Is harvest recess a thing of the past?

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Have local high school students had their final harvest recess?
    If a new measure in the Maine Legislature passes, that may very well be the case.
    SAD 29 school board members discussed the 2012-13 school calendar Monday evening during their regular monthly meeting. A proposed first draft of the calendar was presented to board members and harvest recess was not included in the draft.
    Because SAD 29 is part of the Region Two School of Applied Technology, it must create a school calendar that is similar, but not identical, to the other participating school districts — SAD 70 (Hodgdon), SAD 14 (East Grand) and RSU 50 (Katahdin and Southern Aroostook).
    If the proposed state measure is approved, each school district may have only five “dissimilar” days in their calendar, as mandated by the state Department of Education. In previous years, that number has been nine dissimilar days.
    Another wrinkle is that SAD 29 and SAD 70 both received waivers from the calendar rule to allow for harvest break. Under the new plan, no waivers would be allowed, according to SAD 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer. SAD 29 and SAD 70 are the only two districts in the Region Two group that still close school for harvest recess.
    Hammer said he had been in discussions with Mike Howard (Region Two), Bob McDaniel (SAD 70) and John Doe (RSU 50) to come up with a similar school calendar since it has become clear the Maine Legislature will likely move forward on the plan.
    “It (school proposal) has exited committee with a 100 percent ‘Ought to Pass’ recommendation,” Hammer said. “We (area superintendents) talked last week at our advisory meeting and we really feel that this calendar lines up very closely with Region Two.”
    In the proposed calendar, no harvest break is included. The first student day, as presented, would be after the Labor Day holiday, Sept. 3, which is later than it has been in previous years. For 2011-12, the first school day was Aug. 31. Harvest recess was held Sept. 26-30 for all students, with an additional “option” week available for those high school students who worked in the field and have a proven track record of strong grades.
    One option the district could consider is allowing those students who wish to work in the harvest to still have the time off, provided they remain up to date on their class work assignments. Hammer said it was his hope that those students who were interested in working during the harvest would be enrolled in the Region Two agricultural programs.
    “Not all of them are going to do that,” said board member Laurie Bartlett, who runs a family potato farm. “That is just not their interest. They are out there (in the field) to make money for those two or three weeks. That fast buck is their only interest.”
    Harvest recess was a topic of lengthy discussion at a February, 2011 board meeting. Numerous potato farmers attended the February session and implored the board to keep the harvest break tradition alive, despite dwindling numbers of students participating.
    Board members took no vote on the school calendar, as Hammer said the district was not under any time crunch to approve it.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 29 school board will be Monday, April 2, at 6 p.m.