BY ALEX CANTATORE
Staff Reporter
Multi-track year-round education, once heralded as a savior to Turlock’s overcrowded elementary schools, may soon be considered just another experiment whose time has passed.
On Tuesday the Turlock Unified School District Board of Trustees heard an informational presentation about the possibility of returning the three elementary schools still on MTYRE to a traditional school calendar for the 2009-2010 year.
Year-round schooling first came to Turlock in 1988 as a means to increase classroom capacity in the face of rapid residential growth. However, as a result of the recent slowdown in housing development and occupancy rates, the existing TUSD capacity is projected to be more than sufficient through the 2014-2015 school year.
Just because it may be possible to return Dennis Earl, Julien, and Sandra Medieros Elementary schools to a traditional calendar doesn’t mean that such a move would necessarily benefit parents, students, teachers, and the district as a whole. To investigate the repercussions of such a change, 18 TUSD staff members have been engaged in a research project for the past few months to examine the pros and cons of moving the three schools to a more traditional schedule.
In order to determine parent response, a fairly unscientific survey was conducted that found that between 52 percent and 79 percent of responding parents would prefer a switch to a traditional calendar at each school. For those who voted for a specific track, traditional was a near-universal second choice.
“And the people I talk to who do like year-round education, they like it until their oldest child graduates and enters a traditional campus,” said Ed Felt, TUSD Deputy Superintendent.
With the change, all K-12 families and faculty in TUSD schools would be on the same school calendar.
In what is potentially the largest stumbling block still facing a change to traditional calendars, the change would result in a reduction of the availability of new school construction grant monies. California law gives a 6 percent priority in grant eligibility to districts that employ MTYRE in at least 30 percent of K-6 enrollment.
However, with more than 550 seats of excess capacity projected for Turlock’s schools in 2014, the need for additional construction is not foreseen in the immediate future.
Outside of the potential difficulty in constructing new schools in the future, district benefits to a return to traditional calendars would be nearly universal.
“There is a common theme in our research; more efficiency and service can be provided when these folks work the same days all kids are in school,” Felt said.
Early financial analyses find that the District would save almost $450,000 a year through electricity, gas, transportation, and salary reductions.
More than $250,000 of those savings would come from the pockets of food service employees, bus drivers, and other employees who would no longer be needed on a year-round basis. A total of 40 employees would see their salaries reduced 15-20 percent, though the District stated a possibility that some additional hours could be found through an extended summer school session.
The move to a traditional calendar would also allow year-round students better access to specialty teachers, nurses, and psychologists, reduce paperwork, and provide the opportunity to implement intensive summer school programs to help children in need. Additionally, a traditional calendar could lead to improved attendance-and revenues-for TUSD schools.
“If every one of our students attended one more day of school, that would increase our revenue by $800,000,” Felt said. “And a lot of these kids are out because families still have a summer calendar in mind and schedule vacations.”
The revised calendar would be less disruptive to children and teachers, with the elimination of 24 Track Off/Track On days. It would also increase the total number of school days from 175 to 180 days for students at Earl, Julien, and Medieros, while retaining the same number of instructional minutes.
The TUSD Board of Trustees will review the issue again at their next regularly scheduled meeting Sept. 2, at the Turlock High School Performing Arts Building.
Other issues expected to come to the forefront as part of the discussion at that meeting include the possibility of a modified traditional calendar, with an extended winter break to accommodate students who travel for the holidays, and the contentious issue of modifying attendance areas to balance students. Brown and Crowell Elementary schools have more than 500 seats available, which could be used to handle some overflow in the current plan.
“And as soon as we start messing with (attendance areas), boy do people get upset,” Felt said.
To contact Alex Cantatore, e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.
Originally published in the Turlock Journal 8/22/2008.
Retrieved from the Turlock Journal Web site.