The end of a semester is a date that every student looks forward to — whether that be for grades, or just the relief of the long school term finally being over. However, due in part to the mass absences of students in early January, thanks to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the semester end date was pushed back from January 14 to January 21. While there were some pros to extending the semester, there were also many cons that far outweighed them. 

One of the biggest issues with pushing back the end of the semester was the extra trouble it caused for teachers. Although the extra week might have sounded trivial, for teachers that had each future class planned out it was extremely cumbersome to change their entire schedule. Upper School English teacher Dr. Estes said that, “For the teachers, it was a bit inconvenient because we had to scramble to figure out our next couple classes for the extra week.” Even though it might have been only a few extra classes, for teachers like Dr. Estes who like to plan out their classes, days, and even weeks in advance and have a set schedule, this caused a significant hassle. The removal of this extra week from the second semester also affected scheduling for that.

The change in mindset caused by the extension was another downside of pushing back the ending date of the semester. Everybody had expected the end of the semester, and the end of their worries about grades, to come on the 14th. To be told that they would have to wait a whole extra week was extremely nerve-wracking, and affected their mindsets towards studying and working. Freshman Sophia Simms stated that, “I was looking forward to getting my grades on Friday, but then I was told that I would have to wait a whole extra week.”

Extra work for teachers, the mindset of students, and trouble with scheduling proved to be the worst aspects of the decision. Admittedly, however, when asked whether or not they agreed with it, most people reported that they liked the choice. Thus, although there were some people that liked and agreed with the end of the first semester being pushed back, there were also many cons to it that are also important to consider.