10/14/98
Opelika * Auburn News* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*10/14/98
Article: YRS supporters speak at BOE meeting
Greg MarkleyOpelika-Aubum News
Opponents of the alternative calendar/year round schools have been making headlines lately, but it was supporters of the change who spoke up at Tuesday's .Auburn Board of Education meeting at Auburn High School.
Dr. Richard Kunkel said his daughter attended a school 20 years ago in Las Vegas that had a year-round arrangement, and that "We were very pleased parents."
Dr. N.S. Malladi said that he attended YRS growing up India and "I believe that year round education is a good concept."'I think I will be a better teacher with rest breaks of two or three weeks before the next nine week session," said Robyn Hines. "All teachers can come back for the next nine weeks refreshed."
Cynthia Boyd said remediation may work better being done during the shorter breaks instead of just during the summer. Ms. Boyd, a teacher for 26 years, said "remediation at the time would be more beneficial to the students."
Beccie Seaman said YRS would aid the 114 or 1/5 of Auburn students who are academically at risk or marginal. She said with all the good things going on in the school system, people should not forget that a large chunk of students are struggling.
I have a real problem with that," she said. "There is a problem when you have 115 or 114 of your students at risk for failure."
Ms. Seaman added that "I've never seen anything that says it hurts students." And she said that the 5 percent higher cost for YRS that is projected may be allowable if it empowers the lower-achieving students and enriches the above average students.
Auburn High School principal Mike Self said the cur rent schedule with short one week breaks makes for some stressed educators. 'We're losing the best teachers to stress and burnout at 25 years," he said. He said that it takes maybe two weeks for the teachers in the sum mer to get relaxed after the hectic nine-month school year.
In other activity, the Auburn BOE:
Recognized seven 1999 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists, four 1999 National Achievement Scholarship Program Semi Finalists and eight 1999 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Students.
Heard Peter Jones talk about the need for landscaping at Yarbrough Elementary School to make for "a flat, useable play area." ACS superintendent Dr. Michael Martin said that he was aware of these concerns and plans to address the issue with the contractors.
Letter: Saying no to YRS closes options
After the ACS Monday town meeting on YRS started, I had to return home after two hours while the meeting was still going on. The O-A News did not report any thing that I missed. While pointing out that YRS costs more, Dr. Alice Pate repeatedly told that the solution to get same results as YRS lies in smaller classes, after school tuition etc., which perhaps cost even more than YRS.
From an analysis of the data presented, we can easily see that the percentage of at-risk ACS students is higher than the percentage of ACS students whose parents are associated with Auburn University. Therefore, to be fair, for the benefit of the total Auburn society, the superintendent and the teachers should act more in the interest of the at-risk students so these students turn out to be well-faring Auburnites, potential receivers of welfare checks. Auburn schools look better partly due the Auburn University parents' personal attention towards their kids and not because of the current calendar.
The disappointing argument put forth by the "Stop YRS" forum is against the concept of YRS which is essentially based on the positive and pro-active elements like continuing education, continual correction, total quality, active relaxation with more breaks and finally a stitch at the right time. Further, four hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Hippocrates had taught "Thy food should be thy remedy." YRS is not a remedial medicine. It is year round good food!
Let us look around beyond the shores of United States. In most countries, especially India from where U.S. gets most of its computer programmers, summer recess is about two months only along with other frequent vacations including a few preparation breaks before each set of final exams. All these continual breaks offer both students and teachers the much needed active relaxation. Yet, when I enjoyed them as a I kid over four decades ago I never knew that my school calendar would be called YRS in U.S. In fact the concept of active relaxation is built in the recently introduced block system. It puts the teacher and students at ease for a longer quality time in the classroom. Dr. Long stated that math scores have improved much after the introduction of the block system at ACS.
We are entering the new millennium of inter-dependence, a stage beyond national independence, both in academics and economy. We can no longer neglect the at-risk students. The so called responsible people cannot neglect the so called irresponsible, for the simple reason, when neglected, the irresponsible will eventually gain control in a democratic society! Hence the responsible should not take that risk! Please reconsider and vote for YRS for it represents a World View that is good for all.
Saying no to the YRS means we close our options, and even after the AU implements the semester system, ACS will be stuck with the current calendar with its second quarter still piercing into the new year. Paradoxically, what we now have is a kind of YRS without a clean cut Christmas vacation. So let us vote yes to YRS and retain our choices to design a new calendar that best suits us. It pays to be flexible. So let "Stop YRS" become a "Super YRS."
Dr. N.S. MalladiAuburn