ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Public Schools, the Hazelwood School District, and the Ferguson-Florissant School District will be closed for the entire week of Thanksgiving this year.
All three schools attributed the decision to giving students extra time off because of the stress this school year has brought.
Hazelwood School District made the announcement on Facebook Thursday. The district said schools will be closed from Nov. 22 through Nov. 26. The days will not be made up later in the school year.
Hazelwood said the Board of Education and Administration wanted to make the mental health of students, staff and parents a priority.
"The extended break will give all of us an opportunity to focus on self-care and family. A wealth of self-care resources can be found on the district website," said Hazelwood Superintendent Dr. Nettie Collins-Hart.
"Time is the resource all of us need right now," the district wrote in the Facebook post.
On its Facebook page, St. Louis Public Schools posted new dates for the closing of the district for the week of Thanksgiving.
The information was posted on Oct. 29 to give families enough time to plan for the extended break. Schools will be closed from Monday, Nov. 22 through Friday, Nov. 26.
"My hope is these extra couple of days will allow everyone to take a little extra time for themselves and their families. Family is, after all, much of what Thanksgiving is all about," said Kelvin Adams, St. Louis Public Schools superintendent.
The Ferguson-Florissant School District website posted about the decision to use the entire week of Thanksgiving to offer an extended break to students and staff. The school board and administration voted unanimously for Nov. 22 and 23 to be used as self-care days.
"As we have navigated the start of this school year together, we can all agree this has been one of the most difficult years that students and staff have experienced in our lifetime," said the Ferguson-Florissant School District Superintendent. "These unprecedented challenges have caused significant additional stress on our entire school community."
The school district said it wants to focus on the safety and wellbeing of students and staff.