Bridget Grogan is afraid her son will spend spring break without her again.
Tuesday's public hearing at the Alachua County School Board meeting left Grogan, a UF employee, with little hope that the board will vote in favor of coordinating Alachua County Public Schools' 2013 spring break with those of UF and Santa Fe College.
Results from a poll conducted by the Alachua County Education Association showed an overwhelming opposition by ACEA members to the proposed spring break alignment.
Karen McCann, ACEA president, said 740 teachers and staff voted against aligning the spring breaks and only 79 voted in favor of it.
Grogan, who spent 12 of her 14 years at UF as a single mom, said it's almost impossible for UF faculty and staff to take time off during the semester.
She said keeping separate spring breaks is financially hard on UF and SFC parents, who pay expensive rates for childcare during the county break. It also robs children and parents of family time.
McCann said teachers and staff are concerned a joint spring break would allow students easy access to alcohol through older college students. She also said teachers worry the long gap between an early break and FCAT testing would cause students to be burned out by testing time.
Grogan disagrees. She said the time shift doesn't guarantee a student's failure of the FCAT anymore than keeping the present schedule would guarantee success.
"Why make kids suffer and sit home alone for a week so we can cram FCAT review down their throats during the weeks the teachers think are convenient?" she asked.
Grogan has some support from the county.
Barbara Buys, principal of Kimball Wiles Elementary School, said her school's advisory committee, faculty and PTA liked the idea of having the same spring break.
She isn't worried about high school and college students having a joint spring break.
"There's always some college kid on break there at the beach, no matter where you go," she said.
The School Board is expected to announce its decision during its next meeting on Feb. 21.
