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Date:         Tue, 21 Jul 1992 22:11:39 PST
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         ca1!mariana!KKurtz@APPLE.COM
Subject:      Re: Please explain year-round school benefits
X-To:         EDPOLYAN@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU

I have taught in a year-round school for over six years and am now
an assistant principal for a school that has just gone to the year-round
program.  The school district I taught for has been year-round for
over ten years. The program we used was a 60-20, meaning that students
and teachers go to school for three months with one month off. The
school is divided into four groups (called tracks) with one track
always being on vacationl. In otherwards, there were three classrooms
for four classes. When one class when on vacation, the one currently
on vacation moved into the room. So on, and so forth.  I have seen
other programs, such as a 45/15 schedule ( Over two months at school with
three weeks off). However, most others do not lend themselves to the
ease and "flow" of grading, etc. s the 60/20.  I believe YRE has many
benefits as well as some problems as I've explaind below. I'm sure
there are many others.

1) the students:
It is super for students as they don't get as restless going to school
for three months. The one month off is long enough for kids to become
refreshed and yet not so long as to become to horribly boring -- although
we often found students wanting to come back and help out during the
vacation month. In addition, school becomes a continous cycle with
very little time having to be spent reviewing after vacation. And,
during the grade-change (when students are promoted -- usually around
July) it provides for a very smooth transition to a new grade and
does not require the review that is typically needed in the traditional
setting.  On the negative side of things, you do have a two - three
day period at the end of each track period where kids get a bit restless
as they prepare for vacation. YRE also puts a damper on summer camping
and visiting relatives with kids in a traditional setting.

 2) the teachers
I would say that about 90 percent of the teachers I have worked with
really like YRE.  Most would prefer not to teach in the traditional
setting. As with students, the year goes so quickly that there is
hardly a restless time.  The 60/20 lends itself to three wonderful
blocks of time for planning units of study of the appropriate length
with grades put together at the end of each three month period. It
is easy to feel as if you are always on vacation, especially when
Christmas or the two week turn-around (promotion time) time falls
in the middle of your three month on-track time. It used to be, especially
in California, that having vacation months spread throughout the year
got you into some tourist areas cheaper as you could go during off-tourist
times (Disneyland in March during the week is just heaven!). However,
with more and more schools going YR, that is changing slightly. Negatively,
moving out of your room and into another is a pain in the neck. But,
one even gets used to this. I was lucky to not have to rotate a couple
of times, and actually missed it as I didn't feel as organized --
it's easy for things to get cluttered. You learn how to organize,
and how not to collect lots of junk (bad news for educational stores!)
-- however, I believe that some quality teaching can be accomplished
when we do away with some of that junk.  Being off track while other
tracks are on  also tends to be profitable for teachers who like to
substitute. I paid for many a vacation, and some fun toys, through
substituting.  It also provides the substitute pool with some more
warm bodies that are qualified! One other aspect is the constant changing
of the gradelevels at each track level. One year you may need two
first grades on a track and the next two seconds and only one first.
As a result, teachers can get a lot of experience at various gradelevels
or on various tracks (I guess this could be a positive and a negative).

 3) the administration
Here it isn't so good. Although you get to take your vacations at
various times throughout the year, it is often difficult to fully
relax because your thinking about what is going on at school. And
if you are not lucky enough to have a VP to take over, it can get
to be difficult to leave for very long and be really relaxed.  You
also have to be concerned about keeping all four tracks evenly balanced
and have to work very hard to keep combination classes down to a minimum.
YRE lends itself to combinations especially when you have to place
siblings on the same track and give parents some choice in the placement
of their children (especially advicable during the transition from
tradition to YRE). Then there is the 12 month scheduling of duties,
etc., keeping everyone somewhat cool during the hot summer months
(for those of us in the Southern areas), and trying to keep kids in
school when your not sure who is on track or who is off. One major
plus (as I'm looking forward to next month), is seeing a track go
on vacation which has some discipline problems on it!  Another positive
aspect is the ongoing staff development that is able to be done. You
can also bring back teachers with particular skills during their off-track
period (at pay of coarse!) to work with others. You can even encourage
teachers with special interests ( such as those workin towards an
administrative credential or counseling) to come back and get some
experience in their field of study.  Communication also becomes a
problem with a group of teachers, kids, and parents always off track.
You learn to develop newsletters and bulletins with information written
down.

4) the parents
Most of the parents I have talked to enjoy YRE education and believe
it to be a benefit to their kids. However, some are bothered when
they have some kids (such as elementary) in a YRE and others (such
as high school) in a traditional setting. some tracks go along with
the traditional vacations somewhat, but not perfectly. Parents also
get peturbed when they are unable to have the track of their choice
because classes are full on the track they desired.  Many parents
also don't like the number of combinations that at times develop.
Parents also often complain that finding a babysitter is harder during
the three months off at different times of the year rather then all at
once during the summer. However, even parents enjoy taking vacations
at different times of the year.

 5) the community
This is an area that I haven't done much thinking about. I know that
it causes havoc with the authorities at times not knowing who should
be at school and who should not be.  There is also a loss of student
workers during the summer months (in high school grades).  Otherwise,
I'd be interested in some input on this area.

6) Costs:
Obviously there is a greater expense since the school is being utilized
twelve months out of the year -- heating, water, cooling, etc.  It
also becomes harder to give the school a good cleaning as there is
normally only 4 weeks throughout the year (Christmas and promotion)
when no one is at school. You must also expand storage places, buy
carts to store teacher materials on while they are off-track, hire
extra custodial help to move the supplies during the track turn around
times,  give various custodians and other school personel vacation
times and make sure they have a replacement,  and lots of other little
details.  Although I feel YRE is a good thing, it is certainly not
the cheapest way to do things other then the fact that you can have
more students on a school site with 1/4 of them always on vacation.

I'd be interested in hearing some additional comments from others
and feedback. These are simply observations I have made and may not
be valid for other school districts. I'd like to hear why.

Kevin Kurtz
Assistant Principal
Lemoore Elementary School
100 Vine St.
Lemoore, CA 93245
(209) 924 -1224    (voice)
(209) 924 - 2274    (data/fax -- on when requested)
ca1!mariana!KKurtz@apple.com
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