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- Summary of News Articles: Dropped Year Round Calendars
Two year-round schools switched to traditional calendars and the Dixon Unified School District added
an extra week to winter break, said Superintendent Wally Holbrook. The board made the calendar
changes in June. (Audrey Wong -- Daily Republic, Fairfield-Suisun City, California -- 8/12/2003)
The year-round program at H.T. Burt Elementary School has been eliminated. The end of the year-round
program means that the school will revert to the regular district wide calendar. (County Line Reminder,
Clarkston, MI. 4/13/97)
The Caldwell County Board of Education decided to end the four-year dual calendar pilot program and
go back to a traditional school calendar. (Daily Record, Hickory, NC, 1/29/97)
The Myrtle Beach Board of Education will support the decision of the curriculum committee and the
Myrtle Beach Advisory Board of Trustees to revert to a traditional calendar. (Sun News, Myrtle Beach,
NC, 2/10/97)
Jefferson County School tried year-round school and dropped it because it didn't work for them.
(Garden City Telegram, Garden City, KS, 1/31/97)
After one year as a year-round school, Byrkit High likely will return to a traditional calendar in August.
(South Bend Tribune, South Bend, IN, 7/2/96)
Members of the Asheboro City Board of Education have voted to eliminate the year-round program at
North Asheboro Middle School. (Randolph Guide, Asheboro, NC, 3/20/96)
Seminole County's School Board voted to dump the year-round calendar in most of the 39 schools that
had been trying it. (The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL, 10/31/95)
The Orange County school board has voted to eliminate its single-track, year-round school calendar
after seven years of year-round schooling. (Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee, FL, 8/28/95)
The year-round calendar experiment ended for the Osceola County School District after four years.
(Osceola News-Gazette, Kissimmee, FL, 6/15/95)
The Board of Education-responding to what was a concern by some options committee members
that the issue would resurface-cemented the book shut on year-round education at Flemington-Raritan.
It recognized the work of the Year-Round Education Committee.
(The Courier-News, Bridgewater, NJ, 5/21/95)
The year-round programs, which never moved beyond a pilot basis at MacArthur and Homer Drive
Elementary in the Beaumont School District, will end in August. (Enterprise, Beaumont TX, 6/27/95)
The Osceola County School Board voted 3-2 to have all of their 24 public schools on a traditional
school calendar. That move will end the county's four year-old experiment with YRE.
(Osceola Sentinel, 3/7/95)
As the school year comes to an end, students in Yuma Elementary School District 1 will not only
say goodbye to classmates and teachers, but to the year-round calendar. The district is going back
to a modified calendar at all of its schools to align itself with Yuma Union High School District's
calendar. Officials call the new calendar modified instead of traditional because students have a
week off in the fall that the high school district does not have on its calendar.
(Yuma Daily Sun, Yuma, AZ, 6/10/98)
Seven years after beginning its year-round school experiment, the Duval County School Board has
decided to give summers back to all students. It will be the first time since 1991 that all 150 public
schools in Jacksonville will open and close at the same time.
(News-Journal, Daytona Beach, FL, 3/19/98)
During the past five years, 20 public schools in Jacksonville switched to modified calendars.
Florida Times-Union reported that all but 10 have switched back and those remaining plan to
ask the school board to return them to the traditional calendar.
(Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL, 11/18/97)
The Yuma Elementary School District 1 plans to drop its year-round calendar in favor of a schedule
that would give students a summer break of eight or more weeks. (Yuma Daily Sun, Yuma, AZ, 7/31/97)
The Aurora school board has decided to eliminate year-round classes at Columbia Middle and
Yale Elementary schools. (Rocky Mountain, Denver, CO, 9/18/97)
The district scrapped the (year-round) system earlier this year because it became increasingly difficult
to manage. (Dave Brooks, Register Pajaronian, 8/27, 2003)
A plan that would return all county schools to a traditional calendar for the first time in eight years was
accepted by the Orange County School Board. The year-round setup has been under constant attack
from parents and educators because of its confusing schedules and the difficulties it created for
parents with one child in a year-round school and one in a traditional school.
(Orlando-Sentinel, Fort Lauerdale, Fl, 1/23/97)
Saying the year-round program at Hall Fletcher isn't worth the trouble, the School Board voted
unanimously to officially scrap the program and return the school permanently to a traditional nine-
month calendar. (Citizen Times, Asheville, NC, 12/9/97)
Parents of children at Black Mountain Primary School received a letter announcing year-round school
will not be offered next year. The four-year pilot program was canceled at the school after a survey
showed there was not enough interest in the year-round program to continue.
(News, Black Mountain, NC, 3/27/97)
Lackluster enrollment at Codington Elementary School set to open this fall spurred a call for dropping
the school's planned year-round program. (Star News, Wilmington, NC, 1/7/97)
Allen Jay Elementary School officials are calling it quits on the year-round school program because
of lack of interest. (Enterprise, High Point, NC, 5/1/96)
Myrtle Beach Middle School lost its year-round school calendar after two years of offering parents
and students a choice between year-round and traditional schedules. The decision of the Horry
County Board of Education was based on low sing-up rates. (Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC, 2/20/96)
College Station school trustees ended year-round education for Rock Prairie Elementary School in
a 5-1 vote Monday due to an insufficient number of participating students.
(Bryan-College Station Eagle, Bryan, TX, 4/16/96)
The Huron Valley School District will stop offering its year-round schools program to special education
students because too few are willing to participate. (Commerce Spinal Column, Commerce, MI, 11/8/95)
The Conroe School board voted unanimously to abolish the district's year-round education program
because of the minimum number of current year-round students was not met.
(Conroe Courier, Conroe, TX, 12/13/95)
The year Round Education (YRE) pilot program at Dr. E.R. Richter Elementary was canceled for the
1995-96 school year on a 4-3 vote of the school board. What killed the program was a combination
of financial considerations and low student numbers. (Liberty Gazette, Liberty, TX, 9/27/95)
Because of steep reductions in federal funding and an apparent lack of enthusiasm for its year-round
class schedule, Cameron Elementary School will return to a traditional calendar.
(Odessa American, Odessa, TX, 6/21/95)
Saying that most students aren't interested in going to school year-round, Chowan Middle School
officials have decided to discontinue the school's Optional Year-Round Educational program for the
1998-99 school year. (Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, NC, 5/8/98)
The Volusia County School Board abandoned its trial of year-round schools without fanfare
Tuesday as it adopted one calendar for all schools starting in August. Superintendent Joan
Kowal's recommendation to drop the program came at the same time Southeast Volusia parents
were signing petitions asking for a return to a traditional calendar.
(The News-Journal, Dayton Beach, FL, 2/14/96)
At a time when many school districts around the state are considering alternative calendars and
year-round schools, the Floyd County School district is moving back toward the traditional calendar.
Superintendent Dr. John Balantine said he sent ballots to school employees asking them which
calendar they preferred. The overwhelming majority&emdash;741 to 260&emdash;indicated they preferred a
traditional calendar. (The Floyd County Times, Prestonsburg, KY, 5/17/96)
By synchronizing school calendars, the district also doesn't have to hire staff for extended periods
and can cut miles on bus routes, Holbrook said. (Audrey Wong, Daily Republic, Fairfield-Suisun
City, California, 8/12/2003)
Plans are underway to end the year-round program at Mary Washington Howe Elementary School
and use the facility to house a pre-kindergarten program. Tax-payer dollars should not be wasted to
open new year-round schools when Howe elementary is under capacity. The community should be
outraged about the abuse of its tax dollars and the discrimination taking place in the schools of
New Hanover County. (Journal, Wilmington, NC, 12/19/97)
Cache County's YRS program was discontinued this summer, which may disqualify them for state
building funds. The district must certify to the state Board of Education that it has a building- use
program that includes YRS or double sessions. (Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 9/30/94)
But the district had to make the change (to a traditional school calendar) to save money, he said.
(Audrey Wong, Daily Republic, 8/12/2003)
Having all students attend school at the same time can be an advantage when it comes to receiving
district services, Robertson said. (Audrey Wong, Daily Republic, 8/12/2003)
A Seminole County committee found that multi-track schools, where students are on staggered
schedules, fared worse than traditional and single-track schools in a comparison of test scores.
But that doesn't account for all variables. (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, Fl, 10/18/95)
Superintendent John Kowal called for an end to multi-track year-round school in Volusia County.
Findings indicate teachers had mixed emotions on whether or not the calendar increased student
motivation. The results also show teachers were "negative" about student discipline and staff
educational opportunities. The results show more parents found their children learned more on
the traditional calendar than they did last year on the year-round schedule. Statistics also show
the majority of students do not think they learned more on the year-round calendar.
(New Smyrna Beach Observer, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 11/14/95)
Three years after the school district approved the operation of the first year-round program in the
state, Stainton Elementary in Laurel, district officials are ending the program because test scores
do not justify the dollars spent to keep the school open.
(Hattiesburg American,,Hattiesburg, MS, 6/25/95
Board members say they've closed the Trenton year-round school because it wasn't working the
way it should. Preliminary findings from the school administration showed student test scores
weren't as high as anticipated. (Times, Trenton, NJ, 5/6/98)
With the new system (a traditional calendar) all staff members can attend development programs and
not miss out because of conflicts. (Audrey Wong, Daily Republic, Fairfield-Suisun City, California, 8/12/2003)
School Board members in Orange County, Florida's largest year-round school district, voted to scrap
the year-round calendar in 40 of its schools and work on alternatives to the multi-track calendar used
at 24 others for overcrowding reasons. (The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL, 10/31/95)