www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1386317.php
Games and puzzles Monday, December 18, 2006 Santa Ana Unified adds third week to schools' winter break District wants to accommodate families who travel to Mexico and Central America during the holiday season. By FERMIN LEAL The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER SANTA ANA For the Pineda family, a two-week winter break is just too short. Miguel and Anabeth, and their two children from Washington Elementary, use that time off from school each year to visit grandparents and other family spread across three states in Mexico. "It's just a lot of traveling to fit into two weeks," Miguel Pineda said. "We didn't want the children to miss school so we just deal with it." But this year, Santa Ana Unified gave the family an unexpected holiday gift an extra week of vacation. For the first time, students at all 60 Santa Ana Unified schools will get three full weeks off for the winter break. It's a way to accommodate the district's high concentration of immigrant families, many of whom travel to Mexico and Central America to reunite with relatives for extended Christmas vacations, officials said. Simultaneously, the district hopes to curb high absentee rates and the subsequent loss of state funding that occur around the holiday season when parents pull their children out of school to go on long trips. Only a handful of districts across the state offer the extended vacation. The Santa Ana school board added the extra week this summer while crafting a new district-wide calendar. The district added two school days to the start of the school year, and three school days to the end to account for the five instructional days lost during winter. "Although we've worked hard to try to get parents not to take kids out of school, it still happened," said Audrey Yamagata-Noji, a school board member. In previous years, absentee rates usually doubled the week before and after the holiday break. "We added another week out of respect for our families and our community. And it's a more efficient way to manage the district, especially with attendance," Yamagata-Noji said. Santa Ana, with nearly 55,000 students, receives state funding based on average daily attendance. Every absent student costs the district from $30 to $40 a day. So far, no teachers or families have raised any objections to the longer vacation, officials said. "It's a plan that benefits everyone," district spokeswoman Susan Brandt said. Orange Unified recently sent out surveys to parents to gauge support for a three-week winter break. Other Orange County districts have altered their school calendars around different holidays in order to stem absenteeism. More than 10 years ago, Laguna Beach Unified added a week off, dubbed "ski week," around President's Day because too many students and teachers were skipping town and heading for the slopes. Saddleback Valley Unified students also have three extra days off after President's Day. But parents in Santa Ana appreciate the extra time during Christmas, said Anabeth Pineda, who is scheduled to arrive with her husband and children in Jalisco later tonight. "Most families here don't want time to go skiing, but they do want it to go visit families they haven't seen in a while," she said.
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