Ski week is a one-week long vacation stretching from Feb. 20 to 26. Developed by Palo Alto Unified School District’s (PAUSD) Calendar Council, it is intended to provide a break for the elementary, middle and high schools that make up the school district.

PAUSD’s Calendar Council convenes every year to decide on the schedule for the next two years. The decision to create a ski week was made two years ago, and was primarily based on elementary and middle school teachers’ requests.

“Everybody had input in choosing this out of four possible different versions,” Principal Noreen Likins said. “We did not pay much attention to the new calendar scheduling.”

To students, ski week is a welcome vacation from school. “Ski week is a good time to relax and prepare for later stuff,” sophomore Alex Esber said.

Esber is not the only one who feels as though the extra week of vacation is helpful. “I wish we had this last year,” sophomore Heming Yip said.

While students enjoy the extra week of break, teachers are not so enthusiastic. “AP courses in particular will need more work on because they have one less week and the AP does not delay one week because we have this holiday,” Likins said. “They probably won’t have as much time to go over the entire syllabus and review everything they want to prepare.”

Teachers from both Palo Alto High School and Gunn will be paying more attention to the calendar scheduling process this time around.

“Ski week is a great idea,” French teacher Marcel Losier said. “I think it will have a positive effect on my teaching because I will come back to work relaxed and rested.”

However, the new calendar might not be what teachers here are hoping for. “Remember, the calendar has to be used for all members of the Palo Alto Unified School District,” Likins said. “Elementary and middle school teachers feel strongly against bringing in the kids even two weeks earlier.”

Although teachers sometimes harshly criticize ski week, its influence is still unknown. “The effectiveness and the use of ski week remains to be seen,” Likins said. “Although we might not like it, we don’t know how much of an impact it will have still.”