Several factors have caused field day to become very much like a chore for the Student Government Association (SGA) of BDHS to plan. The SGA sponsors, as well as Principal Meints, have officially canceled field day that was usually hosted in June, near the end of the school year.

Schools close nearly 10 days earlier than previous years, which is the primary cause for Field Day being scrapped. Because the end of SOLs and immediate finals, as well as Cambridge exams on the way, there was no time left for Field Day to take place. Even though it is a half-day, teachers are unable to use class time in either April or May by county policy. Therefore, there did not seem to be any options left but termination.

Field day was potentially a very fun way to spend half of a school day, but only to those who bothered to attend. “Student attendance reached an all-time low,” said Mrs. Tousha, one of five physical
education teachers at BDHS. The activity-filled day was designed specifically to give hard-working students a day to loosen up and have fun. It was quite counterintuitive for the Student Leadership to plan if students themselves ditched school because of this very event. “It was threatened that if more people didn’t show up, then it would be cancelled.” Said Mrs. Oberle, which clarifying the reason for the
ending of this event.

Many students who skip think of Field Day as a waste of time, or something uncool.
SOLs are over by this point, leading to teachers having less to teach, and forcing students who wish not to participate in sport-like conduct is unfair. Perhaps offering movie showings, or opening the library, or even having classrooms for unwilling students to group up and just relax. Not every person in school enjoys physical activity, which was a reason for attendance dropping lower every passing year.

The weather was just as unpredictable as attendance, with the different years bringing completely unalike
forecasts. There was depressing precipitation which forced students and teachers back inside the building, or to boiling hot temperatures that caused the atmosphere to feel like magma—leading
to students abandoning the fresh air for the cooling airconditioning. BDHS seems to rarely have the perfect weather for Field Day.

In short, Field Day was simply a waste of time, in both planning and participation.