With the extensive weather-related difficulties this year, it’s no surprise that there have been troubles regarding end-of-the-year activities. From three-day weekends that were taken away to several additional days of school in late June, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has seemed to be running several weeks behind schedule since February.

However, recently, the scheduling made available on Jefferson’s official calendar was once again changed, this time with little warning. In June 2014, senior exams aren’t just being delayed, they are being pushed back an entire week.

While it could be argued that since both graduation and the last day of school have been pushed back this year to June 21 and June 25, respectively, it would make sense to push back senior exams equally, chances are, that will end up causing more trouble for the school.

While last year’s senior exams began on June 5, with the scheduled exam blocks ending on June 10, this year’s supposed plan is to not have them begin until June 12, with the proposed end date being June 17. Besides the fact that it is unusually late, this new schedule leaves little room for sick days or absences that occur during that narrow window, and may cause problems for make-up exams.

Lastly, with Advanced Placement (AP) exams looming in just over a week, having not been pushed back at all this year, changing the senior schedule will create an uncomfortable gap where studying for both exams at once is not an option.

The schedule is just as inconvenient for students at Jefferson who are not graduating this year. The underclassmen exams are now scheduled for June 18 to 20, as opposed to 2013’s June 12 to 17, not only reducing the amount of days the exams are taken in, but eliminating a weekend respite in the middle.

Hopefully, these calendar changes are the rough draft of the schedule, rather than any sort of a final plan.

View Jefferson’s official calendar HERE.