Committee to review year-round school plan
Helen Dealba’s son is a bad fit for Petersen Elementary School’s year-round schedule.
“He doesn’t like going to school when it’s this hot,” Dealba said Friday of her kindergarten-age son, Orlando. “It’s too hot. It’s not fair for him.”
Petersen is one of 85 elementary schools in the Clark County School District that operates on a year-round calendar. Year-round schools came under scrutiny in April and May when parents from several Henderson elementary schools protested against converting their campuses from nine-month schedules to year-round schedules because of increased enrollment.
The list of complaints that Henderson parents had against year-round schools was long. They objected to the regulation that triggers a year-round calendar at crowded school campuses. They complained about having children in the same families put on different school schedules. They questioned the wisdom of having students attend classes during the summer, with some saying that academic performance would suffer at year-round schools.
All of those concerns voiced by parents are going to be studied by a committee composed of community members that is now being formed, said Superintendent Walt Rulffes. District officials are now accepting applications for committee membership, which are available at www.ccsd.net.
Once established, the group will examine issues surrounding year-round schools. The committee is expected to meet from September to November.
“We want to have optimum community input to assure we have credibility in our policy,” Rulffes said.
Rulffes added that the committee’s work also is important because the district needs reliable information on the topic. In November 2008, the district will seek voter support for a new bond measure to fund school construction. The district will complete its current bond program next year.
Clark County is one of the fastest growing school systems in the nation, ranking as the fifth-largest district with more than 303,000 students. Year-round elementary schools exist because they expand the district’s capacity to take in new students and can generally accommodate about 200 students more than nine-month schools.
Six parents will sit on the proposed committee, which also will include three community representatives, two School Board members and two school representatives. Rulffes said a facilitator, who will be paid about $25,000, will oversee the committee.
Joyce Haldeman, the district’s executive director of community and government relations, said the intent of the committee is to represent a broad spectrum of opinions. Haldeman said this is the district’s first comprehensive study of the issue since 1990.
“I want people to understand that this is not a committee with a predetermined outcome,” Haldeman said.
The district originally identified 11 elementary schools that needed to move to year-round calendars this upcoming school year. But after parents protested, six elementary schools were taken off that list, including four from Henderson.
Suzanne Buck, Parent Teacher Association president at Gibson Elementary School, helped reverse the district’s decision to convert Gibson to a year-round campus. Buck said she is interested in joining the committee. There needs to be such an organization to ensure that the district is using its own regulation effectively, Buck said.
“I don’t want other schools to go through what we went through in terms of being so up in the air,” Buck said.
Not all parents object to year-round schools. Norma Riveria, who has a third-grade daughter at Petersen, said children at year-round schools have an academic edge.
“I like year-round schools,” Riveria said. “It keeps them in school and learning. They’ll be ahead of other kids who are not in school.”
