For many years, PVPUSD only had Thanksgiving day off during the holiday season, leaving little time to go on trips and participate in the festivities with family.

However, this fall, all the students, teachers, and the administration within the district will be able to enjoy a week-long vacation from their studies, extracurriculars, and many other activities and professions that the school year entails.

While some students or teachers may have planned a short trip with the whole week off, some have a more relaxed agenda.

“I don’t really have any specific plans for the long Thanksgiving break,” freshman Olivia Gavin said. “I’m probably just going to relax and take it easy.”

Others, however, cannot take advantage of the break, due to prior obligations that prevent them from doing so.

“I’m not going to go on any trips during that time because I still have to take my kids to school since they don’t have the time off like I do,” math teacher Dan Rho added.

“I won’t be able to entirely relax since I’ll have to get up early in the morning… There isn’t gonna be a lot of time for me to chill out.”

From last year’s August 28th to this year’s August 22nd start date, the new school schedule changed to make up for the lost time that will not be spent in the classroom.

Some teachers and students previosuly made commitments and needed to miss the first few days of school because of this sudden change.

“I had to miss the first few days of school because it was my parents’ 50th anniversary,” biology teacher Julie Maemoto explained.

“I’d planned our vacation based off of the schedule last year, and we had to purchase the cruise package far in advance. It ended up not being the best first impression to all my new students, but luckily I had substitute teacher Gram Robertson cover for me the first couple of days.

“I like having the week off for Thanksgiving break, but I didn’t like having the last week of summer taken away. It would’ve been nice to be able to plan my vacation accordingly,” she continued.  

Whether or not the school was originally pleased with the change, students and faculty should take advantage of the extra few days and enjoy quality time with loved ones during the season.