As you all may well be aware of, since many students look forward to their allotted days off of school; we have been gypped of our Cesar Chavez Day as well as Presidents’ Day off. Our school is the only state school in California that takes Cesar Chavez Day off instead of the national holiday, Presidents’ Day. Many have mixed feelings about this premise in since last year Cesar Chavez Day fell on a Friday, which most students have off anyway and this year it falls during our week of spring break. Many feel it is unfair. See what the editors think:
“I am in favor of having days off in general. This is not for the purpose of slacking, but to take some much-needed personal time to focus on schoolwork and miscellaneous work I have building up. That being said, I see it as just for the school to honor Cesar Chavez, especially considering the history with the school allowing for him to be honored at the top of the steps, fondly named the Chavez Stairs by many. I find it so curious that people are getting worked up over this, when some of them aren’t exactly well versed in the why. That is not to include the people who have knowledge as their backing.” – Copy Editor Keandre Williams-Chambers
“Cesar Chavez Day and Presidents’ Day should be days that students do not have classes. I think that if there are times when we should not go to school because of a holiday, it should be days where we are celebrating people that have made a significant difference in our lives. However, Cesar Chavez Day should be a separate day off from spring break.” – Features Editor Katie Sweeney
“We do get presidents day off during winter break, the CSU system just celebrates it earlier than the K-12 school system, we do get it off, it’s just celebrated earlier. It’s not really choosing between Cesar Chavez and President’s day since we get them both off.” – News Editor Melissa Martinez
“Being that Presidents’ Day is a national holiday and Cesar Chavez day is memorial day of sorts; I feel it is unfair that our school is the only school in the state that takes Cesar Chavez day off instead of Presidents’ Day. True, Cesar Chavez was a great man and should be honored for it, but it does not mean replacing it with the national holiday that honors our great presidents. It just does not add up! And on top of that, Cesar Chavez Day lands on our spring break this year, which means we get no holiday at all this semester. Something needs to change.” – Opinion Editor Jessie Gambrell