With feelings of anxiety and stress suffocating students, Winter Break for most high schoolers brings with it a sense of relief. Winter Break is an indispensable recess from homework, studying, and most importantly, tests. However, next year, Winter Break might just be filled with all those anxieties due to a nearly ten-year old Florida Law.

In 2006, Florida lawmakers mandated that school districts are prohibited to start their school year more than two weeks before Labor Day. In past years, the School District of Palm Beach County has requested and was granted waivers allowing it to start its school earlier. However, with Labor Day of 2015 falling on Sept. 7, the latest in the month it possibly can, the district is not ex- pressing confidence that it will be granted the waiver for the 2015-16 school year.

With the start of the school year being Aug. 24, the first semester will not end until Jan. 15, 2016, significantly after winter break.

What’s the big deal? Well, if the state does not grant the district the waiver, it will result in the first semester exams being adminis- tered after the Winter Break.

So, while the later start date of Aug. 24, sounds appealing, it leaves students won- dering if the later start to the school year is worth having to take semester exams after being away from school for two weeks.

Freshman Max Nacht expresses some of that concern saying, “Testing after a two week break from school will seriously im- pact grades; students will lose all of the progress they have made. Everyone will have to make more of an effort to study.”

However, if the district is granted its re- quest to start the 2015-16 school year just one week earlier on August 17, the district will be able to manipulate the calendar so that first semester exams can be administered before Winter Break.

As of now, the Palm Beach County School Board has approved two tentative calendars for the 2015-16 school year. One complies with the state-mandated start date of Aug. 24, and has first semester exams being ad- ministered in mid-January, after the Winter Break. The other calendar has Aug. 17, as the first day of school and first semester ending with exams before Winter Break as has been the case in years past.

State law dictating the start date of the 2015-2016 school year could very well result in students spending the Winter Break studying for semester exams by the light of the Christmas tree.

The Palm Beach County School District is not the only district looking for relief; Paso County and St. Lucie County, to name a few, are both deeply worried and apprehensive about their first semester’s ending in mid-January. School districts want the power to determine their own start date, to have more flexibility over when they start and finish the school year.

The fear is that the first semester ending in January will not only lead to lower first semester exam scores, but it will also spell trouble for many seniors. Numerous colleges require transcripts and mid-year re- ports to be sent to them after first semester; the extension of the first semester into January semester could cause problems with getting those papers in on time.

Additionally, juniors and seniors on dual enrollment conflicting calendars; college and high school schedules will not coincide if the first semester of high school overlaps to January.

Senior Brittany Wuis expresses belief over graduating this year, “I’m so happy I don’t have to deal with all that stress. It seems like each year something new messes up the school system.”

While the district is not holding out much hope of being granted a waiver for the 2015- 16 school year, there is a bill floating in the state legislature that is keeping a small glimmer of hope alive. Currently, A-rated districts get more scheduling flexibility.

Students, however, are still rattled. Sophomore Gia Carlos is enraged over the possible change. Winter break for her is “a period of relaxation, not something to stress about school.” She reasons that it is “better to take exams while the information is still fresh in people’s minds than having to take it after they have accumulated a great loss of interest for the subjects.”

Conversely, some see finals after break being no problem at all. “There’s no major difference in when they take the finals,” says Mr. Tom Dilorenzo, AP Psychology teacher. “If students did what they’re suppose to, the extra time would actually be beneficiary, opposed to having to digest all the information for the midterm.”

In any event, finals may either make or break some students. Hopefully, with the possible change, students will find time to bond with both their family and their textbooks over the next Winter Break.