ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER THE ROANOKE TIMES
A shortfall has prompted the Roanoke County School Board to drop a plan for an optional year-round school schedule at Hidden Valley Junior High School.
Students at Hidden Valley Junior High School won't get the chance to trade their long summer vacation for shorter breaks during the next school year.
The Roanoke County School Board voted Thursday night not to implement a proposal for an optional year-round schedule at the school, citing a lack of money.
"With a $5 million shortfall in next year's budget, we just don't have the money to do it," said Thomas Leggette, a board member.
School officials said they also haven't been able to obtain grants to help pay the estimated $143,000 cost for the year-round plan.
The board did not rule out the possibility that the year-round option might be offered at Hidden Valley or other schools in the future. But that apparently will depend on improved school finances or grants.
On an unrelated financial issue, Chairman Michael Stovall said he will ask the board soon to double the tuition for nearly 700 students from nearby localities from $100 to $200, beginning next year.
Last year, the board increased the tuition for all new nonresident students from $100 to $500. But it did not raise the fee for nonresidents who were already enrolled in county schools.
Because of the schools' tight finances and the fact that the county has to buy textbooks for students from other localities, Stovall said, the board should increase the tuition to $200 for all of those who are not paying $500.
"Maybe we could use some of the money to help buy textbooks for the out-of-county students," he said.
School officials said they aren't abandoning the year-round option, even though it won't be offered at Hidden Valley next year.
Berkley Lucas, director of instructional personnel for the schools, said the county might have a better chance of obtaining grants if it doesn't have to rush its requests as it did this year.
The year-round plan would have been voluntary. The traditional schedule would still have been offered and students could have chosen either.
Lucas said 21 percent of the parents of rising sixth- and seventh-graders at Hidden Valley had opted for the year-round schedule.
Some parents didn't choose it because they have younger children in elementary schools that would have remained on the traditional schedule, he said.
"It was confusing to some parents who didn't like the idea of having one child on one schedule and another on another schedule," he said.
Lucas said school officials will look into the possibility of offering the year-round option at the elementary schools that serve Hidden Valley Junior if they pursue the proposal.
Under the plan, students would still have gone to school 180 days a year, the same as in the traditional schedule. The year-round option called for students to attend school for nine weeks and be off for three weeks. The pattern would have continued throughout the school year.
Advocates of year-round schooling say it can help improve academic achievement and attendance, reduce burnout and provide remedial help sooner for students.
But some educators question its benefits and say it can be costly and disruptive. Some school systems in Florida discontinued year-round plans recently because of parent and teacher discontent and a lack of improvement in student achievement.
Critics of the American education system contend that the 180-day school calendar is outdated and that a longer school year is needed to prepare students to compete in the global economy.
But the Hidden Valley plan wouldn't have provided a longer school year or other educational benefits, one opponent told the School Board earlier.
Supporters said, however, that a shorter summer vacation would eliminate the need for review work in the fall, thus providing more instruction time.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 linesby CNB