3/21/98

The Auburn Bulletin
3/21/98

Article: Alternative calendar divvies up summer vacation

By DAVID LAZENBY Auburn Bulletin

Although Auburn City Schools officials are considering the merits of year-round school, some members of the ACS Extended Year Exploration Committee gave reasons for not moving away from the traditional school calendar during a recently televised presentation.

Superintendent Mick Martin said this kind of conflict is exactly what school administrators wanted from the panel discussion on year round school televised Thursday on Channel 5.

"We want to see all the cards on the table - both the good and the bad," Martin said about the proposal to rearrange the system's 176 school days.

The good news about year round school reported during the show included evidence that rearranging vacation days so the summer break isn't so long helps some students, especially at-risk children, in retaining knowledge and skills from grade to grade.

The bad news is reported evidence showing that overall, mast students at schools with year-round calendars have not performed better on standardized tests.

One critic on the commit tee added that having classes during the summer could increase utility costs.

"It is clear we could be paying more with little or no guarantee that we are achieving our goals," said Karen Parker, who represented parental concerns during the panel discus 8i0n.

Martin said he's not sure if utility costs would go up with an extended year calendar, especially since many schools operate programs such as sum mer school during the hot months.

Parker also said breaking up summer might give students "more opportunities to forget" what they've learned in school, according to research on student memorization.

Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Freeman, the exploration committee's chairman, said another academic advantage of a year-round school calendar is that it would allow students who need remedial education to get assistance in a more timely manner.

She said this would be especially beneficial for subjects like math in which certain concepts must be grasped before further learning can take place.

However, Parker questioned whether the reduced timespan for doing remedial work if ACS goes to an extended year would benefit students who have fallen behind in studies.

"Will (students and teachers be able to) mesh in such a short time?" she asked.

Freeman said she thinks the traditional school calendar, created to revolve around the summer so farmers' children would be available to work in the fields, is outdated.

"We're no longer a farming society," she said.

Freeman said her 45-member committee has been charged with researching extended year schools, giving information on this subject to the public and gathering input from the community before making a recommendation to Martin, who would in turn, make a recommendation to the Board of Education on whether to adopt a new school calendar.

Martin said two plans for a year-round school will be considered; one in which students would attend four nine-week periods that would be separated by three week breaks and one in which students would attend three 12-week periods separated by four-week breaks.

Cathy Long, assistant principal of Auburn High School, said these proposals would work well with the block schedule that AHS adopted last year.

"It seems that year-round school would fit beautifully with our block schedule," Long said. She said one reason for this is it would give teachers who have students coming and going into their classes each quarter "time between quarters to get closure."

Addressing another concern, the educational opportunities for teachers that the summer break provides, Long said local colleges indicated an interest in working with a year round schedule.

Also willing and able to work with the schools is the city's recreation department.

However, Becky Richardson, Auburn Parks and Recreation program director, said problems could arise when state all-star games are held during the summer.

Similarly, Martin said this would be an issue with athletics since most schools continue to operate on the traditional calendar, despite increasing popularity of year-round schools that have increased in number from 680 to 2,000 during the last 10 years.

Martin said Friday if he had to make a suggestion to the school board today, he would recommend the adoption of year-round school based on what he knows.

However, what he doesn't know will play a big part in what he recommends - the opinions of parents.

"I'm responsible to Auburn citizens and part of that is getting their input," he said.