If you're the parent of a Springfield student, you probably spent the winter holidays reminding your kid to study, or supervising homework projects. That's because this year, final exams began a week after students returned from winter break. District officials didn't plan it that way just to take all the fun out of Christmas.
Superintendent Jennifer Gill says finals got pushed back because they had to start school late, to avoid conflicting with the State Fair.
"Ridgely school is located right in the heart of that, use it for parking quite a bit. And many students work there, families run some of the food vendors there, we have all of our sports teams that do community service to raise money for their clubs -- all of that would be hindered if we were going to school," Gill said. "And I think our attendance might be horrible."
The bad news is: The State Fair is set for late August for the next few years. So studying will become a holiday tradition.
