Lee County students may get week-long Thanksgiving break in 2019

When Michelle Grimm heard the Lee County School District is considering giving students a week-long Thanksgiving break in 2019, her first thought was, "'Yes.'"

"When I saw it, I was excited," said Grimm, whose two children attend Lee County schools. "I am like, 'Yes, we can go somewhere. We can do something."

The Lee County School Board will vote on the district's 2019-20 calendar when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Lee County Public Education Center. If the calendar is approved, schools will be closed Monday through Friday for Thanksgiving week in 2019.

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An approval won't mean students will get similar Thanksgiving breaks after 2019.

"This decision is made each year," a school district spokeswoman wrote in an email. "We cannot say what will happen past (2019)."

Students and teachers are set to get a three-day Thanksgiving break next month. Schools will be closed Nov. 21-23, a Wednesday through Friday.

Grimm said she likes the idea of students being out of school all of Thanksgiving week because it gives families who want to travel more time to so do.

"But I have ... friends that work, and it's harder for them," said Grimm, a stay-at-home mother. "My position is I think it's a great idea. It's two more days. They can take a week for vacation if they want to see family in other states. I don't see any problem with it."

The five-day Thanksgiving break is a recommendation of the district's Instructional Calendar Committee. The committee's recommendations were based on absenteeism during Thanksgiving week and the number of school districts that will give students the week off this year, said Angela Pruitt, chief human resources officer.

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Of Florida's 67 school districts, 52 are set to give students a week-long break next month, the district found. Lee and Collier are among the 15 districts that won't.

In 2017, 3,862 students did not attend school on the Tuesday of the week before Thanksgiving. The week of Thanksgiving, 8,715 students or 4,853 more students, missed school on Tuesday, district statistics show. 

That's a more than 125 percent increase in absent students.

The figures do not include Lee County's charter school students.

In Collier, Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week in 2019 are designated hurricane make-up days. Students will get the week off as long the makeup days aren't needed.

"We can't really say it will be an every year thing because you never know what requirements we are going to have to meet and different things like that," said Jennifer Kupiec, a Collier County School District spokeswoman.

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Pruitt said the Lee County School District has felt hamstrung in the past when it came to giving students more time off for Thanksgiving because it was under the impression each school semester had to be 90 days. She said Florida law does require the school year to be 180 days but not an even split per semester.

Pruitt said there are minute requirements for classes the district still will have to follow.

Courtney Hoovis, the parent-teacher association president at Orangewood Elementary School in Fort Myers, said her children — a kindergartener and a fourth-grader — will miss school Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week this year because they are traveling to Texas.

"We usually have family coming in, but this year we are going out there to see some family that my kids haven't met yet so it's important," she said.

She said giving students the week off is a good idea. 

"It would be nice to have more than just the one day if you are traveling before Thanksgiving to prepare or if you are staying at home and cooking because you are having family coming," Hoovis said.