Winter Break : Santa Ana Unified Extends Holiday Break for Students To Visit Family

The Long Winter Break

This winter break will be the first in Santa Ana Unified School District's history to be giving students three weeks off for the vacation period. The move was meant to accommodate the large number of Latino families in the district who visit relatives in Mexico or Central America during the holiday break.

Santa Ana Unified, which has approximately 55,000 students in 60 schools, has a 92 percent Latino population and a large number of immigrants.

According to school officials, the number of absent students within the Santa Ana school district usually doubles the week before and after the holiday (on account of many students' parents who pull them out of school to visit relatives outside the country). By adding an additional week to the winter break, district officials hope to lessen the number of students whose parents call in sick for them around the holiday season.

In addition, school board members hope to lessen the amount of funding from the state that is cut every time a student is absent from school.

Money from the state is based on a student's daily attendance. For every absent student, the school district loses between $30 and $40 each day.

According to the school district, no parents or teachers have objected to the extra week off during the winter break for Santa Ana Unified students.

The three-week vacation makes Santa Ana the only district in Orange County to offer such a lengthy period of time away from school. Most districts allot students two weeks for the winter break.

To compensate for the loss of educational days, the district added two school days to the start of the school year and three days at the end of the school year.

While Santa Ana's three-week long vacation may be a first in Orange County, this is not the first school district to extend a traditional vacation period for somewhat unconventional reasons.

Huntington Beach Unified started giving one week off for Thanksgiving. Families often end up visiting relatives out of state or end up going somewhere and generally speaking, the trips last longer than the traditional four-day period allotted for Thanksgiving.