By Jen Olaco & Cynthia Olea

The holiday season offers friends and family a chance to connect and spend quality time free from the demands of school and work. With children typically on their three-week winter break, families take advantage to create memories and strengthen bonds. This year, however, Granada Hills Charter High School (GHC) has a different start date than the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), starting two school days before Christmas , creating complications among families. 

The GHC administration explained that this late winter break is coordinated with the ‘natural cycle’ of the calendar. They made it clear that this change was not arbitrary but intended to better accommodate the flow of the school year. 

“We did not make any changes, this is just how the calendar falls for our winter break schedule,” Administrative Director Julia Howelman said. “We think it’s more beneficial for students to always get out before June so they can devote more time to summer school and extracurricular activities.”

Although this is not the first time we have had such a late December break, this schedule poses significant challenges for the GHC community, especially since neighboring school districts follow a different schedule. Students and their families are faced with questions of why GHC has come to this decision. 

Parents with children attending both GHC and LAUSD may face challenges to coordinate childcare, particularly if one student enters break a week earlier than the other. With parents  relying on older siblings to care for their younger siblings from other school districts, a different school schedule creates a burden and adds on to their responsibilities. Additionally, parents will need to adjust their work schedules twice to accommodate this rescheduling, potentially resulting in an unexpected financial strain during the already costly holiday season.

“Having different winter breaks this year feels so strange,” said junior Dean Rosales. “But I can’t help but think of past years where our family got to spend more time together.”

This change could also disrupt traditional travel plans when GHC siblings return back to school on January 6. However, the administration emphasized that the adjustment benefits GHC students overall.

“This rescheduling is going deeper into the month of January, particularly when it is cheaper to travel,” Howelmen said.

Howelman suggests another perspective that other families prefer traveling during January, after Christmas, due to cheaper air costs. 

GHC students are left feeling a deep sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) because of this schedule change. With schedules overlapping neighboring LAUSD schools, students are torn on whether to engage in social activities or academic focus. This creates a lingering sense of exclusion as students see their peers enjoying their winter break while they are still incharge of academic responsibilities.

Despite this being a natural cycle for the GHC calendar, we believe that future winter breaks should be planned more in sync with neighboring school districts. With LAUSD making the decision to not alter their schedule, it creates disruptions among family plans for the holiday season. If LAUSD and GHC were to coordinate and match their winter break schedules, it would greatly help reduce the burden on families juggling different schedules.