Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — For teachers and students in the Alpine and Wasatch school districts, Friday was a day for stacking chairs, sweeping floors and signing yearbooks.
And with classes winding down for the year across the Wasatch Front, schools are gearing up for summer programs to give students an academic boost and a chance to discover new hobbies.
Most districts and charter schools in the Salt Lake Valley will have their last day of class on June 5. For the next several weeks, Title I schools will host summer classes for students who need extra help with literacy subjects, such as reading, writing and speaking.
It's a time to continue the learning process without the pressure of deadlines and large class sizes common in a normal school year, according to Alpine School District spokesman John Patten.
"The whole atmosphere of the school is relaxed and individualized, and there's just some fantastic learning going on. It's exciting to see the gains that kids will make in that month," Patten said. "It really counts for something to have them there for a half-day of school concentrating on one subject area."
Classes continue as normal in a handful of schools where students attend on a year-round schedule. But for the rest, it's enjoy the summer but keep learning in focus.
Patten said the 11 Title I schools in the district prioritize the summer program for struggling students in their own schools, though students from other schools often fill vacancies. Students typically enroll at the recommendation of a teacher.
"They're 100 percent filled," Patten said.
The program lasts 20 days, with students attending for two to three hours each day. Some schools provide breakfast and lunch.
For older students, summer programs offer a chance to get ahead on required credits to open up more elective time during the school year. Some use the summer as a time to train for sports or join cooking, film production or music camps, according to Sandy Riesgraf, spokeswoman for the Jordan School District.
A big positive for the year-round schedule is instead of having a typical summer break, the kids get five three-week breaks throughout the year. When the students go on break, the teacher goes on break as well. Both the teachers and the students like those breaks.
–Nick Hansen, principal at Butterfield Canyon Elementary
Programs make a campus a busy place throughout the summer.
"It's just a really intense time," Riesgraf said.
This year, the Jordan School District had 22 year-round elementary schools where students attend in nine-week blocks, separated by five three-week breaks. The number of year-round schools in the district has increased to facilitate a student population that has grown by 7 percent in the past six years, becoming the state's fourth-largest district.
Currently, the Davis and Jordan school districts have year-round schools. The Granite School District previously had year-round schools before the district's board voted to eliminate them to save money and because the model didn't appear to be helping lower-performing student populations as was originally predicted, according to spokesman Ben Horsley.
Schools with year-round schedules can increase their student capacity by 25 percent by having one-fourth of the student body on break at any given time, according to Riesgraf.
But thanks to Blackridge Elementary opening in Herriman last year and absorbing some of the growth, the Jordan School District will reduce its number of year-round schools to 15 next year.
The move was widely supported by parents. In a survey leading up to the change, 80 percent of parents said they supported changing their school's schedule to a traditional model, even if the school was required to change back to a year-round model two years later, according to district spokesman Steven Dunham.
"Parents either love it or hate it, and it normally depends on whether all of your children are in elementary school or if you have older kids in secondary school that are on a traditional schedule," Dunham said. "That's where it becomes more problematic."
Laura Seitz/Deseret News
Nick Hansen is principal at Butterfield Canyon Elementary, one of the schools transitioning to a traditional schedule next year. In all the schools where Hansen has worked, each one was on a year-round schedule, which has advantages, he said.
"A big positive for the year-round schedule is instead of having a typical summer break, the kids get five three-week breaks throughout the year," Hansen said. "When the students go on break, the teacher goes on break as well. Both the teachers and the students like those breaks."
The system has its drawbacks, too. Usually, four teachers share three classrooms, and they have to pack or unpack classroom materials before and after every break. There's also the hassle of redundancy, Hansen said.
"Probably the main con is doing things twice: parent-teacher conferences, assemblies, picture day. You're always going to have one-fourth of your student population on break at any given moment throughout the year," he said.
While the transition to a traditional schedule has strong support from parents, teachers at Butterfield Canyon have "mixed feelings" about the change, Hansen said. But a traditional schedule could allow teachers to coordinate curriculum better than they're able to under the current schedule, he said.
"It's not the preferred method of instruction," he said of year-round schedules. "It's a solution to a logistical situation."
