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So true!
Plus, how about running a park such as a Six Flags or even your local mini-golf course when you can't hire teen-agers to work during the day?
Lots of tourist-type places - beaches, etc. - and summer camps are suffering from short summers and from year-round school.
This is about the silliest argument to-date. Teenagers are not affected by year round schools. There is no effective way to put a HS on a year round schedule; hence, you don't see them. Elementary and middle schools are easily adapted to the concept, and it helps considerably with overcrowding and class size, and use of a facility.
Most new schools are temperature-controlled year round. It is a gross misuse of resources to not use such expensive facilities on a year round basis. If many would conduct some real research, there would not be as much misunderstood as what is evident even just here. The year round calendar works on a 9 weeks in session/3 weeks off (45/15 days) with the year divided into tracks, for both students and staff. The breaks in July and at Christmas may be just a little longer.
As a parent and teacher, I would have much preferred the year round concept as it would have afforded me time to do things with my child throughout the year that sometimes a summer was just not conducive to doing. Schools are in session year round where I am in NC, and even just as a neighbor, I enjoy the children being out and about at different times of the year.
Granted, it can be a challenge for families with multiple children, but most districts make a conscientious effort to look at the same tracks for a family's children -- the problem generally arises from many thinking they have to have Track 1 v. Track 4, or something. There are plenty of opportunities for children to be in meaningful, and/or 'down time' activities when children are out of school. There are enrichment programs, as well as programs to help the under-achieving and/or struggling students. It is also an opportunity for educators to make additional pay by teaching such classes during their own track-out time, and to work as substitute teachers for colleagues who need to be out of the classroom for some reason, such as a family emergency or surgery, themselves.
We get so stuck in *what has always been* and/or bogged down in tradition, until we refuse to seriously consider other options. Our schools need no longer operate on a calendar dictated by agriculture, and in many areas, it is poor use of resources and economics.
Many of the buildings were not built for summer use and have poor ventilation and no air conditioning.
Even in my community, in Connecticut where a new middle school was built in 1993 there is no air conditioning. This was due to the air conditioning being cut from the building budget while in process..
The sad part is that the windows were designed for an air conditioned building and the air exchange system was downsized during construction making the addition of a cetral air conditioning system in the future cost significantly more expensive.
When the temps are in the 80s the 3rd floor rooms are in the mid to upper 90s. Obviously this is a problem for keeping kids on
It has been piloted here (central FL) in a few schools and was found to be way too expensive. It is also more difficult for parents as far as daycare is concerned because it is usually set up so that every nine weeks the kids and teachers have three weeks off or or every 12 weeks I think they have four weeks off. To me arranging for care for just a few weeks every few months would be harder. As a teacher I also didn't like the idea that someone else would be using my classroom and materials often and I wouldn't be able to get into my room to prepare for the next session each time because my room would be in use. You just cannot walk into a kindergarten classroom on the first day of classes and be ready to go. You need time to have it set up the way you want.
You are so funny--you have never been north in the summer have you . We spend pretty much every day from late May to October in the upper 80's and 90's with a spattering of 100's in July. Add the 60+% humidity and you can NOT get by without air conditioning in MN, especially in the schools with little to no air flow. Now, this year has been extremely cool and we have only had a handful of 90° days so far but it is still too warm to go without A/C in the schools. More often then not it is hotter and more humid in Minneapolis then it is in Orlando, Fl (not this year since they are having record heat and we are not but generally overall it is).
OK, my bad then. I will give you that but my point was that the air conditioning dilemma was the only arguement really worth anything anyway. For the record, I lived in Pittsburgh for four years and and I DO think that you could get away without airconditioning in the schools. Colleges and Universities have done it all along and while many of them have AC now, many of them still don't. I am sure it gets warmer than we would like but I don't think that is a valid excuse not to do what, IMO, is best for the children.
It is also more difficult for parents as far as daycare is concerned because it is usually set up so that every nine weeks the kids and teachers have three weeks off or or every 12 weeks I think they have four weeks off. ancy
Again, only an issue if you have schools on different schedules. If more schools were on the same schedule, childcare would not be an issue. Childcare providers would HAVE to adjust. It won't work if only a couple of schools try the schedules out.
I was doing some research about the topic of year around school and saw that it was being discussed for almost 30 years. The articles from a long time ago said that schools would all be year around by 1990. Well it is 2008 and while there are some year around schools and the summer break is shorter the average school year is still 9 1/2 months.
What happened to the dream of year around school and would you support it?
Not sure what happened to the dream (whose dream, the parents?), but you got to keep in mind that the only reason why kids got summer off in the first place was because of agriculture. Summertime was prime farming time and family farms needed all the help that they could get. Of course the vast majority of people these days do not farm, so yeah, why have summers off?
You might as well ask, why do we have day-light savings? Once again, thank you, farmers.
OK, my bad then. I will give you that but my point was that the air conditioning dilemma was the only arguement really worth anything anyway. For the record, I lived in Pittsburgh for four years and and I DO think that you could get away without airconditioning in the schools. Colleges and Universities have done it all along and while many of them have AC now, many of them still don't. I am sure it gets warmer than we would like but I don't think that is a valid excuse not to do what, IMO, is best for the children.
I guess you lost me, what is best for the children?? Sitting in a classroom that is 90+° is NOT productive at all. Most kids get sleeping, cranky and simply can't concentrate when it is that hot. What would be the point of having them sit in a classroom like that for 3 months? It is bad enough in the spring and fall when it is hot but at least it cools off some at night so you have some time in the morning when the classrooms are cooler. There is no way you could hold school in the summer in MN, SD, WI, etc without air conditioning. I would love year round school but there isn't that much of an advantage to having it that outweights spending millions and millions of dollars to build new buildings or retrofitting older ones with AC to have that.
Year round schools in an area not traditionally air-conditioned is not feasible. How well I remember the too warm classrooms of my youth, and that was in buildings designed for cross-ventilation, and out-fitted with transoms and ceiling fans.
Most year round schools have been implemented in areas of significant growth. The schools have little recourse but to adopt a year round schedule -- even against the wishes of some parents -- to address the needs of all of the children and the schools. New schools, here in the South, are not built without a/c, and the systems run 24/7/365 days of the year. They are designed to do so. One can well imagine the energy costs.
With the exception of climate-related issues, I have yet to hear a sound, or viable, argument against the year round calendar. The one most often cited is 'tradition.' Historically, 'tradition' has dictated any number of things that made little sense.
On a 45/15 day school schedule, the units of study are broken into logical segments, with both enrichment and remediation offered. There is far less 'reviewing' each time school is back in-session; the students are more refreshed and willing to move on, as are the teachers. Local daycare facilities offer a wide sampling of track-out activities -- it really doesn't affect them, other than the children rotate in/out on 3 week intervals as they are still providing a service (which is why the theme-park argument is silly -- same number of kids who might visit are potentially the same, just visiting at different times of the year, and as a parent, I would have been far more-inclined to carry my child to one during the cooler, less-crowded times of the year. Disney World in May was wonderful as compared to hot, and miserable, in July.). It is easier, still, for children to do things like a church-sponsored youth trip -- a ski trip in February that no longer necessitates the children missing instructional time. Schools can plan for trips to NYC, or the nation's capitol, during the track-out weeks.
Teachers obviously share classrooms, but the teacher's claiming 'ownership' of a classroom space is a little silly when you actually consider it. Each teacher generally has rolling carts, the size of large wardrobes with their own personal classrooms materials secured in them. The cabinets lock, and are stored for the faculty in a location generally within their own classroom wing, so they have access to it if need be. Everything else the teacher needs, belongs to the classroom. In the year round setting, teachers are a bit more accountable for the classroom, and the equipment and materials, because they must share.
I am sure there are some 'abusive' teachers who still do unsavory things, or who are less conscientious about a room and equipment and supplies, but accountability should be much easier with teachers assigned to a room, and one leaving is expected to have made note of the condition of things for one coming in behind them. Many of the teachers who share rooms seem to work well together, and work out viable plans for setting up the class(es) and caring for the materials and equipment.
Year round schools have not been implemented everywhere, but they are quite common in areas of significant growth, and the 'models' have done well. If, as some contend, children fare no better on such a calendar, I surmise they fare no worse.
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!
RDSLOTS-
What you said about sharing a class makes alot of sense but it is hard to do. Though the classroom doesn't belong to me, I do like to have my teacher/educational posters and decoration up. I like to know that my things that I purchase won't be touched or used by someone who may not take care of it like I would. These materials can get very expensive and I take great care of mine because I don't want to have to replace it. I'm sure this might work with someone that feels the same.
I would like this schedule if everyone was on the same schedule.
I 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 .
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. We spend pretty much every day from late May to October in the upper 80's and 90's with a spattering of 100's in July. Add the 60+% humidity and you can NOT get by without air conditioning in MN, especially in the schools with little to no air flow. Now, this year has been extremely cool and we have only had a handful of 90° days so far but it is still too warm to go without A/C in the schools. More often then not it is hotter and more humid in Minneapolis then it is in Orlando, Fl (not this year since they are having record heat and we are not but generally overall it is).
School scedule 45/15
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