Students get to enjoy a four-day weekend starting Friday, but teachers must still come in for a staff development work day.

“Over the four-day weekend, I’m excited to just unwind and take a break because I’ve been really tired since school started,” junior Haasini Busireddy said. “I’m just excited to get my groove back.”

English teacher Vanessa Melvin feels that staff development days are a way for teachers from other campuses to be able to work together on the curriculum.

“Usually, it’s about discussing policy changes from the district, learning any new information that’s out, or maybe deep-diving into students’ needs,” Melvin said. “The English department, considering the state of Texas has changed their standards for the STAAR test, will be going over all of those changes tomorrow.”

This staff development day comes at a perfect time for AP physics and astronomy teacher Kenric Davies.

“Typically in years past, we’ve had the FISD Learns earlier,” Davies said. “I like the idea of it being a little bit later because it gives a chance to get the ball rolling, get classes moving, figure out what we need, and what we might need help on.”