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Schools considering the multi-track-year-round education program to relieve
overcrowding are seeing the problems with students on different school
schedules: (Multi-track) drastically impacts student government and other
student activities. The numbers and kinds of courses offered would be sharply
reduced while operating expenses would drastically increase. Forecasts predict
it would only work for three years. Then enrollment numbers would force another
change. (White Mountain Independent-Navajo Edition, Show Low, AZ, 10/18/96)
"It (year round schooling) will be disruptive. It will be disruptive not only to the
students, but to the community as well." Dennis Dunton, Superintendent,
Kaneland Schools (Kane County Chronicle, Maple Park, IL, 1/14/97)
"Even now, after four years as a year-round school, we have children who
don't come to school in summer even though they're on the summer track…"
Milicent Russell, assistant principal at Van Vlissingen School
(Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 7/9/95)
"Education is not just about sitting in a classroom. Education is about life."
Jessica Kratz, Senior, Staten Island Technical High School
(Staten Island Advance, Staten Island, NY, 11/3/96)
"Kids should be out of school in the summer because it's better for them,
better for their families, and better in the long run for all of us. These folks
need to check what happens to students' memories in the one week,
between Christmas and the New Year. Kids forget things every time
school's out. I'm a teacher. I've devoted a good part of my working life to
academic matters. But I believe there's more to life than learning, and
there's more to learning than school." Peter N. Berger, middle school
teacher in Weathersfield, VT. (The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, 7/10/96)
"Summertime offers our youngsters an extended time to experience life in
such a way that they will never again be afforded. If we are going to do
anything with respect to school scheduling, we should extend the summer
vacation to Labor Day." Guy L. Austin, Executive Editor, Elizabethton Star
(Elizabethton Star, Elizabethton, TN, 6/24/98)
"I have mixed feelings about year-round school. Kids do a lot of maturing
while they're working in the summer that they don't get in schools. Formal
education has its place, but giving kids an opportunity to go out and make
some money and gain different experiences--that learning is as valuable
as anything we teach them in the classroom." Bob Stevens, Principal--
York high school (Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, NH, 8/3/98)
Many advocates of YRE promote the idea that the many scheduled breaks
reduce burnout. A student in Virginia disagrees: "It's like there would be
no beginning and no end to the school year."
(The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, 12/14/96)
Year round schooling can have its drawbacks. One person recounted
taking courses throughout the year during high school. Combining that
with work, "I was burned out by the time I got to college," she said. "I saw
it happen with people taking graduate school courses in summer, and they
ended up being secretaries." Former year-round student from New
Hampshire (The Record-Enterprise, Bristol, NH, 5/1/96)
"Year-round school has been the most devastating issue to hit Cypress-
Fairbanks. We have been at civil war. There are too many breaks. Once
the kids would get into a rhythm, then they'd have to stop." Charlotte Lampe,
founder of a parent group that forced the Cypress-Fairbanks district to retreat
from its year-round expansion. (Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, 11/8/96)
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