because of scheduling issues with potato harvest breaks, the proposal has raised concerns in Aroostook County.
SAD 29 in Houlton and SAD 70 in Hodgdon are part of the Region Two School of Applied Technology, along with SAD 14 in Danforth and RSU 50 in Stacyville. The Houlton and Hodgdon districts customarily take a week off for harvest break, but the others remain in session. Under the existing scenario the schools would reach their limit of dissimilar days very quickly.
Hammer said that the SAD 29 calendar is aligned “as closely as possible” with the Region Two calendar, and that there was little resistance to not scheduling the break during the next school year.
“The board is supportive of aligning our calendar with Region Two,” the superintendent said Tuesday. “I believe they are supportive and see the benefits of technical education for our students.”
The decision to exclude the break was not made in haste, said Hammer.
Officials looked at the dwindling number of students working during the harvest and at surveys filled out by students and parents concerning whether they worked and how parents feel about the break. Last fall, just 19 students in grades 7-12 in SAD 29 worked during harvest.
“We looked at the numbers and the surveys and weighed that data,” he said.
The decline in Houlton and other County communities has been happening for more than two decades. While growers in central and northern Aroostook still employ a number of pickers, growers in southern Aroostook do not. The potato industry as a whole has declined as well. In the 1940s, Maine’s potato production was tops in the nation. By 1994 however, Maine had fallen to the eighth ranked potato producer and the seventh in the number of acres devoted to potato cultivation in the United States, according to figures provided by County historians.
In 2006, SAD 29 conducted a harvest survey that was targeted toward parents and teachers. The results showed that 194 of the parents were in favor of continuing the break, and 467 were not in favor. As for district staff, 97 respondents wanted to continue the recess, while 59 did not.
Hammer said that the calendar is not yet complete, as he has to schedule teacher development days and conference days, but he said that he believes that the calendar will pass.
“I expect the board to support it,” he said.
Kids that want to work in the summer will be better off now.
There are fewer and fewer kids each year who “want” to work. It is amazing the number of parents who are content to let their 16-18 year old kids do absolutely nothing during the summers (or school year), and we wonder why the legendary Maine work ethic is all but a thing of the past.
yep, you are right!! Kids don’t want to work anymore if they get the chance. I used to pick beans – started at the age of 10, that was the youngest you could be to work in the bean fields – it helped to buy my school clothes and shoes for the following years. Recently I visited an area that grew commercial string beans and talked to the owners- that made me feel so good to re-aquaint myself to a part of my childhood!!
As the world changes, traditions fade away. Someday youngsters will be fascinated when their parent reminisce about the fall harvest break.
It is way past time for all schools to stop wasting money on the fall harvest break. With most of the harvest being done with harvesters there is little for kids to do.
Summer school vacation was established so that the kids could help on the farms, since we no longer need help on the farms we should restructure our school years. The most economical practice would be to break during the winter and save money on heating the buildings. Let’s change the school year from April to December.
I agree…also, why do kids need a whole week’s vacation in February and April?
Become a teacher and you’ll know why . . .
It seems like people want the students to have no breaks. Talk to teachers, I am pretty sure they will back that students when they say that would be absolutely crazy.
I grew up in the county, even when I was in high school in the 1990’s hardly anyone worked during harvest vacation. No on picked potatoes its mostly done by harvesters. It’s about time schools realize what a waste of time it is.
Now it’s easier for Houlton to add Football!
Harvest break never interfered with soccer so it has always been a weak excuse to not have football. I hope Houlton is able to make football a reality and then have it spread north.
True, but Houlton would’ve been the only school with football with the harvest break. Now they have the same schedule as all football schools and they need to align.
My point is soccer is played even while on break. People opposed to football have used the break as an illogical reason not to play.
The loss of harvest break in the County will be greatly missed. The farmers will be at the downfall of this decision. There are STILL kids who want to work and rely on it. Many farmers have kids working for them. I speak for all the students when I say that all students will miss this break and the ones that do work, will miss it even more. Still being in school I know how nice a vacation is. Think back to to when all of you were in school, didn’t you want a vacation every now and then? Farmers should be angry with this decision, there are still kids that work and I am one of them. Believe it or not kids do work, and probably more than some adults do. I am appalled with all of these comments. ALL of you over look the good kids still in school. All that matters now is how the bad kids are and the lazy ones. Yes harvest break is a tradition, yes it is a vacation, but that but it is a major part of our lifestyle here in Aroostook county. The “lazy” kids have ruined it for us. Just remember, there are good kids in this world, people who try hard and work for everything that they have. All of you are making us kids sound useless. So thanks for that. Harvest break will be missed. I hope all of the school boards think this decision over long and hard. And for the record, if you think we should have no vacation in February and April you life in a fantasy world.
Vacations are needed, but not 3 weeks after you just had 2 months off. Just when everyone has gotten into learning mode, you go home again for 3 weeks. That has to interfere with learning.
Where they are eliminating harvest break we only get 1 week off.
Actually, reading your post again, you have made a point for eliminating break. Several time you called it a vacation. The fact that 98% of the kids treat it as vacation is why it’s time for it to go.
Vacation and break are the same thing, despite the technical name for it. If the reason it is being called a vacation is the reason you don’t want it that is completely preposterous. It is a one week break to observe a tradition and work for the area farmers. You would be surprised at the amount of kids working for the farmers.
Harvest break = Leave school to work helping bring in crops. Vacation = Leave school for fun & leisure. Hardly the same thing. Only a handful of kids in each school work while the rest do nothing (except for a few others who ask for extra hours at a job that has nothing to do with harvest). Some traditions are meant to fade away. I will admit 1 week is different than the 2 or 3 taken at some schools. However, you’ll benefit the vast majority of kids by doing away with this break regardless of the length.