Winter break is starting and ending a week later this year (Dec. 22-Jan. 9) meaning students and staff on campus still have another week of school before the fall semester ends.

“There are several objectives that lead to a late-shifted winter break,” FISD Board of Trustee member John Classe said. “First, the calendar with Christmas and New Years on the weekend makes it difficult. You either get out really early or really late. Next, we want the semester to end in December. We don’t want students and teachers having to carry over end-of-semester preparation and studying through winter break.”

However this can cause some issues with teachers with kids who attend school in other districts.

“We live in Plano ISD and so my whole family is gonna be out starting on Friday afternoon. They have a half day,” teacher Sarah Wiseman said. “So I’m gonna miss a week of Christmas vacation with them, and then they’re gonna go back to school and I’ll be out for a week.”

One of the goals of the later break is to prevent burnout and increase attendance and motivation.

“Teachers want breaks spread throughout the school year,” Classe said. “Long stretches without breaks make burnout for both students and teachers more likely. Having days off throughout the semester helps keep everyone energized, but it makes the second objective above more challenging.”

But for students, it can be difficult with the changes in break and the work that comes at the end of the semester.

“Honestly, the time between the Thanksgiving break and winter break is already hard with lots of tests and projects,” senior Ashwin Javvaji said. “By extending it a week, it makes it more difficult. But, I’m just excited to go on break.”