East Valley Taking Hard Look At Year-Round Classes

School vacation in - get ready - parts of June, July, August, October, December, February, April and May may become reality for some students in East Valley schools.

East Valley School District has surveyed parents once again about a proposed year-round school program.

This time, the district is looking for serious commitment, not casual interest. The program would take kindergarten through eighth grade students, to start.

Several committees made up of parents and staff have been developing a detailed plan for the “modified calendar school,” as the district is calling it.

The program is only a proposal until the school board votes it up or down. That vote is expected in February.

Preliminary returns from the December survey show about 150 students, grades kindergarten through eighth grade, would be enrolled, if the school board proceeds with the program, said Superintendent Chuck Stocker. Another 60-70 parents asked for more information.

“Coincidentally, the first survey we did showed interest from 237. We’re back almost to that same figure,” Stocker said.

The first big piece of the program created this fall was the calendar.

The recommended calendar includes all the traditional holidays. Traditional spring break is there - only it’s a full two weeks. Summer vacation starts a week or so later than usual and is five weeks long. But there’s a week off in August and two weeks off in October, too.

Parents who worked on the calendar tried to do several things.

They wanted to end the school year close to a traditional time, so that if or when the program expands to high school, seniors could graduate at the same time as other seniors. Events like the Spokane Interstate Fair and the Junior Livestock show were important to keep free, too.

But they also wanted to avoid the long summer vacation of the traditional school year.

“As parents, it appeals to us, because of the loss of knowledge you get when you go through the summer vacation, and the month and a half it takes in review” of material learned the last spring, said Kathy Berk, a committee member.

Depending on where interested families live, Stocker said, the district may simply allocate one or two classrooms per school to the new program.

That way, everything from school counselors to libraries would already be in place.

, DataTimes