West Chicago’s Board of Education made its final decisions for the 2016-2017 school schedule, and it’s pretty inconvenient.

Resulting from major construction this summer, school will start Sept. 6 and go until June 8.

The schedule has been changed for next school year, and only next year, due to aggressive remodeling and construction of science labs, first floor math rooms, the hallway near the Bishop gym and some of the school bathrooms.

Starting the school year later means that holiday breaks will be cut, the number of days we have off will be whittled down and finals have been pushed back two and a half weeks after winter break.

However, looking at the positive side, students will now have a summer break lasting three months and 15 days.

It is a good thing that we will start later but at the same time it will cause problems for future school year schedules.

The question is, why hasn’t something been done sooner about our 51-year-old science labs?

The fact that this construction is being done all at once is astonishing. Remodeling of the building could have taken place gradually.

But instead, having all major construction done at once jumbles up student plans for vacations and the year.

Two summers ago the school had the parking lots redone.

Last year the nurse’s office and counseling office were relocated.

The school could solve the scheduling problem by prioritizing what needs to be done.

Obviously the science labs need to be taken care of considering they are 51 years old.

Along with that, the math rooms need work. Water has been seeping through the floor from the science rooms to the math rooms. Both should be at the top of the list.

The next summer would be the time to take care of the hallway near the Bishop gym and some of the bathrooms. Both are small fixes.

We would like to see the important projects completed over the summer. Everything else should be spread out in more manageable chunks of time, rather than taking away so many holidays and breaks.

Stress is an issue among so many high schoolers nationwide. When a student takes a break from school, they come back recharged and ready to go.

Students are able to gain perspective on their problems, get to relax with family and friends and get a break from the usual routine.

Without these breaks students can never fully “recharge”. Their stress levels will rise.

Working too hard for too long can sometimes burn out a student’s mental capacity.