[BostonCard]

[quote author=Boston Card link=topic=13725.msg143542#msg143542 date=1448401498]

I suspect the rationale is similar to my kids' school district giving the entire President's Day week off (it's called ski week).  Absenteeism was so high that week because of families going to Tahoe that the district stopped fighting it and just gave the whole week off.  I suspect a similar situation at Stanford for Thanksgiving.

BC

the motivation is even higher in K-12 public schools in California since state funding is linked to the actual number of student attendance days so high absentee rates for known dates costs the districts money.  Of course the days off (my local district has this week off, two weeks at Christmas, a ski week, a spring break week and other assorted days off.) cause school to run from mid-Aug to Mid-Jun and people complain about no time for a summer vacation......
[/quote]

See, I complain about summer vacation running too long!  If it were up to me, I'd have summer vacation be no longer than 2 months - June 15 through August 15.  I believe California requires 180 days of instruction, which is 36 weeks.  If you add in holidays and random other days the school is closed, that would be 38 weeks, giving you 14 weeks to spread out the rest of the year.  8 weeks in the summer, 3 in the winter, 1 in the spring, 1 during ski week and 1 in the fall sounds good.

BC

[BostonCard]

[quote author=Boston Card link=topic=13725.msg143542#msg143542 date=1448401498]

I suspect the rationale is similar to my kids' school district giving the entire President's Day week off (it's called ski week).  Absenteeism was so high that week because of families going to Tahoe that the district stopped fighting it and just gave the whole week off.  I suspect a similar situation at Stanford for Thanksgiving.

BC

the motivation is even higher in K-12 public schools in California since state funding is linked to the actual number of student attendance days so high absentee rates for known dates costs the districts money.  Of course the days off (my local district has this week off, two weeks at Christmas, a ski week, a spring break week and other assorted days off.) cause school to run from mid-Aug to Mid-Jun and people complain about no time for a summer vacation......
[/quote]

See, I complain about summer vacation running too long!  If it were up to me, I'd have summer vacation be no longer than 2 months - June 15 through August 15.  I believe California requires 180 days of instruction, which is 36 weeks.  If you add in holidays and random other days the school is closed, that would be 38 weeks, giving you 14 weeks to spread out the rest of the year.  8 weeks in the summer, 3 in the winter, 1 in the spring, 1 during ski week and 1 in the fall sounds good.

BC