The Alachua County School Board voted Tuesday to keep county schools' 2012-13 Spring Break separate from that of UF and Santa Fe College.
The vote was 3-2.
Some advocated for aligning the breaks to give UF and SFC employees who have school-age children the chance to have the same Spring Break as their children.
But some board members were worried that having an earlier Spring Break would have a negative effect on student performance in the spring months.
"If you're a teacher, you know that after Spring Break — especially with high school students — the students think the school year is over," said Eileen Roy, a member of the School Board.
Shane Andrew, principal of Newberry High School, said students tend to lose focus after Spring Break, especially high school seniors who are preoccupied with thoughts of prom and graduation.
Karen McCann, president of the Alachua County Education Association, told the Board at a previous meeting that teachers and staff were concerned a joint Spring Break would give high school students easy access to alcohol through older college students.
In response to McCann's statement, board member Carol Oyenarte said aligning the breaks would mean more parental supervision for students.
Encouraging the board to try something new, Oyenarte said doing so would be similar to its previous decision to adopt a countywide school dress code.
"The first time is hard, but it's at least worth a try," she said.
Kari Cronin, an Irby Elementary School teacher and a parent, said she understood that the decision was not an easy one for the board.
"The 3-2 vote tonight to me says that they were kind of torn themselves in what kind of decision to make," she said. "Change is hard at first, but I think that we can all adjust to change. But it just sounds like tonight that they were not quite ready to embrace that philosophy when it comes to the spring schedule."
