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View Poll Results: Would you support YEAR AROUND SCHOOL in your Community
YES, Summers off was for a different era 26 36.62%
Maybe, if the Federal Government would pay for the longer school year 8 11.27%
NO, Summer is for fun, camps and vacations 36 50.70%
No opinion 1 1.41%
Voters: 71. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 07-06-2008, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Suburbia
8,809 posts, read 15,246,898 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tennesseenow View Post
TEACHERS
got used to 3 months off with with pay or unemployment why would they give that up
Who gets three months off with pay? Teachers I know are "off" from the 3rd week of June until the beginning of the last week of August which is about 8 weeks. If they choose to receive a check in those two months they have money held from each of their 10 months of paychecks so that the system can issue two more in the summer. They only get paid for the days they are under contract.

The 45 days in, 15 days off model isn't really "year around" school. It is more of a modified calendar system. The students still go the same amount of days and the staff works the same amount of days, so it really would be any more costly.
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Old 07-06-2008, 10:43 AM
 
Location: Suburbia
8,809 posts, read 15,246,898 times
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Here is an example of a modified school year calendar.

Fairfax County Public Schools - 2008-09 Modified Elementary School Year Calendar
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Old 07-06-2008, 11:14 AM
 
847 posts, read 3,511,375 times
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I think summers are for things like swim team and camp and family vacations, etc. But, that is the old fashioned in me, I guess. I loved my summers and can not imagine life without them.
Now, as an educator, I love the summers off and no, we do not get three months unpaid, that is CRAZY! Who thinks that?

There are too many things that are calendar dependent in a high school to really make it work. Things like AP testing, college admissions, etc. make it such that year round school does not make sense at the high school level. Plus, these kids need a break before they go off to college, can you imagine finishing high school and moving into your college dorm a week later, YUCK!
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Old 07-06-2008, 07:17 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
1,531 posts, read 1,542,041 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMTeacher View Post
redjuel-
I am a teacher and would love a schedule like you mentioned 45/15. Are you a teacher or a parent only? Do you like it? Do you think it works?
Have you ever had the traditional calendar to compare?

I really like this idea and want to know more.
Thanks!
No - I'm not a teacher - just a parent with a child in year around school. My daughter was in traditional calendar school from K-3. She's been in a year around schedule from 4-8 now so I have been involved boths ways. I do like it very much and my daughter does too. It really does seem like she retains more of the information taught being that there is not a two and a half month break, although one of the other posters says that this has not been proven. All in all, I have absolutely no complaints about it. Since year around schools are common here, child care was never an issue for me.
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Old 07-07-2008, 05:13 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,111,316 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by novanative75 View Post
I think summers are for things like swim team and camp and family vacations, etc. But, that is the old fashioned in me, I guess. I loved my summers and can not imagine life without them.
Now, as an educator, I love the summers off and no, we do not get three months unpaid, that is CRAZY! Who thinks that?

There are too many things that are calendar dependent in a high school to really make it work. Things like AP testing, college admissions, etc. make it such that year round school does not make sense at the high school level. Plus, these kids need a break before they go off to college, can you imagine finishing high school and moving into your college dorm a week later, YUCK!
I am going to assume that is a typo or do you get paid in the summer-not extending your pay through the summer but do you actually get paid for being off in the summer?
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Old 07-07-2008, 06:28 AM
 
Location: Piedmont NC
4,596 posts, read 11,420,578 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMTeacher View Post
. . . wonder how the classrooms are cleaned (janitors) thoroughly.

In the summer, our janitors work very hard by moving ALL of the furniture and things from each classroom to wax the floor. In September, we come into a very clean classroom. We so appreciate it.

I also like this schedule because of the off peak time for vacations. Right now I have the option of having the summer off- Though I always work Summer school (6 weeks). I work because I need to and because I can't go on vacation because it is just so expensive. If I want to go to Europe (where I'm from) then I have to pay $1000+ for each ticket. My mom goes there in late Sept. or Oct. for less than 1/2 of that .
The schedule you mention, off during the summers, and the janitors working hard to get the building back in shape is what I am most familiar with, too, and while I appreciated the hard work they did, I was often dismayed by some of the under-handed work of my colleagues, who would requisition furniture and materials for their own rooms. Nothing made me any madder sometimes than to come back into the building, and find my things scattered up and down the hallways.

I have also worked with Principals who would just as likely play 'musical classrooms' with us all over the summer, too, and that got o-l-d. The idea of not being 'assigned' to a room was quite attractive, and I often requested 'floating' just because I was not tied to a room itself, but just 'floated' in and out of rooms on the hall in the English Department (at the HS level, of course). My personal materials were on a rolling cart, and I had office space in a workroom area, which was nice.

The year round model appealed to me quite a bit, but by the time the concept was being 'piloted' where I lived and worked, my own child was no longer in elementary school. For a HS teacher, with a HS child, the traditional calendar was fine -- our schedules were the same.

But, as I am also certified elementary and middle school, and have taught at all levels, I really think the year round schools far outweigh any objections to the concept. You would also be in a position to earn 'extra pay for extra duties' as many of the teachers will sub for their colleagues -- especially those in their own areas. Others agree to do a week of enrichment, or remediation, depending upon their interests and skills.

I think it is a model well worth looking into for the reasons you have cited you might be interested. It is nice having breaks all throughout the year -- and it is especially nice having the extra time during Christmas, to unwind following the holiday. School breaks at Christmas and around the 4th of July tend to be just a little longer, especially on some tracks.

Check-out the schools calendars on the NC website, for Wake County Schools. They publish the traditional calendar, and each of the calendars for the four tracks. You can compare them for yourself. I think the year round calendar is more educationally sound, as well as a nice format for students and teachers, alike. In our areas, the child care centers offer many programs for children throughout the year.
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Old 07-07-2008, 07:16 AM
 
Location: Suburbia
8,809 posts, read 15,246,898 times
Reputation: 4502
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfgal View Post
I am going to assume that is a typo or do you get paid in the summer-not extending your pay through the summer but do you actually get paid for being off in the summer?
That does sound wrong. Maybe she is referring to the number? As, it should be two instead of three?
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Old 07-07-2008, 02:05 PM
 
2,638 posts, read 6,001,543 times
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We have some year-round schools. I never went to one. The regular curriculum was bad enough.

I know the one year I had summer school it was HOTTTTT in those rooms. I can only imagine having to do that every year until you got out of school. Ugh.
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Old 07-07-2008, 02:06 PM
 
Location: La Porte, TX
2 posts, read 4,842 times
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I got to participate in year-round school. It was the best! I guess you could say I enjoyed learning and I never was burned out of school. I use to think my summers were sooo long and couldn't wait to get back. I think now that the breaks helped with letting the knowledge "soak in". I don't think it would really work for jr high or high school, due to sports and other extracurricular activities.
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Old 07-07-2008, 02:43 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,111,316 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc View Post
That does sound wrong. Maybe she is referring to the number? As, it should be two instead of three?
Teachers don't get paid in the summer. They get paid for whatever their contract states 190 days or whatever the number is. They have the option of spreading that pay out over the entire year so each paycheck is less or they can get paid over the contract term and not get a paycheck over the summer. Say they make $500/week for 40 weeks. They can opt to get paid over 52 weeks but then their paycheck is only $385 each week.
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