Why didn't "YEAR AROUND SCHOOL" ever take off? (middle school, uniform)

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by golfgal

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.

Agreed. That is basically what I said in an earlier post.

[fierce_flawless]

I'm not saying I have a "viable" argument here, just that I know for our family it would not work and I just don't like the idea.

My kids spend much of their summers "visting". They go to Grandma's, they sometimes travel with my Aunt and Uncle (who travel all over in their RV now that they're retired), and they see their father who lives in another city.

I know lots of kids of divorced families who fly to spend summers with the other parent and I think that would become a $$ issue if there wasn't a long summer break and might result in kids not being able to spend as much time with the other parent.

We had my partner's son in a year round school (middle school) and it was a choice we made because the school was a charter school for kids with behavioral/emotional problems. We considered the year-round factor a necessary downside that we had to put up with for him to attend a school that was, otherwise, perfect for him and his special needs. It screwed up summer plans and activities though and he was often frustrated and feeling left out when the other kids were off doing fun summer stuff while he was in school.

I could see if it were somehow optional, but I would object to it being mandatory. And yes, I agree with the poster who mentioned parents needing a break too... if you are an active, involved parent, school is not just work for the kids and teachers! When summer comes I always breathe a big sigh of relief, just to know that for a little while I don't have to worry about school activities, meetings, chaperone duties, field trip money, permission slips, monitoring homework, enforcing bedtime, trying to get everyone up and gone, heck, even having to worry about laundry and lunches! It's nice to know that we, as a family, are "off" for a bit, and the kids are free to hang out in shorts and tanks and flip flops and goof off outside and if they go to bed at 11pm the world doesn't end and it doesn't ruin the entire schedule.

Of course, my kids are older now, and the eldest can and does watch his siblings when needed so I'm coming from that perspective.

But there's my 2 cents.

[evilnewbie]

Perhaps keeping the same amount of time in school but during the summer, make it mandatory that students give back to the community from the "free" education (not exactly "free") they were given by making them do community service...

[KevK]

I would support "almost year round". Students should have July off and then more and shorter breaks the rest of the year. Actually the summers are much shorter than they used to be anyway. We used to get out on Friday before Memorial Day and not see school again until the Tuesday after Labour Day. Now school runs until the week after Memorial Day and takes back up mid August.

[5kingsinvegas]

There are numerous elementary schools here in Las Vegas that follow a year round track schedule and more are added each year. It really helps manage class size as our contract mandates class size of no more than 19 students from K-3. I also think that it helps keep kids and teachers fresh.

[MMTeacher]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

Here is an example of a modified school year calendar.

Fairfax County Public Schools - 2008-09 Modified Elementary School Year Calendar

Thanks for the link. I looked at it but it looked a bit confusing. It seems like the time off was about 1 week. Is that right?
I like the sound of the 45/15 model. 2 weeks off at a time are nice.

[MMTeacher]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

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.

Thanks-
It still amazes me how many people think we just work a few months, have the summer off and get paid during the summer. If that were so, we wouldn't be complaining.

I worked all year, barely used any sick days because it's more work than actually being there (prep time and sub lesson plans), had 10% of my pay taken for the summer and am now working a 6 week summer program.

The pay isn't horrible but could be better. Especially when you compare it with other professions who go to school for the same amount of time. I'm still paying for college- 5 years later.

I wish I could be at the beach and receive paychecks for doing nothing! What an idea! haha
Maybe it was a typo or I didn't read it the way it was intended

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by KevK

I would support "almost year round". Students should have July off and then more and shorter breaks the rest of the year. Actually the summers are much shorter than they used to be anyway. We used to get out on Friday before Memorial Day and not see school again until the Tuesday after Labour Day. Now school runs until the week after Memorial Day and takes back up mid August.

This is pretty much what year round school is. It doesn't mean that they are always in school, just take more of their summer breaks and put them through out the school year. Usually it is set up going 45 days with 10-15 days off. Kids would have a longish break every couple months vs having a full 3 months off in the summer. Depending on how the schedule works out they could have most of July off.

[tamitrail]

The poll does not include an important choice and what some posters have said here. In some parts of the country, schools have no air conditioning so it would not be practical to have school in the summer. I know when there are very warm days in the spring, it is highly uncomfortable for the kids to be sitting in the classroom.

My vote would be: No year round school because it is not practical.

[tuebor]

I'd like to see 3-semester year-round schools for grades 9-12, allowing average kids to get their HS diploma (8 semesters) in 3 calendar years instead of 4, and kids with problems to repeat a few courses or take a semester off and still finish before their 19th birthday. Of course there are pros and cons to a system in which most kids would finish high school at 17 instead of 18, but I think the benefits would far outweigh the drawbacks.

For lower grades, I might support somewhat longer school years, but would still prefer to keep summers off. I'm not completely opposed to the idea of year-round schools at this level, though, and would keep an open mind if people in my community wanted to experiment with it.