Wake County students only have a day and a half of classes this week. Here’s why.

Wake County families used to get two days off from school for Thanksgiving — Thursday and Friday — and that was it. Then a third day was added, and now half of a fourth day.

Students and school employees will have only one full day of classes this week — Monday — and then a half day on Tuesday before getting the rest of Thanksgiving week off. The change to a 1.5 day-school week during Thanksgiving, which was used for the first time last school year, is meant to help families who might be hitting the road early for the holiday period.

The idea of reducing how long students are in school on Thanksgiving week came from the district’s calendar committee, a group consisting of parents, school employees and community members who make recommendations to the school board.

Wake school board chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said some teachers and parents who travel on Tuesday have thanked the board for making it an early release day, in which classes are dismissed 2.5 hours early.

“Generally I’m inclined to go with a calendar supported by the calendar committee,” Johnson-Hostler said. “It’s a recommendation from the people who are most impacted.”

The idea of having extended time off before Thanksgiving has become so important that parents angrily reacted when Wake initially announced plans to make up one of the days lost to Hurricane Florence on this Wednesday, Nov. 21. Wake quickly revised the plan to use other options.

When Wake first made the change to sending students home early on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, one of the concerns raised was whether attendance would drop off for the whole week.

Last year, attendance was 11,185 students less on Tuesday than compared to Monday. Information on how attendance compared to the Friday before Thanksgiving or to past years was not immediately available.