The Education Wonks
School boards never learn. The correct way to do this is to tell the parents how much it will cost in additional taxes to build sufficient schools, or to go to year round schools, or to go to 2 sessions per day, then let the district vote on it.
I've never heard a good "education-based" argument against the year-round calendar. Those who oppose year round usually say something about vacation time, summer jobs, etc. But is there an "educational" argument against it?
I taught on a year-round schedule for two years and loved it. So did most parents, who eventually learned to take advantage of less crowded vacation spots during our three-week breaks in March and October.
And rather than having summer school, we had extra tutoring sessions during the breaks to help kids who were behind and/or failing.
I'd love to teach afternoons/evenings. I'm much more "on" then than I am in the morning.
I guess my system has one of the closest schedules to actual year round school. We have frequent breaks during the year and June and July off. While we have had attendance problems in the past they weren't due to the fact that we attend school in August. While I can understand a parent keeping their child home a couple of days to make a point about starting after Labor Day it is far fetched to think they would keep their child out of school for nearly a month to make a point.
Frau E.
Year round may be better for elementary age children, once students are high school students having them go to school throught the summer will prevent them from attending summer camps including the volunteer and future leadership that help students show "leadership" skills that elite universities are looking for.
You could convince me that going in the summers was OK if the Dalton School or St Albans had classes through the summer.
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