Only two days to travel! Because of the year-round school year, students are given two weeks off school but are released on Dec. 22.
Students who are traveling out of town only have two days before Christmas unless they miss school.
“I’m leaving school early and going to Mexico on the twentieth,” senior Ivan Corchado said. “If we left any closer to Christmas, we would be in the line going to Juarez for a whole day.”
EPISD is the only school district in El Paso getting out the 22nd unlike Canutillo that gets out the 15th. Though teachers and administration for EPISD were able to vote on two different calendars, neither of the options let us out on the 15th.
“I’m not sure why there wasn’t an option to get out on the 15th,” Econ teacher William Newman said. “It seems like the school district has a lot of power over us and does what they want, but I would’ve liked to get out earlier, so I could’ve had a better Christmas experience this year.”
EPISD teachers who have children or other families in school face a problem with making plans. Especially for students who are too young and don’t drive.
“My son is a 7th grader at Hornedo Middle School, we had to make plans for my son’s best friends dad to pick him up on the last day of school because I couldn’t,” English teachers Mario Gomez said. “My son’s cousins go to Socorro, and he wishes they could have gotten out the same time he did, this makes planning time for them to see each other during break difficult.”
Airports are another concern for students traveling for Christmas. December 23 and 24 are the busiest travel days for airports, the movie home alone demonstrates how chaotic the airports get.
“Flying to see my family for Christmas is always so chaotic,” senior Juan Martinez said. “Having to wake up super early to leave for the airport isn’t even the worse part of it, it’s the running around the crowded airport. It’s exactly like that one scene from home alone.”
Experiencing packed roads isn’t just traveling towards big cities, it’s the small ones too.
“I go to a small city in Louisiana for Christmas,” Carymar Lopez said. “I hope we make it on time, but it for sure is going to take a lot longer than usual, I just wish we could get out of school earlier because I don’t want to miss days leaving for Louisiana early.”
