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Erin Li (10) “I believe that it will be better because there will be a bigger time gap between AP testing and finals."

Walnut Valley Unified School District students will have longer vacations to be thankful for next year.

Approved this February, the 2017-2018 district calendar features an extended Thanksgiving, winter and spring break, with school ending a week later in the upcoming year.

These changes follow continuous meetings between parents, district officials, administrators and the Walnut Valley Educators’ Association.

WVEA negotiator Salli Collins met with the rest of the calendar committee, whose members are chosen by the district, early this year and helped determine teacher responses to the proposed calendar revisions.

“It was overwhelming. We did a survey on each of our campuses, and overwhelmingly [teachers] wanted the week off for Thanksgiving,” Collins said. “The parents, everybody agreed that we would have that week off, so it was a pretty overwhelming decision.”

The school year will last through Memorial Day, ending on May 31. Thanksgiving and winter break will both be extended by two days, while spring break will last a day longer.