Thursday, May 28, 2009 By Narek Der-Sahakian [ArticleImageHyperLink] Advertising Possibility of three-week winter break (February 23, 2004) -- It’s the morning of Jan. 6 and you’re an Armenian student who decides to stay home even though you will be missing all your important studies. However, Glendale Unified School Disctrict loses $25 per student that is absent per day, and a majority of the estimated 10,000 Armenian students in the district are absent Jan 6, thus resulting in a loss of an estimated $250,000 on that day. The GUSD is considering extending the winter holiday by one week to include Jan. 6, the Armenian Christmas. If this were to happen, the district would recoup all the revenue lost on that day. Don’t celebrate yet, however, the school year would be rearranged so that it would still begin a few days earlier and end a few days later to make up for the extra week off. The district can’t afford to lose that much money; if you thought the budget cuts were over, think again. GUSD is planning on cutting about $8 million more from its budget because of the state’s budget deficit. This is a time when every dollar has to be spent carefully. “The extra week of vacation will most probably happen because of the substantial loss of money,” said Assistant Principal Joan Shoff. “But they are still trying to make a good decision that will be advantageous for everyone. The schools don’t have money to lose.” Senior Edd Yeganian is an Armenian student who attended school Jan. 6 this year, despite Armenian Christmas. “It’s a tough decision to make because some teachers still teach important things on that day and some students can fall behind,” said Yeganian. The tradition of Armenian Christmas is to attend church in the morning and spend the rest of the day visiting friends and family to wish them a Merry Christmas. District officials are also considering making April 24 a school holiday in remembrance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Back to the articles list