Summer Breaks: What Schools Do During the Summer
Every student eagerly anticipates the summer vacation. And when the break finally does arrive, students are more than eager to get away from the schoolwork and classroom routines. Every kid is excited to sleep in, enjoy some bonding time with family, catch up on all their favorite TV shows, and reconnect with their friends in a fun environment. Simply put, students look forward to the summer break. But, is this the case for schools? No, not even close.
You might think: if the students are on a break, well, so should the school be as well. But this isn’t exactly the case. Because in reality, whether students are actively in school or not, there’s always work to be done by the school.
What better time is there to prepare for the following school year? The summer break
When should projects that are difficult to carry out when students are in the facility be carried out? During the summer break
When is the best time for education professionals to review the learning curriculum in preparation for the incoming students? The summer break
When is the best time to source for and update teaching aids in preparation for the coming school year? The summer break
So, you see, while students do get a break, there’s never really a break in school activities. There’s only a change in the activities carried out.
Are Schools Open During the Summer?
Apart from the over 3000 year-round schools, most schools in the United States are generally closed to the public during the summer. However, since some employees still work there even during the break, we can’t consider the schools as absolutely “closed”.
Some schools also run summer programs to supplement the students’ regular studies. These schools, and others that host community events or summer launch programs, are exceptions to the closed-in-summer school norm.
What Occupies Schools During Summer?
A school is beyond sitting in the classroom and marking scripts. There are a lot of management and administrative processes that go into the proper functioning of the school. Most of the time, these planning and preparatory operations can get in the way of learning for the students.
As a result, they are scheduled for the summer period. So they qualify as school activities, even during the summer. Unlike the misconception that the school board and principals are the ones in school even during summer, you might be surprised to find out that a lot more of the non-teaching staff body is engaged during the summer periods in the school with activities.
While it might not be as occupying as when learning is going on, and classrooms are getting filled with students, many activities still go on during Summer at school.
What Do Schools Do During the Summer Break?
By now, you sure have an idea of what goes on in schools during the summer break. Let’s look at the roles of the following people during the summer break.
Custodial Staff
These are sanitation professionals that see to it that there is a sanitary learning environment during the school year. But really, custodians often work all year round, tending the ground, cleaning common areas, and making minor repairs. And when the school is not in session, it’s simply a time to:
- Do a deep cleaning of the classrooms and offices.
- Handle major repairs and renovations.
- Service and maintain the HVAC system.
- Replace or wax floors that need repairs.
- Mow and fertilize lawns
- Ensure bathroom supplies needed for the coming school year are stocked and ready.
- Embark on building maintenance projects
- Weed and water the landscape.
During the summer break, custodial staff do these and many more.
Teachers
Since there are no students, teachers are completely free from work, right? Wrong! They work round the clock, all year round. You’re probably already familiar with two categories of teachers: those who rest from teaching throughout the summer and those who take on temporary teaching jobs for the season.
But did you know that many teachers spend their summer vacation drafting lesson plans for the following school year? Most teachers simply spend their summer break planning for the next school year—updating classroom decorations and teaching aids, drawing lesson plans, attending various meetings, or collaborating with administrators. For teachers, there always seems to be something to be done throughout the summer.
Office Administrators
These are arguably the busiest during summer breaks. Administrators use this period to wrap up the previous school year and prepare for the next. From hiring new personals, to ordering new supplies, to reviewing projects, to managing summer programs, to meeting with teachers and district employees, to improving school policies, there seems to be an inexhaustible list of to-dos.
Whether or not students are onsite, school office administrators work all year round, particularly using the summer to review and implement new changes in their schools.
School Board
Just like school office administrators, the school board spends the summer overseeing staff recruitment and training, reviewing district changes and ensuring they are well communicated to schools. The only thing is, they do these things at a higher level, working with staff across the community to meet the needs of students who’ll be enrolling in the following session.
They also try to create, review, and approve the district’s budget early for quick disbursement to schools. School budgets often take a large chunk of their time as they must work through disagreements with school administrators and the general public to reach an effective and acceptable conclusion.
Prepare for the New School Year by Getting the Data You Need.
A lot of the background work that ensures the smooth running of the academic session is done in the summer. This makes the summer break a great time to reach out to school administrators and K12 decision makers about your helpful product or service for the students. But how do you use email marketing to your advantage if you don’t even have access to the database you need? K12 solves this problem.
