The Nixa School District extended the Thanksgiving break this year. In years past they have had just three days off but this year, students had an entire week out of school for the holiday.

The week-long break created by the district calendar committee will allow families to participate in holiday activities.

“I do think it is a good idea because I think a lot of people try to travel around the holidays and the three days is not really long enough for that, ” Jaimie Wright Assistant Principal said.

Nixa Schools in years past have just had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off the week of Thanksgiving which changes the amount of days students are in the school buildings learning.

“However I think the negative side of it is now the number of days we have first semester versus the number of days we have second semester is significantly different,” Wright said. “Which makes it hard for teachers if they’re just teaching a semester class”.

Cambria Crabtree said having nine days off of school straight gives students time to prepare for the rest of school until Christmas break.

“I think they will come back refreshed and ready to finish out the semester strong,” Cambria Crabtree FACS teacher said.

The extended break is not only beneficial for students but also helps the teachers have time to relax.

“While teachers love three day weekends they are not quite enough time for us to fully decompress and the week off will allow us to do that,” Crabtree said.