East Valley Considering Modified School Calendar

The simple solution to automatic student memory loss during the summer? Shorter vacations.

So says a committee at East Valley School District that’s researching a modified school calendar. An alternative schedule could cut several weeks off summer vacation but add breaks during the year.

“Teachers are spending a lot of time in the fall helping children recover knowledge and skills they lost over the summer,” said EV Superintendent Chuck Stocker.

A swelling summer school program - with more than 900 students last year - is proof that parents also are concerned about the problem, Stocker said.

“We have a 200-year-old education system. We’re still letting our kids out so they can go farm in the summer,” said Jerry Stauffer, an East Valley parent who serves on the committee.

The committee studying the calendar is made up of teachers, staff, administrators and parents.

Several districts in the state, including Federal Way, Kelso and Longview, use some type of modified school calendar, Stocker said.

The modified calendar is catching on across the country, especially in districts with space problems, said Tim Wick, an East Valley school board member. The committee is researching alternative scheduling in school districts in Texas, California and North Carolina.

Schools taking the alternate route have two scheduling options. With a “single-track” calendar, all students attend the same 180 days during the year. School might start in late August and run through early July. In addition to spring break, and vacations for Thanksgiving and Christmas, there are breaks in October, February and May.

During break periods, remedial and enrichment classes are offered for interested students.

With a “multi-track” system, starting times are staggered during the year. At any time, some percentage of students is on break.

The multi-track calendar can help growing districts with space problems because students are not all in school at the same time, said John Anderson, director of the Center for Student Learning in the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office.

The Bethel School District in Spanaway, Wash., tried a modified calendar when a bond issue for new school buildings failed.

With staggered starting times, students went to school for 45 days, then were off for 15, Anderson said.

That system saves space, but it can be tough for teachers to plan a continuous curriculum, Anderson said. It can also be awkward for families if children have different schedules.

Other families, however, like their children to have different break times because it provides for private time with each child, Wick said.

The committee will research this issue until the end of the year and present its findings to the school board in January 1996.

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