My dad would do this, he would tell his boss “These are the weeks that I’ll be on vacation”, his boss said “I’ll see what time we have available, then he replied “I’m TELLING you when I’ll be gone, (not asking)”. I personally am going away for winter break, especially after the director said that Thanksgiving week and Christmas week aren’t obligatory. However, they switched up on us last minute to say that we need to be available at least 2 or 3 days of those weeks (not including the actual holiday). A coworker came in and said that they cannot blame us for making plans and not showing up because they said at first that we didn’t have to work on those weeks. So for Thanksgiving I worked, however I chose to go away from winter break. Again, they cannot blame me for already making plans, and I’m not throwing away a $500 plane ticket. I need this vacation. I don’t care if they let me go, but it’s unlikely as they are desperate for teachers/teachers assistants.