Odd reasons for school being closed?

[LuvOrlando]

I grew up in one of NYC's boroughs so when I moved here to PA I found it odd that the kids here are given off for the first day of hunting season. I'm not anti-hunting or anything but being a city girl I do tend to think of all of natures creatures as pets so the whole idea of celebrating hunting season on a scale that includes a day off from school does strike me as peculiar.

 

[daughtersrus]

Our schools are also off the day before Thanksgiving. The reason being that so many kids took off anyway that the district lost the funding for that day.

 

[bumbershoot]

Out on the West Coast we never got Columbus Day off, but I know back East this is fairly common.

My experience (growing up in the Bay Area and living as an adult in the pac NW), and what I've learned here, has been the exact opposite!

Lost Italian Day, as my husband refers to it.

We could all just call it a holiday for my birthday....

 

[tvguy]

Out on the West Coast we never got Columbus Day off, but I know back East this is fairly common.
!

Until a few years ago here in Northern California the public schools always took it.

 

[tvguy]

Jersey week. A week off for teacher conferences. That should be done before, or after the school year, or on Saturdays. (No offense to teachers, but that's how the private schools do it)

 

[Cindy B]

Jersey week. A week off for teacher conferences. That should be done before, or after the school year, or on Saturdays. (No offense to teachers, but that's how the private schools do it)

No Jersey week here (in NJ).. only the Thurs/Fri.

We do get the Jewish holidays off, but sometimes not the "traditional" religious holidays of Good Friday and such. This is a public school in NJ.

We also DONT get Columbus Day, Veterans Day

 

[ilovejack02]

Livingston Parish fair day off second Friday in Oct, for the last prob 50 years. When my area was a big agricultural area I can see it, kids showed their prize animals for 4-H. But very few do it any more, no need to let 30 + schools out . Drives me crazy.

We had Oct 8 off for fair, we have Oct 15th off for school conference and we have off Nov 2 for elections.

 

[ilovejack02]

All of the schools in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast close on Monday and Tuesday of Mardi Gras week.

We get a week off here at several of the private schools in B.R. They take off the entire week because families go skiing. .

 

[barkley]

Until a few years ago here in Northern California the public schools always took it.

i don't ever remember getting it off in the 60's and 70's, nor did my kids in the 90's-2007 (when we moved). it was also a day long before i started working for county gov. in northern ca (early 90's) that had been traded off for an additional 'floating holiday'. funny thing is-now all my former co-workers now get columbus day off-but that's because it's one of the ones the counties are using as unpaid furlough days.

 

[laurie31]

I had to laugh. I'm watching the 5:00 news and one of the upcoming stories is about how schools in Tuscaloosa are getting out on Friday because of the University of Alabama homecoming game on Saturday, and is this really a valid reason to cancel classes. I guess this is a timely topic!

Ummm...kickoff isn't until 8pm Sat - do they REALLY need to get out of class on Friday? I wonder if the University itself is having Friday classes -lol.

 

[MM27]

Jersey week. A week off for teacher conferences. That should be done before, or after the school year, or on Saturdays. (No offense to teachers, but that's how the private schools do it)

Not all schools get off the full week for teacher's convention. I've always gotten Thursday and Friday only. People may call it Jersey week in relation to Disney vacations, but I've never heard it referred to that anywhere but here.

In my district we get id al adha off (Muslim holiday)

 

[PrincesCJM]

Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, and MLK day are planned days off in Maine. In terms of our February vacation, I feel like it originally started to accommodate the High School Basketball tourneyments and/or because it's Maine and we get so much snow is February. February vacation always starts with President's Day. April vacation always starts with Patriot's day. Some of the private schools take other days off - based upon various religious holidays.

The district I work in also tries to plan half days for the long weekends. My old district gave kids the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Us teachers had in-service days

 

[golfgal]

Jersey week. A week off for teacher conferences. That should be done before, or after the school year, or on Saturdays. (No offense to teachers, but that's how the private schools do it)

I think pretty much every state has off a couple days for teacher conventions-MN has Thurs/Fri off next week for theirs and no, they should not be done after school or on weekends-why would you expect teachers to do that, it makes no sense??

 

[laurie31]

Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, and MLK day are planned days off in Maine. In terms of our February vacation, I feel like it originally started to accommodate the High School Basketball tourneyments and/or because it's Maine and we get so much snow is February. February vacation always starts with President's Day. April vacation always starts with Patriot's day. Some of the private schools take other days off - based upon various religious holidays.

The district I work in also tries to plan half days for the long weekends. My old district gave kids the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Us teachers had in-service days

I was totally confused when I read that, because I thought Patriot's Day was Sept 11. I googled and found out that Sept 11 is Patriot Day (no "s') and Patriot's Day is April 19. It's something else that apparently only Maine and Massachusettes do. Interesting!

 

[figment52]

When I lived in Colorado in the 70's and 80's the schools in Eastern CO would close so the kids could attend the "Stock Show" in Denver in mid-January

 

[JVL1018]

So other places don't get the Feburary winter break and the one in April for spring?? I have always lived in MA so I didn't know this was odd at all.

It's not just a New England thing. I live in NJ and we've always had a week in February and a week in April.
Some towns have stopped the full week in February and they just get 2 days(Mon and Tues of Presidents week), but we still get the whole thing.

 

[Abbie]

When is this? Our County fair is in July and the State fair ends before school starts.
I'd love to get off school for a fair!!!

Not the poster who mentioned it but since it's a neighboring county I can tell you it was just within the last couple of weeks. Which also makes no sense to me because the state fair is always end of Aug-beginning of Sept.

The one that always has seemed odd to me was mentioned several times: opening day of deer hunting season! Not in Md, as far as I know, but in parts of PA.

As far as regular weeks off, we get neither Feb. week or spring break, but we do get the entire week of Thanksgiving off, which I love.

 

[tvguy]

I think pretty much every state has off a couple days for teacher conventions-MN has Thurs/Fri off next week for theirs and no, they should not be done after school or on weekends-why would you expect teachers to do that, it makes no sense??

I guess I think that because anytime I was in a salaried job, training was always outside the normal work hours or work days.
Now that I am hourly, it's still outside normal work hours or work days, but I do get overtime.
Same with my wife.
Also because the schools my kids attended did it that way.

 

[minkydog]

I had to laugh. I'm watching the 5:00 news and one of the upcoming stories is about how schools in Tuscaloosa are getting out on Friday because of the University of Alabama homecoming game on Saturday, and is this really a valid reason to cancel classes. I guess this is a timely topic!

Ummm...kickoff isn't until 8pm Sat - do they REALLY need to get out of class on Friday? I wonder if the University itself is having Friday classes -lol.

Roll Tide!

 

[monsterkitty]

Jersey week. A week off for teacher conferences. That should be done before, or after the school year, or on Saturdays. (No offense to teachers, but that's how the private schools do it)

I think pretty much every state has off a couple days for teacher conventions-MN has Thurs/Fri off next week for theirs and no, they should not be done after school or on weekends-why would you expect teachers to do that, it makes no sense??

Colorado does not have a state-wide conference for teachers. There may be conferences that we can attend, but they are usually on our own dime and our own time. If the conference falls during the school year we pay for our own subs (school is not cancelled), conference fees, hotel, etc.

I will be going to the state music teachers convention in January. I have to use my own sick days for Thursday and Friday, I pay for my own hotel room, food, convention fees, and membership fees. The convention is Wednesday night through Saturday so that is two day of subs and 3 nights hotel.

There may be some districts that do pay for the teachers to pay attend conventions, but only the richer ones. I do not expect my district to pay for a convention for me to attend when they need that money for student programs.