Louisiana School District Once Closed Schools for 'Squirrel Day'

Louisiana is known as a “Sportsman’s Paradise” and when it comes to hunting or the outdoors, no state may take more pride in it than Louisiana.

Many here wait for hunting season for half the year, and one of the first seasons to open in the fall is the squirrel season. Yes, for those reading this outside of Louisiana, men and women here do hunt squirrels in hopes of cooking them in a gravy.

As a kid, my dad would take my friends and me into the woods on opening season and let us hunt and camp. The season always opens on the first Saturday in October, but many head into the woods on the Friday.

Parents and kids often leave early Friday to begin setting up their campsite and yes, some parents would allow their kids to skip school to start the long weekend in the woods.

Apparently the school district that I was in as a kid, Evangeline Parish, was aware that so many kids were out of school to start squirrel season and, at some point decided to close all of the public schools in the parish the day before the start of squirrel season. This would allow kids to join their parents in the woods on Friday.

Yes, we called the day off, “Squirrel Day.”

The district would then rename the day off as “Budget Day” to brand it as a day that students and teachers were off to save on utilities. Still, those who knew about “Squirrel Day” understood why students were granted the day off.

To my knowledge, no other district allowed students off the day before squirrel season, but again, I only attended school in Evangeline Parish as a kid and teen, so perhaps other districts followed Evangeline Parish’s day off in the late 80s and early 90s.

If you’re wondering if students in Evangeline Parish have to attend school the day before squirrel season in 2024, according to the parish calendar, students are not off and Friday, October 4th is a regular school day in the parish.