Many hundreds of school systems that have returned to the traditional calendar after being on a Year-Round School calendar:
These include:
Los Angeles single-track schools (In 1993, 543 out of 544 schools returned to the Traditional school year calendar after 5 years of Year-Round School)
Houston ISD, Texas (25 out of 29 schools returned to a Traditional calendar after four years on Year-Round School)
Mora, Minnesota (returned to a Traditional calendar after 17 years on Year-Round School)
Jacksonville, Florida ( returned to a Traditional calendar after 7 years of Year-Round School)
"It is assumed that the shorter breaks help students retain information - therefore less time needs to be spent on review. Actually, not only do teachers have to review at the beginning of each school year, but they must also review each time students return from a break because students forget what they learned before the break."
Kathryn L. Branch, teacher in year-round schoolJacksonville Florida Times Union, December 1, 1997
"I have found it [year-round schools] was a huge nightmare. It's not good for children. It's not good for families. It's not good for the community."
Linda Dalton, Orange County parent and committee member Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 6/2/95
"It doesn't reduce class size. Better test scores aren't guaranteed. It has disrupted family lives as well as summer vacations. Communication between staff members is nearly impossible because of conflicting schedules, and teacher burnout is on the rise."
Palm Beach County parents, of the Orange County YRS model
"It's not effective, and it's more expensive to operate. It's been proven nationwide that it doesn't improve test scores."
Dr. Alan Forshey, Newton-Conover Board of Education The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC, 11/5/95
"I haven't seen evidence that suggests this calendar itself has a significant effect on student achievement, one way or the other."
Los Angeles Board of Education President, Mark Slavkin Los Angeles Times - Valley Edition, Chatsworth, CA 1/16/96
"Year-round school has been the most devastating issue to hit Cypress-Fairbanks. We have been at civil war. There are too many breaks. Once the kids would get into a rhythm, then they'd have to stop."
Charlotte Lampe, founder of a parent group that forced the Cypress-Fairbanks district to retreat from its year-round calendar. Austin American-Statesman, Austin TX, 11/8/96
"Show us the data from school systems that have superior education going on, superior academics with high test scores and similar demographics. Having read through the research, I haven't seem any evidence for our city. Turner's research show results from California and Utah, places that are hardly synonymous with good education."
Ellen McHugh-Joyce, Parent Scottsdale Progress Tribune, Scottsdale, AZ, 1/26/97
Quotes and information from systems that have abandoned or want to abandon Year-Round School:
After operating year-round for five years, the school board put an end to year-round schools saying "the expected benefits never were realized." The board reports "test scores did not increase, it was tearing families apart, and we had teacher burn-out."
Florida Times - UnionMarion County SchoolsMarch 1993
In Albuquerque: In the most recent school board elections, angry voters rejected the year-round calendar by replacing pro-year-round school board members with candidates who promised to eliminate year-round schools.
Albuquerque Tribune
The district reports no education improvement or increased test scores. In fact, the decline in test scores in one school led to the decision to return to the traditional calendar (after 14 years on the year-round education calendar).
Jefferson County School DistrictJefferson County, Colorado1991
School administrators in Davis, Utah, regret switching four secondary schools to a year-round calendar, saying, "they were sold a bill of goods" they hate. One school principal says, "The disruption to the families is just too great. We'd like to get back to the traditional schedule as soon as possible."
Deseret NewsFebruary 1993
Rim (Oregon) approved returning to a traditional calendar. "Year round schooling is more expensive than a traditional year and the dollars are important at this time," says the school's superintendent.
Courier-NewsJune 1994
"The school board [of Marion County, Florida] recently voted to switch back to traditional calendars. The three elementary schools on year-round cost the county $750,000 more to operate and house children than it would on a traditional calendar, it was reported."
Florida Times - UnionApril 1993
"In Orange County [Florida] which has been a stronghold for the year-round education plan in Florida, parents recently voted to switch back to a traditional calendar at Dr. Phillips Elementary..."
"In May 1993, after operating year-round for five years, the Los Angeles School Board gave their single-track year-round schools the option of returning to the traditional calendar. Of the S44 schools eligible to vote, 543 abandoned the year-round calendar."
Quinn RaspberryThe Meclenburg Times
"... the Los Angeles Board of Education adopted a traditional September-to-June school calendar Monday, bowing to the wishes of thousands of parents and school staff members who voted last month to scrap the controversial year-round schedule at more than 540 campuses and centers."
Henry Chu, staff writerLos Angeles Times
"'I've have to say that the biggest failure in my term on the board is this failure of the calendar,' (Leticia) Quezada (school board president) said Monday. 'This really totally backfired. ..'"
Jeanne MarianiLos Angeles Daily NewsJune 1993
Quotes concerned with other aspects of Year-Round School
Attendance seems to drop:
"Forty-five percent (45%) of the teachers report that student absenteeism has increased."
Concerning Year-Round Education: A Final Report of an Evaluative Survey, 1992 Cache County School District, Utah
"Attendance at year-round schools was found to be only slightly lower than that at nine-month schools before adjustment was made for the effects of reduced summer enrollment. However, adjustment for this phenomenon showed substantially reduced summer attendance at year-round schools."
From dissertation submitted by Judith Susan Costa University of Nevada. Study done on Clark County, Nevada schools April 1987.
"We found no evidence that year-round education improves student achievement." In addition, a decline in attendance occurred at the year-round schools.
Kathryn Weil, testing coordinator, Albuquerque Public Schools 1992 Year-Round School study
Teacher continuing education, summer employment:
"Sixty-five percent (65%) of the teachers responded that opportunities for professional growth were worse when the year round education program is compared to the nine-month schedule."
Cache County School District, Utah
During the 17 years Mora, Minnesota, was on year-round education, no teacher completed work for an advanced degree. The shorter breaks forced teachers to take night and weekend classes, making time constraints too difficult.
James Engelmann, Superintendent Hunt Independent School District Hunt, Texas
"I work during the summer to make more money; it's the only way I can survive. It's not that I would mind trying something new but I'd have a hard time making ends meet because you can't get a second job for three weeks, go back to school and then expect to get the second job again."
Teacher, West Bay Elementary School, Panama City, Florida
Difficulty scheduling vacations:
"Sixty-six percent (66%) of the parents report that the year-round education program has made planning for family vacation more difficult." (Note - this difficulty is in spite of the fact that the District has a 'ten-day' leave policy to assist with family vacation planning)
GET INVOLVED in the STOP YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL CITIZENS' GROUP
300 N. Dean Rd. P.O. Box 5172Auburn, AL 36830-5045 Tel: (334) 821-2266