There was no school yesterday because the Newport-Mesa Unified School District at some time in the past noticed that a lot of kids didn't show up the day after Halloween, so they decided not to have classes on the day after Halloween. Evidently this applies even if Halloween is on a Friday, followed by two weekend days plus an extra hour on the time change. Kids still need that extra day to get ready for academics again.
Some time ago, I saw a news story about kids in Indonesia who had to cross a river via a rope suspension bridge to get to school. Then the bridge partially collapsed so it looked like the photo on the right. And of course the kids are determined to get an education so they're all basically climbing their way across the river and back every day.
If the bridge collapsed completely, they'd probably swim across.
Meanwhile, American kids need 3 days off to bounce back after Halloween. I showed the class the photo of the kids crossing the river. "This is why everyone hates us," I told them.
I don't understand this policy of "kids don't want to come to school after Halloween so we'll just take the day off." I don't think kids want to come to school any other day either. It's inconvenient. You have to get up early, sit at a desk and listen to people talk all day. Let's just cancel school entirely!
If I were in charge of education, not only would schools be open after Halloween but I'd make sure that we covered a ton of critically important material that day so that anyone who wasn't there would be hopelessly behind and never catch up. I want to see who the competitors are. You don't want to show up after Halloween? OK . . . have fun at community college.
Work is the same way . . . on the plus side, it gives your life the illusion of meaning but on the other hand, it really cuts into your day. Get used to it kids . . .