Schools
Hillsborough Favors Full Spring Break Over Shorter School Year For 2026-27
Easter and Passover in 2027 are about a month apart, creating a dilemma with the 2026-2027 school calendar.
HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — While creating the 2026-2027 school calendar, the Board of Education(BOE) was faced with a decision to allow for a full Spring Break week or to cut it down for a shorter school year.
"The real outlier this year was the fact that Passover and Easter and Spring Break were so far apart," said Superintendent Michael Volpe at the Dec. 22 BOE meeting.
Easter will be held on Sunday, March 28, 2027, while Passover begins on the night of April 21, 2027. The Board was presented with two options for the 2026-27 school calendar.
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Option 1 cut Spring Break down by two days. It would run from March 24 to 29, 2027, and then students would have a half day on April 21, 2027, and be off April 22, 2027, for Passover. This would allow for the school year to end on June 17, 2027.
Option 2 provides a full Spring Break from March 22 to March 29, 2027, along with a half day on April 21, 2027, and will be off April 22, 2027, for Passover. The school year would then end on June 22, 2027.
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The Board's student representative took a survey of high school students about which option they preferred. She received 52 responses from 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. Seniors were not surveyed since they will not be impacted next year.
"I think the juniors were very passionate about the decision in general because it would affect their graduation. Overall, 58.3 percent preferred a longer break," said the student representative.
Students were in favor of the longer break because they felt that there wasn't enough time off during the school year, AP testing, and planned vacations.
Board Vice President Cynthia Nurse noted that the Hillsborough Education Association favored the full Spring Break option.
"I think we really need to listen to the people who are in the classes because they are the ones who are at the forefront of the instruction and know their students the best," said Nurse.
The Board ultimately voted unanimously for Option 2 - a full Spring Break for the 2026-2027 school calendar.
See the calendar - Option 2 - below:
Hillsborough School Calendar For 2026-2027 by Alexis Tarrazi
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