On the half-day before Thanksgiving this year, attendance secretary Judy Neches recorded over 35 percent of the student body absent for at least one period of the day. With so many students missing, it’s pointless for teachers to begin new lessons or give tests on the day before break.

Teachers have to devote extra time outside of class to help absent students catch up, which is a burden on top of already demanding workloads.

Winter and spring breaks are 10 days long, and Thanksgiving break is a four-day weekend. Even the few students who are at school the day before these breaks will quickly forget any new material over the break, requiring teachers to teach the information again when everyone returns to school.

With tight curricula and semester exams only a couple of weeks after students come back from break, every day of instruction is important, some argue. Teachers should teach normally on the last day and hold students accountable for any work they miss, English teacher Elon Walter said. But on the half-day before Thanksgiving, teachers either have to rush through material or teach only a small amount of information due to the shortened class periods. The amount of work teachers get through doesn’t justify the work they’ll have to do to help absent students catch up.

If teachers do nothing on the last day before break, students may be more inclined to skip school. An alternative is to offer an optional assignment that benefits students who are in class but doesn’t penalize absent students. Chemistry teacher Sean Reid provided a semester review packet for students to complete and turn in by the half-day before Thanksgiving, which he said was a good way to prepare students for the exam and boost their grades slightly. Students who completed it before break received extra points in the test category if they answered a certain percentage of the questions correctly, while students who turned in the assignment after break earned homework points. Assignments like these reward students for their work but don’t require makeup work or re-teaching.

Considering the low levels of attendance and attentiveness, teachers shouldn’t introduce any new material or give tests the day before a long break. A fun, stress-free assignment would keep students engaged for the final hours of school before break.