New calendar gives students week off
Thanksgiving break will now be Monday through Friday
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

The Las Virgenes Unified School District has overhauled its calendar for the next three years, and the agenda now includes a full week off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Assistant superintendent of personnel Dan Stepenosky and a committee of teachers and parents created three new calendars for teachers and administrators to consider. The first option was to keep the calendar the same, allowing a two-week winter break, three days off for Thanksgiving, and one week off for spring break.

The most radical of the three options suggested was to start school earlier in August and allow for a two-week winter break, a one-week Thanksgiving holiday and a two-week spring break. Under this scenario, the semesters would have been uneven in length and classes would have ended later in June.

Twelve-hundred teachers and staff members in the district voted on the different options and concluded the best plan was to maintain the same number of days off for winter and spring breaks and allow for a longer Thanksgiving holiday.

Stepenosky said the extended Thanksgiving break would have dual benefits for families and the school district. Since many families traditionally travel during the Thanksgiving week, students often miss out on work and tests. The school district also forfeits average daily attendance (ADA) money when students miss school.

"Thanksgiving is one of the most-traveled holidays of the school year," Stepenosky said. He studied absenteeism over the Thanksgiving period and told board members that students missing school during the three days before Thanksgiving accounted for about $30,000 in lost ADA money. Last year, more than 1,000 students skipped school on the day before Thanksgiving, Stepenosky said.

Board President Terilyn Finders said teachers also often travel and additional costs are incurred when substitute teachers must be hired.

Revising the school calendar posed many challenges. If school starts too early in the year, air conditioning costs skyrocket. Shifting schedules might impact students who enroll in advanced placement classes. A longer spring break might not be the best schedule for elementary school students, officials said.

The early August start date was the least popular calendar option and received just 12 percent of the vote.

Keeping the same calendar as in previous years came in second with 28 percent of the vote. The extended Thanksgiving option won with 60 percent.