Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 20, 1995                   TAG: 9509200021
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COME AROUND TO SCHOOL ALL YEAR

There is ample evidence this is educationally sound. The objections raised most frequently have nothing to do with what is essential: giving schoolchildren the opportunity to learn as much as they can as well as they can.

Indeed, every other consideration - including family vacations, summer jobs (for teachers and students) and the impact on tourism - ought to matter less.

Teachers and students already should have full-time jobs: schoolwork. And if tourism suffers, well, too bad.

Around the country, a number of school districts are making tentative steps in the direction of year-round schooling. In Roanoke County, officials have been studying a variety of options.

The proposal that has emerged, unfortunately, would not add days to the school calendar. It would, however, break up the extended summer vacation into shorter, more frequent breaks. This would avoid some practical problems attached to simply making the school year longer - chiefly, finding money to pay teachers for additional work days.

Such a schedule would improve learning anyway, most educators would agree, because the kids wouldn't waste precious schooldays reviewing material they covered months before, much of which is forgotten after three months away from the books.

Same gain for less pain. It's a step in the right direction, and farther along than most Virginia school divisions have gotten to date.

The other problem with the county's plan is that it is to be voluntary, with each school staff and parents deciding if they want to keep the standard nine-months-on, three-months-off schedule, or go to a 12-month calendar. If parents are divided, some schools may choose a dual track system, with some students going by the traditional calendar, some switching to the revised.

The plan has the merit of offering greater choice. But if the educational benefits of the extended year are so apparent, why not simply mandate the change?

Sure, some students work full time in the summer because they need to save money for college. But just as often, their goals of working in fast-food places and grocery stores seem to be trendy clothes, hot cars, CD players and other status items in the world of adolescent materialism.

Provision, in any case, could probably be made for most students who need to work. One possibility: a closer partnership between schools and businesses, allowing some students to integrate earning hours with learning hours.

The point with the calendar, as with everything else, should be to keep education to the fore.