School Breaks
Schools in New York typically have four (4) school breaks: Thanksgiving/Fall Break, Christmas/Winter Break, President’s Day/Mid-Winter Break, and Easter/Spring Break. When drafting a parenting plan, parents should be cognizant on what was agreed to with the holiday schedule. Here is an example schedule (for illustrative purposes):
| School Break | Time | Even Years | Odd Years |
| Mid-Winter Recess
(President’s Day Week) |
7 consecutive days | Father | Mother |
| Spring Recess
(Easter Break) |
7 (out of 10) consecutive days | Mother | Father
|
| Thanksgiving Recess | Close of School Wednesday until Sunday evening | Father
|
Mother |
| Winter Recess
(Christmas Break) |
7 consecutive days | Mother (except for Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve) | Father (except for Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve) |
As an alternative, parents may wish to share each break equally (i.e. one parent would have the first four and half days of the spring break and other parent would have the second four and a half days) so both parents would have extended parenting time during the school break.
Summer Break
When crafting a parenting plan, parents should consider parenting time during the summer with both parents in light of the summer camp or extra-curricular activity schedule of the children. For example, the parents might elect to split summer vacation equally (50/50) or give the non-custodial parent two consecutive weeks of vacation with the child(ren).
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