Summer reading assignments had always been mandatory during summer breaks in the past years at Pascack Valley. However, in the spirit of the new Pascack Schedule, this year’s summer reading assignment has been very different from years in the past.

Instead of summer reading being mandatory for all students, this year the assignment was completely optional unless an AP teacher required it for their class.

“Administrators felt that it was much more in keeping with the idea of student choice,” said Dr. Edie Weinthal, District Supervisor of English/Media/Art.

This means that, quite simply, a large portion of the student body decided not to read a book from the assigned list. Since it was not required, numerous students did not feel the need to participate.

Junior Katie Revie explained why most of her friends chose not to contribute.

“If it wasn’t mandatory, they didn’t see the point in doing extra work,” she said.

However, contrary to what many students and teachers had predicted, several students did choose to read one of the books over the summer and participated in the discussion that followed during the Pascack Period last Wednesday.

According to school officials, 59 students signed up to take part in a book discussion, and since there were multiple books to choose from on the list, each book group was relatively small. While this definitely made it possible for each student to be active in the discussion, administrators and teachers still would have preferred more students to join in a discussion if they had so desired.

The most popular book chosen, which called for the biggest discussion group, was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Mrs. Mary Doherty, math teacher, led the discussion for this book.

“We had a nice conversation about Speak that transitioned into high school life in general,” Doherty said.

As for next summer, it has not yet been announced to students whether this optional summer reading plan will continue to take place. It may or may not be offered in the years to come.