Dropping Year-Round Schedules

http://elevennews.byu.edu/?p=4846

Tracey Kay's daughter walks to school each day to Woodrow Wilson Elementary. This school is one of 14 elementary schools that are deciding between keeping year-round schedules or transitioning them into traditional ones. Kay says she's in favor of the change because it would be easier to pick her daughter up each day.

"I live just across the street and I'm home all the time any way so I can just come and get her...instead of the bus," said Kay.

Since the switch to year-round schedules in the late 1980s, Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley said they've saved money from not needing to build additional school buildings.

"We did saved upwards of a hundred thirty to a hundred eighty million dollars in that thirty year period," said Horsley.

Although the district saved millions, year-round attendance is hard to keep up because of school during the summer. Parents also have a hard time getting their kids to after school activities.

With parent's support, 10 of the 14 schools are transitioning into traditional schedules. The other four schools are working on placing a large population of students in nearby elementarys before making the switch. And just like Kay, most parents encourage the change because it will finally match up with their schedules.

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