By Erin Meyer, Daily Reporter

emeyer@greenfieldreporter.com

  CHARLOTTESVILLE - Eastern Hancock Superintendent Randy Harris is championing an unlikely though significant change to the 2010-11 school schedule.

   Harris made the case for year-round school as the best option for education during a recent school board meeting. 

   "Our school calendar was really not approved a year ago," Harris said. "It was approved in the 1800s." 

   The model, Harris said, reflects a bygone era, and times have changed over the last century. By tracing the current calendar back to its inception, he found the root of the problem. 

   "When we were a very rural country, all of the (members) of the household were needed in the field and to help care for livestock," Harris said. 

   Society has changed, but for the most part, school schedules remain the same.

   "Don't you think the calendar ought to be looked at?" Harris asked.

   School boards vote to establish their districts' calendars every year. 

   With few exceptions, school boards across the state make decisions about whether to start class before or after Labor Day and determine how many days Christmas break will be. But rarely do they vote to overhaul the system entirely.

   Two of calendars drafted by Harris for 2010-11 are almost identical, with a few variations in vacation days. The third is a year-round schedule.

   Eastern Hancock parents will receive an e-mail survey regarding the three calendar options.

   "I'm just throwing it out there to see what parents do think," said Harris, adding that he has no preconceived notions about how people will respond.

   Teachers are also offering feedback through working groups, and the school board is expected to select the final calendar at an upcoming meeting.

   Typically, the year-round school calendars reflect 180 school days, just like the traditional nine months on, three months off schedule.

   The big difference is the days are arranged with short breaks interspersed throughout the year.

   Different groups of students are on break at different times.

   Even for a predominately agricultural community like Eastern Hancock, the traditional school calendar doesn't make sense, Harris said.

   "I've talked to our ag people," he said. "The guess from them is less than 2 percent of our graduates pursue careers in farming."

   That figure does not include students who go on to work in the agricultural sciences or sales. 

   As a vocal advocate for year-round school, Harris is in the minority.

   Mt. Vernon Superintendent Bill Riggs said he's opposed to year-round school.

   "I think there is some merit," Riggs said. "But there are also a lot of detractors." 

   He observed how summer programs sponsored by groups such as the YMCA and church groups would see enrollment drop if children attended school in the summer. 

  "They really count on that time to have the kids available and not conflict with school," said Riggs, adding that the one big selling point of year-round school is the opportunity it offers to increase class time beyond 180 days.

   "I'm in favor of a year-round program if it means additional school days," he said.

   Harris also acknowledges the drawbacks.

   "Is it fair to a family?" he asked. "It would be extremely difficult for families to take vacations and things of that nature." 

   Eastern Hancock would also have trouble going it alone.

   "If we lived in a vacuum, and all we had to do was worry about the students in our district, we could go to a year-round calendar," Harris said.

   But the fact of the matter is EH students with special needs attend class at Greenfield-Central, while others take vocational courses at New Castle Chrysler High School.

   Harris acknowledges that transitioning to year-round school would pose a whole new set of challenges. But he maintains, education would benefit. 

   "I do not believe the calendar we have is best for kids," Harris said. 

   The three-month summer break is ample opportunity for students to forget what they learned. 

   "That time period results in students forgetting," Harris said. "Instead of being able to push forward, we have to go back and review."

   The students most likely to lose are those who come from families on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, Harris said.

   Should school funding ever begin to increase, the interspersed breaks would also allow for more timely enrichment and remediation classes, Harris said.

   He also conceded that year-round school is a lofty goal in the near term. The idea, he said, is to begin to challenge the status quo.

   "In my perfect world for kids, we would have year-round school," Harris said.