As the year winds down ...
Each year, teachers look forward to the end of the school year, as do the students. Summer is a great time for kids and teachers, alike, but one thing that I am always frustrated about is the amount of downtime/lack of learning time for students. Sure, there are opportunities for children to learn or continue learning (tutors, summer school, etc.); however, most of the time, this is difficult to make happen. I have researched "year round schooling" and found proponents and opponents. Here are some opponents' financial concerns:
Financial
Less or no down time for building maintenance or construction.
Higher cost due to fewer windows of opportunity for these tasks.
Extra money may be needed for air conditioning to handle the summer heat.
It seems that because we do what's right for kids, we might want to consider seriously thinking about a change in the school calendar. Just a thought.
2 comments:
You are right--we do need time to do maintenance on our buildings. I wonder if this could be addressed by having maintenance occur after the students are out of the building? Like between the hours of 4 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. I doubt those who are in the current positions would welcome such a change for themselves, however --you never know. If a school district's main purpose is to provide the best educational opportunities for kids--meaning not only quality programs, but also TIME for learning the material, then maybe we do need to consider alternatives we have never thought of before?
100% agree with you!!!
ARB
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