ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701280122
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
HIDDEN VALLEY Junior High's plan for year-round schooling may have to be put off because of cost, say some members of the Roanoke County School Board.
Well, what about the cost in morale and momentum for those who've worked four years on the plan?
What about the cost, in delay, to the prospect of eventually converting this modest, phased-in, volunteer, partial pilot project into serious year-round schooling that would offer more than the traditional school calendar's 180 class days?
What about the cost in lost time for other school communities that one day might, and should, follow Hidden Valley's example?
And what about the costs to the future - in terms of preparedness for work and citizenship - from not picking up the pace of progress, currently barely detectable, toward a more reasonable school calendar?
The forces of inertia clearly are powerful, given that almost every school in the nation retains a calendar based on 19th-century agricultural rather than 20th-century educational criteria. To make a dent on starting year-round schooling by the 21st century, we'd better get moving.
Some school board members say they want to be sure the money is available before they approve Hidden Valley's plan. That makes sense. But they shouldn't be scared off by the projected $143,722 cost.
For one thing, that is not the cost of the year-round experiment. It is the cost of maintaining the traditional and new calendar simultaneously. In the first year of the program, sixth- and seventh-graders would have the option of attending school nine weeks, then getting off three weeks. If the school went to a year-round calendar for everyone, there might be no extra expense, as more efficient use could be made of existing facilities.
For another thing, the $143,722 estimate is hypothetical, and probably overstated. It is based on 20 percent of students in the sixth and seventh grades choosing the year-round option. It assumes that all buses will be run on regular routes, when in fact fewer may be necessary. It also assumes maximum personnel costs. The board, appropriately, has asked Hidden Valley to survey students to find out how many in fact would switch to the year-round calendar. This should help produce a more precise, and likely lower, estimate.
All of which, anyway, is largely beside the point. The board shouldn't squander Roanoke County's opportunity to pioneer year-round schooling in this region. By approving a first, small step - too small, except in comparison with total inaction elsewhere - the board would bring a little closer the day when all schools in the county and the region have updated their calendars.
If cost is the only consideration, why not cut the school year in half, or cut it out altogether? That would be cheaper - in the short run.
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