Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9510020029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NATURAL BRIDGE LENGTH: Medium
To overcome the opposition, advocates of a longer school year must develop a strategy for winning support from parents, teachers, community leaders and others.
That was the advice given Friday from several national experts who have developed year-round school programs that give students short breaks during the year rather than a long summer vacation. They spoke at a conference at the Natural Bridge Hotel attended by 60 school officials from throughout Virginia. It was sponsored by the National Association for Year-Round Education.
"Year-round education is an emotional issue - not an educational issue," said Dianne Locker, a program specialist in Orange County, Fla.
"When you try to change something, you are going to upset people. It can turn into a media event," Locker said. "Negative people are louder than positive people, and negative people get the media's attention."
More than 50 schools in Orange County in the Orlando area are on a year-round schedule. The move has saved the school district millions of dollars in school construction costs and also has brought about operational savings, she said.
By using schools the entire year with different students on different schedules, the school district has had to build fewer new schools than projected because buildings can accommodate more students, Locker said.
Orange County students still go to school only 180 days a year, the same as in Virginia, but the school buildings are used 225 days a year, she said.
Some students go to school 45 days and are off 15 days. Others have a different schedule. In some schools, there are as many as five different schedules for students, Locker said.
John Jones, school superintendent in Murfreesboro, Tenn., said the year-round school concept is being overlooked by some school divisions that are searching for complex and expensive education reforms.
"It is too simple and does not cost enough for some people to adopt it," he said.
School divisions must create "a new grocery cart" for education that meets the needs of students, parents, businesses and the rest of society in the 21st century, Jones said.
With both parents in many families now working, schools must have a longer day and year to provide a "continuing and safe environment" for children while parents are on the job, Jones said.
He described Murfreesboro's extended school day, which keeps elementary schools open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday the entire year. Attendance in the early morning and late afternoon is voluntary.
In Baltimore, Robert Coleman Elementary School has switched to a year-round schedule to help the children meet state-mandated academic and attendance standards, Principal Addie Johnson said.
She said the change has improved test scores and attendance and has gotten more parents involved in their children's education.
At Robert Coleman Elementary, the children go to school 45 days and are off 15 days. During these breaks, the school offers enrichment classes to children who want to improve their skills.
James Bradford Jr., Buena Vista's school superintendent, said, "The current six-hour day and 180-day school year are unacknowledged design flaws in the American education system." After all, he said, American students go to school fewer days than their counterparts in most of the industrialized countries in Europe and Asia.
But, he said, school officials can expect to be "persecuted and prosecuted" if they try to institute year-round schools.
When Buena Vista proposed a year-round, quarterly school calendar in 1973, there was opposition, but school officials got it approved by making the summer quarter voluntary, he said.
Clyde Moore, a member of the Buena Vista School Board, said many working-class parents support Buena Vista's program because it enables students to earn one year of college credit while they are in high school.
"I hear praise from parents who like that aspect of the program because it can save them money," Moore said.
Janet Dale, a teacher at Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista, said the benefits of the year-round program exceed the drawbacks. She grew up in Buena Vista and attended Parry McCluer after the switch was made. She also teaches in the voluntary summer quarter.
Dale said there are fewer discipline problems during the summer and students seem to be more attentive because they are all there by choice.
Roanoke County is studying an optional year-round plan. Parents at individual schools would decide whether they wanted to make the change.
Under one alternative being considered by Roanoke County, students would attend school for nine weeks and be off three weeks. Under a second option, students would go to class for 12 weeks and be off four weeks.
by CNB