A Question About Holidays and Which Ones Your State/schools Observe

When I was growing up, we actually got 2 days off in February, the 12th for Lincoln's birthday and the 22nd for Washington's birthday. Anybody else that old?

Around here, all the schools got MLK day off. But not all are closed for President's day. My nieces in SoCal get Caesar Chavez day off but not President's day.

Maybe it's time to have one big ol' "Special Person You Want to Celebrate" Day. At least then we'd all know which day to stay home.

Inauguration Day is not a Federal holiday nor is Easter.

For some the timing is inconvenient. At our school they did observe Presidents Day but I know that some of the teachers were frustrated because they also have testing this week and they were wishing for one more day to finish covering certain topics. Add the three day weekend to the fact that last week was Valentine's Day and I think that a lot of teachers were feeling a crunch to get ready for that testing. And the testing is far more mandatory than the holiday schedule.

And honestly, while a three day weekend is nice every once in a while, I would rather my kids have fewer days off from school and let them start school later in August or get out earlier at the end of the school year. Federal holidays have never been mandatory for anyone other than government employees. My husband's company does not get a holiday for MLK Day. He does however get off for President's Day. And Walgreens is owned by someone who does not have a Christian background--Walgreens is OPEN on CHRISTMAS DAY. Most colleges that I know of do not get off for any federal holidays other than the big breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And really, how does it honor MLK or President Lincoln or President Washington to have a day off from school? Most people that I know who have that day off spend it goofing off. Wouldn't it make more sense for our kids to be in school LEARNING about those people and finding out exactly why they should be honored?

We get Friday AND Monday off for President's Day weekend, always have.
And just because a day is recognized as a federal holiday doesn't mean every school, business or other organization is required to observe it. Actually, mandatory closures dictated by the federal government sounds a little heavy handed to me, I'm glad they DON'T do it.

I don't know what the dates for some of those are but I know was have Labor day, MLK and Presidents day off here. I know they spread the holidays evenly or try to so the kids won't get burned out. I know some holidays are close together.
Thanksgiving break is a week and Christmas/new years is two weeks.
The kids start school in the first week of Aug. And finish before the last week of May.

Ok really? We are going to sit at our computers and complain because some states have some days off and some school districts in some states have other days off and should we honor some people over others? Do we REALLY HONOR anyone by taking a day off work or school? I am not saying I don't enjoy my days off, but do I make a point to take time out of my day to HONOR Washington or Lincoln or anyone else for hwom I get to have a day off? I am betting the majority of people in this country do not. I am sure some of you do have cherry pie or some other thing like that, but REALLY? Find something else to be offended about!

I agree, things sure have changed since we were in school. Schools around here do still close for MLK Day and Presidents' Day. However, they have replaced Columbus Day and Veterans' Day with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur instead. Am interested to hear others' replies.
(Edit: to Nancy W. - Lol at your brilliant idea.)

Here in my State, the public schools observe and have holidays for the National holidays.
We also, have holidays which are, unique to our specific State, culturally.

We are in KS and get Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, MLK, and President's Day. I do think it is wrong that most districts have dropped everything but MLK.

We get Labor Day, the entire week of Thanksgiving, MLK and President's Day, and of course a week at spring break. Our school is parochial, so we also get a couple of extra days at Christmas (about 2 weeks total) as well as Good Friday and Easter Monday.

We have about 2 teacher workdays per semester, and a handful of early dismissal days that are usually before holiday weekends.

when i was in school in Arizona MLK day wasnt observed in schools, that has since changed i think.

My guess is that those decisions are made based on pressure from the local community.
Our school district takes the *whole week* off for president's day while only taking thursday/friday for thanksgiving. (and no, this isn't spring break, that'll happen in April) I find this seriously irritating since all out family is a plane ride away and I can't justify the outrageous cost of a flight at thanksgiving for so short a visit. Also, my DH often has the week of thanksgiving off so he could have taken care of our son. Instead we had to find and shell out $ for childcare this week. (grumble...) steps off soapbox..

I actually appreciate the value of the MLK holiday. Although it is important to recognize great presidents and their impact, MLK had a distinctly modern message as well--people together have power--and I think that is especially important for our children to learn. Not everyone will be president, but regular people working together in our communities can have an impact. Also, people (in our community at least) celebrate MLK day in a very meaningful way by engaging in a day of service to honor Dr. King's vision and legacy. I do believe that it is a national thing too, but I'm not sure. Although there are so many people whose legacies are worth celebrating, Dr. King's message of peace and activism are just particularly relevant in my opinion. I do think it is great though that different communities can choose to honor the events and people who are meaningful to them.

BTW, our community (Mobile) also has holidays for Mardi Gras--used to be a full week, but legally our summers have to be longer in AL now, so the kids got 2 days this year. ;-)

There are 11 Federal holidays, but Easter isn't one of them. You're missing Washington's Birthday. Patty is incorrect about Inauguration Day, that is also a national holiday. It happened to coincide with MLK day this year.

I'm in central Wisconsin. The school year doesn't start until after Labor day, so I didn't count that or July 4 as being "off". Our schools are closed on:

New Years, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

This year was a bit unusual, as they had MLK/Inaugeration day and President's Day off. That was not because of the holidays but because it just worked out for teacher prep and parent-teacher conferences.

Schools are not Federal institutions and are not required to observe Federal holidays at all, so there is no "supposed to" in this case.