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- Year-round Schools: Is It The
- Answer Or A Mere Band-Aid?
On behalf of Georgians Need Summers, we would like to thank you for
taking the time to visit our site. If you are visiting us today, then you are
concerned about the well being of our children and how we can work to
improve the education system, not only in Georgia, but across America.
We want what is best for children and we believe that adhering to the
traditional school calendar is but one step to move us in the right direction.
Georgians Need Summers is a nonprofit grass roots coalition of parents,
business leaders and responsible citizens concerned about the negative
impact the early August school start date and the year-round school
calendar have on our children, families and teachers. We are in total
opposition to year-round schools and will present well-published
findings on our site as to why alternative school calendars have been
a failed attempt to solve some of our educational woes across America.
Also, we oppose extending the school year from the current 180-day
calendar until we find solutions to regain lost instructional time,
improving on what we currently have in place.
As you review the wealth of information we have presented on this site,
we ask you not to take our word for it. Instead, come to your own conclusion,
since we have presented both sides of the argument. Other problems to
consider when looking into alternative school calendars:
1) Tax dollars are being lost or poorly spent in the county and the state.
Considerably more money is spent to air condition schools in the month
of August compared to May and the first two weeks of June. The financial
maintenance of school buildings also increases in the hottest summer
months. There is little down time to make major repairs, resulting in
higher replacement costs in the future. Transportation costs for school
buses are higher when they operate during the hottest summer months,
and they also contribute to increased emissions and worsening ozone
levels.
2) Teachers will have a difficult if not impossible time working on
continuing education requirements. Teachers will be forced to take
additional continuing education courses during the school year, which
will take more time away from their families and their students. This
will lead to higher burnout among teachers. (Burgoyne 1998, Gregory
1994, Wildman 1999)
3) Teachers will not be able to work summer jobs in the private sector,
including summer camps.
4) Teachers will not have large blocks of time to prepare for the new
school year, which is necessary when changing teaching assignments.
5) Summer vacations and activities will be greatly interrupted and
adversely affected.
6) Traditional family plans in the summers will be eliminated or
changed dramatically. Changes in summer activities may eliminate
summer visits to grandparents or family reunions; this could have a
negative effect on the traditional family in America.
7) High school students would pay the highest price because the year-
round calendar would all but eliminate volunteerism, work-study or
internship programs and summer college courses. According to the
National Association for Small Business, most employers "expand their
payroll during the summer months from May to August." An employer is more
likely to hire a high school student for a period of 12 weeks rather than for
3-6 weeks. Students who hold jobs in the summer months are more
likely to have better paying jobs after college. The lack of opportunity to
make large sums of money during the summer will affect some students'
ability to attend college and will cause financial difficulties for students
during the school year, causing many of them to have to work unnecessarily.
8) Scout Camps, Church Camps, Scholastic Camps and Athletic Camps
could not operate because the normal labor pool of teachers, college
students and high school students would not be available. There also
would be a lack of participants due to the requirement of attending school
for longer time periods in the summer.
9) Employers and employees who do not support the idea may leave
the area or may not choose to locate their business here.
10) Children from the same family may be on different schedules.
Also, students may lose friends or strain friendships because of the
different multi-track schedules.
11) Parents will experience difficulty scheduling day care at numerous,
awkward times throughout the school year. It is very difficult if not impossible
to find day care for short periods of 2-3 weeks compared to a summer
schedule. The year-round calendar creates a higher occurrence of latch-
key kids, which could lead to more drug and gang-related problems, as
well as a rise in experimentation and teen-age pregnancy. Officials who
monitor gang activity in Los Angeles, which has high gang problems, can
draw a parallel between the growth of year-round schools in California and
the growth of gangs.
12) Students transferring in and out of the District will encounter problems
when moving to or from an area with a traditional school calendar.
13) School sports programs will continue during the school year even
under a year-round school calendar. Families of students who participate
in band or school sports won't get to take the 15-day mid-year vacation
since practices and games will continue during that time.
14) Summer Baseball will be forever changed, greatly affecting all travel
teams in Cobb County.
If year-round schools were such a good idea, why did 41 percent of all YRS
schools between the years 1995 - 2000 revert back to a traditional calendar?
Why do only 0.0015 percent of private schools in America operate under the
year-round calendar? Why have some of the larger school districts in the
country abandoned the year-round calendar, including Los Angeles, CA
(23 years); Jefferson County, CO (11 years), Dade County, FL (4 years);
Marion County, FL (5 years), Romeoville, IL (8 years); Houston, TX (8 years);
Cache County, UT (4 years) and Prince William County, VA (9 years)?
Evidence supporting the efficacy of year-round schools is limited at best.
This calendar offers no benefit to students socially or academically. All
school districts should strongly consider a traditional calendar that starts
around the Labor Day weekend and that ends around the end of May.
We are very concerned about the year-round school proposal, for it goes
to the heart of our lifestyle, culture and beliefs. We believe year-round
schools will affect us negatively in Cobb County and throughout Georgia.
Thank you,
Scotti Madison
Executive Director
Georgians Need Summers
