Year-round Schooling

Story and editorial opinion
by Don Heinzman

Rachel Richmond and Elizabeth Jacobs read during a session at the All Seasons Elementary School in Isanti.

In Cambridge and Isanti, two year-round school programs in District 911 are succeeding, while most communities in Minnesota are afraid to try them.

Some school districts in Minnesota use year-around schools as a threat, as an unwanted consequence, should school bond elections for new buildings fail.

That’s not the case in Cambridge and neighboring Isanti. Year-round education is another option for parents.

One of those parents, Mrs. David Soderman, says the program works because "year-round education is an option; it is not forced."

Cambridge-Isanti has three middle schools, two with a traditional calendar and the other, the Minnesota Center, with 144 students in the separate year-round building located just off Highway 95.

While McKenzie Gregg and Breanna Fingal read, their Jill Anderson, their teacher, listens.

In Isanti elementary, the year-round students in grades Kindergarten through grade 4 (For All Seasons Elementary) learn in the same building with the regularly scheduled students. (Year-round schools start classes Aug. 1, and have 9 weeks on and three weeks off throughout the year, including five weeks vacation from the last week of June and all of July.)

The Minnesota Center grew from the need for space, a traditional justification for year-round schools, but the elementary program evolved from parental desires and a state grant. Jill Anderson, a teacher at For All Seasons Elementary, said, "Space was not the reason. We went into it because of the educational benefit, the shorter breaks, more retention by students and as an option for parents."

The year-round program is so popular with parents of children in it, they are asking for year-round education in the high school.

Ken Runberg, in his third year as superintendent, and the school board support year-round education,as long as it is an option. "What I see is an expansion of this option," said Runberg, who is meeting with staff to see if the program should be expanded.

What a contrast this is to the rest of the state where only 27 year-round schools are operating. "It is hard for people to make the change," said Bill Schrankler, who is past president of the Upper Midwest Association for Year-Around Education. Schrankler said the data shows that students in year-round programs retain more and have to review less because of the shorter vacation breaks.

Supt. Runberg and the rest of his staff are reluctant to say the year-around program is better than the traditional one where youngsters have three months of summer vacation.

Over and over staff say they spend less time reviewing subjects, because of the shorter vacation breaks.
Anderson, a teacher of fourth graders at the For All Seasons school in Isanti, says she spends less time reviewing and gets through more material. "It has to have something to do with the calendar," she said.
Kathy Belsheim, who teaches math and reading at the Minnesota Center, agrees. "The excitement when those kids come back is just phenomenal. They haven’t lost any learning and everyone comes back refreshed because they’ve had three weeks off."

Gary Hawkins, a teacher of math and science at the Minnesota Center, said when students come back from the three-week breaks, "it’s like they’ve come back from the weekend. They are basically ready to go where we left off; there’s very little review." Not all, but most students who are off three months need at least two weeks of review, Hawkins said.

Does that mean the kids in year-around schools are getting a better education?
No one wants to go near that answer.

Supt. Runberg says students at the Minnesota Center test a little better in some subjects than regularly scheduled middle school students.

Staff will say that students in the year-round program are getting as good an education as those in traditional schools.

Not all of the success at the Minnesota Center is due to the calendar.

Year-round school has educational advantages

by Don Heinzman

Year-round school programs slowly are getting a foothold in Minnesota.

This misunderstood modified school calendar has some educational advantages for all students. Most communities and many teachers either oppose it or are afraid to try year-round education.

In Minnesota there are 27 year-round educational programs. They are succeeding wherever they’ve been started.

Throughout the country, 2 million youngsters are attending year-round schools, mainly in California, Texas, Florida and Kentucky.

Year-round education should be considered by more school districts because it is another choice for parents and could be a space-saver for districts squeezed for space.

Most school boards shy away from it, because it is controversial and little understood by parents. Communities would rather build more schools than take a chance on a year-round program, even though the multi-track program could reduce the number of buildings by one-fourth.

In the Cambridge-Isanti School district, year-round school programs for grades Kindergarten through nine are succeeding so well that parents there are asking for a senior high year-round school option.

The Cambridge elementary and middle year-round schools operate side by side with little controversy, due in part to strong school board, administrative and staff support.

The middle school, called the Minnesota Center, grew out of a need for space. Today 144 students in grades five through nine attend the year-round program, easing the need for space in the district’s other two middle schools.

The elementary year-round school, however, evolved from a grant and parental desires. It is housed in the same building with the regular elementary program in Isanti.

Parents are enthused about the program because it is another choice for them. No child is forced to attend the year-round school programs.

Students start school Aug. 1, and have nine-week sessions and three-week vacation breaks, as well as five weeks off in the summer.

When the students return for class, they spend little time reviewing subject matter and are ready for new material. The different break times give parents an opportunity to go on vacation other than during the summer.

The year-round school is particularly attractive for students who have special needs or who are gifted.

As long as year-round education is being offered as an option for parents in Cambridge and Isanti, it continues to be supported.

The traditional school calendar was devised mainly to serve the needs of farmers who needed the help of their youngsters during the summer. The need for three months off in the summer is diminishing.

Data is showing that students do as well and sometimes better with shorter summer vacations and refreshing breaks during the year.

Year-round education, the type modeled by District 911, deserves another look, particularly by districts with crowded elementary schools and those wanting to offer parents another option.

Because of the schedule, students at the Center learn mathematics and reading every day, compared to Cambridge Middle School where students study math five of every six days.

Since students at All Seasons elementary school are in their second year, comparative data is not available. Class sizes the curriculum and special services are the same for all students.

There is one key difference,called multi-grade grouping, where students from the grades, learn the same material depending on the level at which they are assessed.

Teacher Jill Anderson checks the work of students during a reading class.

During the three-week breaks, called intercessions, students can get special help. Community Education also provides popular field trips for which families pay fees.

Judging from parental reaction, the year-round program is a success. Ninety percent of the students stay at the Minnesota Center. First priority goes to families with children in the program. "If they have children in the program, they automatically have a place in our program," said Belsheim.

Parents have been amazingly supportive. Kathleen Mortenson, assistant principal at the Minnesota Center, said, "I have been blown away by the amount of parent support, their involvement, the volunteers as well as the businesses who support and make huge donations. That in my experience hasn’t happened at the other schools and other districts. "Last summer, one parent brought in 15 grocery sacks full of sweet corn for the teachers. "That ‘s not something that usually happens."

David Soderman, manager of the County Market Store in Cambridge, and his wife Debra have had three children in the optional calendar program: Cassandra who is in 10th grade, Jordan in seventh and Gabriel in fourth. The Soderman’s strongly favor the program and would like to see it continued through high school.

They like the smaller setting, the smaller class sizes and variety in the Minnesota Center and School for All Seasons. Gabriel chose to return to the regular elementary program in Cambridge, because he didn’t like the bus rides from his home in Cambridge to the All Seasons School in Isanti. Otherwise, he would have stayed.

Students in Jill Anderson’s class at All Seasons Year-Round school read, after just returning from their lunch.

Mrs. Soderman likes the vacation choices other than just the summer. She also likes the quality time she gets to spend with her children at home during the three-week breaks when most of the other kids are in school. Anderson said day care for the year-round students hasn’t been a problem, because some day cares prefer shorter periods.

Teachers who volunteered to teach in the optional calendar program have a renewed vigor.

Anderson said these are some of her best years of teaching in her 26-year career. "I am doing a better job of meeting needs. The calendar helps."

Belsheim says the year-round program is the most effective way of teaching concepts. At the end of each nine weeks, the learning has taken place, you send home the report cards and when you come back you are ready to start a whole new unit of learning.

Students like the school. When asked if they preferred the year-round to the regular program 34 all said yes.

Student Joel Cram at the Minnesota Center said he likes the shorter breaks because he spends less time reviewing.

With such good feedback and strong staff support, some staff would like to see a community center, occupied by Community Education and a K-12 year-round school in one wing.

Anderson said, "Future options have to bubble up from the people. This is their system."

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DON HEINZMAN

HometownSource.com