Where is "ski break" / February break a thing?

February 17, 2022 6:06 AM

Do schools in your area do a "February break" for a week, usually around Presidents' Day? If so, where are you?

I'm in Maine now and all the schools seem to have a February break. I think New York does, but I'm not sure if that's universal or just my relatives (or their particular schools) in the NYC area. Growing up in California, it definitely wasn't a thing (we had maybe a long weekend for Presidents' Day, but not a whole week). And from conversations with colleagues across the country, it doesn't seem to be a thing a lot of places. I'm just curious to figure out where this is a common thing, a sometimes thing, a "never heard of it" thing - so, is this a thing where you are?

posted by twigatwig to Education (55 answers total)

In Massachusetts, the public schools generally do February & April vacation, private schools are mixed between that same schedule or just March vacation instead. Oddly I've never heard it called "ski break" here - just February vacation or perhaps winter break.
posted by february at 6:16 AM on February 17, 2022 [4 favorites]

I think it's a New England thing, maybe just northern New England [?]. It was a thing in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine.
Article from WGBH about February break in Boston says it's been around since before 1916 but doesn't have more info than that.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:19 AM on February 17, 2022

I grew up in Northern California (Silicon Valley). I remember some years with a February break, and some without. I’m not sure whether this was a difference between schools, or whether the district actually changed its calendar while I was there. When we had one, it was officially called “February break” but many people called it “ski week.”
posted by mekily at 6:21 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I grew up in and affluent town in NJ and the public school had a week long February and April break. It was never referred to and the rumor (?) that I was always told was the the week off had originally come from saving on heating costs for a week in the dead of winter.
posted by raccoon409 at 6:23 AM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm now in Massachusetts and grew up in Connecticut, and we always had a February winter break.

As I understand it, moreof the public schools in New England added a second winter break in February and moved spring break back to April to save on heating costs during the 70's energy crisis. None of the kids I knew in warmer parts of the country got February breaks - they all had spring break in March.
posted by All Might Be Well at 6:23 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yes, in NH, also yes in NJ (NYC adjacent) where I grew up. No in central OH, and also no for my Chicagoland husband when he was growing up in the 90s/early 2000s. It's very much a Northeast thing as far as I can tell. We always called it February break.
posted by damayanti at 6:23 AM on February 17, 2022

Grew up in Ohio and had two week vacation in March. Now in Massachusetts and we get one week each in February and April. As others have said.
posted by Perplexity at 6:27 AM on February 17, 2022

The Seattle school district has what is called “mid-winter break” the week of President’s Day.
posted by ShooBoo at 6:32 AM on February 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm a teacher in Southern California and we had a week off each February, the same week as Presidents Day, a few years running due to furloughs (teacher pay/work day cuts). The community called it ski week, not the district.
posted by Temeraria at 6:35 AM on February 17, 2022

To clarify the situation in Massachusetts:

All public schools and some private schools get one week in February and one week in April.

The remaining private schools get two weeks in March instead.

As you can imagine, this causes all sorts of headaches for parents who have kids on different vacation schedules.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 6:39 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

+1 to the February break being a thing across the Northeast, with the same story from my mom (a teacher) about how it was a (former) March break split up in the 70’s to save heating costs in feb (historically the coldest month in NYC) and to accommodate Easter/Passover holidays where possible in April.

Never heard it called a ski week, my schools called it “presidents week” or “winter break” but we did usually attempt to go skiing!
posted by larthegreat at 6:40 AM on February 17, 2022

I live in the Bay Area in California. When I was a kid here we did not have a February break, just an Easter break in March. But now in my school district there is a "winter break" next week with spring break in April. Moms in my mom group are calling it a ski week. I checked a neighboring school district and they also have a "midwinter break" next week. I have no idea when that change occured or if other school districts around here do it as well. But it does seem like it is spreading.
posted by muddgirl at 6:50 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

My nephew goes to a public school in Washington, D.C., and he has next week off.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:58 AM on February 17, 2022

Michigan. We have a mid winter break over president's day weekend, but it's never a week. Usually Friday/Monday/Tuesday off. Spring break in April is a week plus a Friday.
posted by dpx.mfx at 7:02 AM on February 17, 2022

I think New York does, but I'm not sure if that's universal or just my relatives (or their particular schools) in the NYC area.

All NYC public schools have this February break. Where I grew up, in southern California (attending public schools in the 1990s and 2000s) there was no such break.

Conversely, it means winter break in NYC public schools is only a week long whereas in my CA district growing up, and I think in most districts that don't have this February break, the winter break is two weeks long.

As a sidenote, as someone who doesn't have kids, the most noticeable impact for me is in travel. There is a very noticeable rise in airfares out of the NYC area during the February break, especially to sun destinations (e.g. Florida or the Caribbean, the latter of which also has many cultural ties with the NYC area given the large immigrant communities here.)
posted by andrewesque at 7:04 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I believe in some parts of the Bay Area, schools have that Feb week off, and if they didn't, some parents would pull their kids out of school, and literally go to Tahoe for skiing. Here's an article from the paper.
posted by ellerhodes at 7:04 AM on February 17, 2022

San Jose CA, has it, and it seems like random people call it "ski week" while more official outlets appear to refer to it as "winter break" (which is distinct from "the holidays" I guess).
posted by aramaic at 7:07 AM on February 17, 2022

Growing up in NH, we had February vacation and Spring vacation. That’s what they were called. The February one was timed to encompass Lincoln’s Birthday on the 12th and Washington’s Birthday on the 22nd back when they were separate holidays. The Spring one was sometime in April. Our school year ran long, getting out after the third week in June. Massachusetts schools always got out a week earlier, the slackers.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:07 AM on February 17, 2022

For an oddball Western variant, Tucson schools have two days off in late February for "rodeo break" (and yes, there is a coinciding rodeo in town).
posted by egregious theorem at 7:07 AM on February 17, 2022 [5 favorites]

We had a winter break in my Ontario high school. It was in March and was referred to, creatively, as "March Break."
posted by hepta at 7:08 AM on February 17, 2022

Rhode Island has a February vacation. I didn't realize there was a skiing connection, but I probably just don't run in the right circles. I feel like when I moved here it was only two days and is now the whole week (for Providence Schools at least), but I may be misremembering.

I never got time off in Feb K-12 in Indiana but my Indiana college gave us part of presidents day week off as a "midterm" break.
posted by geegollygosh at 7:10 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

In Massachusetts, we have a week in February ("February vacation") and a week in April ("April vacation"). The elementary schools don't do a March break. This is how it's been for...forever?

It is a massive, massive headache especially since the colleges do a March break and many of the private schools follow that (and private childcare does one or the other depending on their affiliation). And, of course, I don't get a vacation at either time so it's a scramble to find childcare just like in the summer.
posted by epanalepsis at 7:13 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Northern Westchester NY. Split breaks - one week break in February (Presidents day weekend and following week, usually), one week break in April. When we were in the midwest it was a 2 week consecutive break, I think in March or maybe April.
posted by true at 7:18 AM on February 17, 2022

Vermont does.
posted by Grandysaur at 7:21 AM on February 17, 2022

Grew up in NH, one week in February and one week in April, school got out for summer in mid-June (or late June if there were a lot of snow days).

Now live in FL, one week in March, school gets out for summer in mid-May.
posted by Daily Alice at 7:26 AM on February 17, 2022

Washington State does. I used to hate it. 5 weeks after their 2 week xmas break, and 5 weeks before spring break, just as kids are getting into the rhythm of class they have a week off. A week that could be productive that is replaced by a week in late June after the books have been collected an no one feels like learning. A week for working parents to scramble to find daycare.
Now that my daughter is an elementary school teacher, I value that she has a week off to re-energize, but I still think it's a waste to have free time in february and not june.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:27 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Our part of the Bay Area doesn’t have a Feb break (we’re in Oakland and Berkeley also doesn’t) but my nephew in the Atlanta area does.
posted by vunder at 7:33 AM on February 17, 2022

(MA here, agreeing with above) I believe "spring break" is a huge deal in FL when all the northern college students come south for the week. Wasn't there an MTV reality show called "Spring Break wet and wild" or something like that?

And it's definitely not just skiing. All the Boston museums have extended hours and special kid programs for both the February and April week.
posted by Melismata at 8:03 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

In California, it varies by district. Most have it because it’s vastly preferable to having parents take their kids out of school at random. CA schools get paid based on daily attendance. (At parents orientation the would ask us to schedule doctor appointments in the afternoon because attendance is taken in the morning.)
posted by sjswitzer at 8:20 AM on February 17, 2022

For an oddball Western variant, Tucson schools have two days off in late February for "rodeo break" (and yes, there is a coinciding rodeo in town).

I'd like to add this is JUST a Tucson thing and not state wide. (much to the surprise of a coworker who grew-up in Tucson and was agog that Phoenix didn't have that time off)
posted by lizjohn at 8:36 AM on February 17, 2022

Growing up in Illinois, we only had 1 week off after Easter. Now in Portland, OR, the schools here just have 1 week in March for Spring break. I've never heard of February break or Ski Week until just now.
posted by hydra77 at 8:49 AM on February 17, 2022

NYS has the week off, my town actually has a “we love teachers” week to get some regional tourism dollars during a slow time. I’ve never heard it referred to as ski week, though.

One year we went somewhere warm for February break and the taxi driver said we were just missing the busy season in March, so you are right that it isn’t universal.
posted by tchemgrrl at 8:52 AM on February 17, 2022

Bay Area, CA--some schools have it, some don't; when I was growing up I went to a private school with no "mid-winter break" and 5 miles away was a private school that did have it, so it seems pretty arbitrary around here.
posted by assenav at 9:02 AM on February 17, 2022

February “half term” (a one week break) happens in every school district in the UK, as far as I know.
posted by caek at 9:30 AM on February 17, 2022

NE Ohio in the 80s and early 90s. We did not have anything in February aside from the federal holidays. Our spring break was either the week before Easter + that monday, or Good Friday and the week after Easter.

Just took a look at the district calendars for two of the schools our child care center serves. One gets 4 days for Presidents' day. The other only gets Presidents' Day.
posted by kathrynm at 9:45 AM on February 17, 2022

I think it's a New England thing, maybe just northern New England [?]. It was a thing in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine.

Yeah I grew up in MA and this was definitely a thing, the February and April breaks. I live in Vermont now and that's what the schools do here as well.
posted by jessamyn at 9:45 AM on February 17, 2022

Yes, in the UK there are three school terms (semesters?) Sept-Dec, Jan-Apr, May-Jul. Each has a 1 week break in the middle ("half-term"), so in Oct, Feb, and June. February half-term is a common time for family ski-trips to the Alps since there's plenty of snow around and the Christmas holidays are full of Christmas things. Some secondary schools (age 11-16) also run their own ski trips for students in Feb half-term too. The half-term is not specifically for skiing though.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:46 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Southern CA has it. We called it President's Week. I heard a few people call it ski week. Those people had money to go skiing.
posted by meemzi at 10:15 AM on February 17, 2022

NYC public schools have a winter break in February, yes.
posted by gaspode at 10:16 AM on February 17, 2022

Grew up in IL: no February break. Now in Northern MN: February break is definitely a thing.
posted by RedEmma at 11:36 AM on February 17, 2022

In the UK (or at least in London) the February half term was definitely referred to as the 'ski break' by a lot of people in my social and professional circles when I lived there a few years ago.

I grew up in Minnesota and we also had a February break. Although we didn't refer to it as 'ski break', there were a number of families who did take the opportunity to go on ski/snowboarding trips (but ice fishing was a far more common activity).
posted by theory at 11:43 AM on February 17, 2022

We do not have this in Denver and it is a constant source of headaches because my relatives in California and friends in NY always want to organize vacations at this time.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 11:50 AM on February 17, 2022

Sounds like this might be a more regional term, but a friend of mine moved to mid-coast Maine about 20 years ago with school-aged kids. The most remarkable early Spring vacation was called "mud week". I never envied her.
posted by citygirl at 12:01 PM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

In high school, if memory serves (Virginia, graduated in 1993) our "ski weekend" I think was right at the beginning of the winter break that encompassed all the winter holidays. "Beach week" happened after the spring term ended but before graduation in June. It was distinct from the "spring break" that happened in March.
posted by emelenjr at 12:08 PM on February 17, 2022

I worked at a public high school in Northern California for 31 years (mid-1980's to mid-2010's) and our district, unlike the rest of the county we were in, had 2 presidents' holidays, the first near Lincoln's birthday and the 2nd nearer to Washington's birthday, creating 2 3-day weekends for us and our students.
posted by Lynsey at 12:28 PM on February 17, 2022

Grew up in the Philadelphia area, went to private schools. Spring Break was a week in March (maybe sometimes a week and a half?). IIRC the public schools did the same, but sometimes their Spring Break would move around based on when Easter was.

Now I live near Atlanta. If I understand correctly all of the public schools around here have a "Spring Break" usually in early April; some have a "February break" next week (the week of Presidents' Day), and the schools that don't have all of next week off give off the Friday or the Tuesday to make a four-day weekend. I can't imagine people would call it "ski break" here, because there is no skiing nearby.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:32 PM on February 17, 2022

We have mid winter break here in Seattle area, but I see it used more as a, "Get me out of this seemingly endless dark and rainy purgatory to somewhere sunny and warm with beaches break," than "ski break."
posted by brookeb at 1:03 PM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I live in Wisconsin, and my daughter's private school has a four-day weekend over President's Day. Not sure if the publics have one. That said, the Friday is actually a teacher inservice day, so the kids get a break but the grownups do not.

I grew up in Maryland, and this was not a thing there. I believe it was a thing when I lived in Helsinki, though!
posted by eirias at 5:05 PM on February 17, 2022

Grew up in Connecticut in the 90's-2000's, always had one week off in February and one week off in April. Worked in schools in Chicago and western WA, no February break in either place, much to my dismay. But start dates were different too, with CT starting mid-to-late august and IL/WA not starting til after Labor Day.
posted by carlypennylane at 5:13 PM on February 17, 2022

In NYC/Northern NJ this differs between public and private schools - many private schools do two days off for President's Day and 2 weeks in March for spring break.
posted by fox problems at 5:38 PM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

My sister is a New Hampshire public school teacher and a mother of two teenagers.

She is reliably irritated by the fact that the Granite State schedules its February and April breaks a week later than Maine and Massachusetts do, because it makes it difficult for her and her family to get together with friends in neighboring states.

She and I grew up in western Maine. (We moved here when I was 4 and she was 2; we graduated from high school in 1983 and 1985, respectively.)

February vacation was when a lot of people's families (not ours -- Dad hates heat and crowds; Mom hated crowds) would take their kids to Florida to visit Disney World and get relief from the cold and the dark. I've never heard this vacation called "ski break," though.
posted by virago at 8:40 PM on February 17, 2022

I'm in Montreal right now. Next week, the kids are on break - I read about this in the paper.
posted by seawallrunner at 5:43 PM on February 19, 2022

Grew up in the Bay Area (Marin County), and this was a thing. It was called Ski Week. My local school district now calls it "mid-winter break" and it's this coming week.
posted by radioamy at 6:13 PM on February 20, 2022

From sfgate.com: this is definitely a thing in the Bay Area, seems to be concentrated in the richer suburban districts. It started in (of course) Marin.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:45 PM on February 22, 2022

Late answer, but CT is just not represented enough here, so I'm weighing in! ;) I had this growing up in CT in the 70s and 80s, and I think they still do. I do think it's a pretty solid thing in New England, at least.
posted by leticia at 6:49 PM on March 29, 2022