Newsmakers July 7, 2016

Air Date:
Heard On Newsmakers
Eric Check, Randy Nelson and Steve Michaels
Eric Check, Randy Nelson and Steve Michaels Hope Kirwan/WPR

Year-Round School Expansion-

La Crosse School District officials say they aren’t sure if someday a year-round school concept will be available to all students through graduation, but the success of a three-year pilot program at one elementary school has them planning for a possible expansion to one middle school by 2019.

The year-round program at Hamilton Elementary has proven so positive that a fourth year is beginning at the school in mid-July.

“Students lose less over the summer,” Hamilton Elementary School Principal Steve Michaels said. “So they’re able to pick up more or less where they left off when school got out. That was kind of a refreshing change that caused our teaching staff to have to think differently because prior to getting this off the ground, the first couple of months (of a traditional school year) were review, and starting off (the year-round schedule) it was only a week of review and then on to new content.”

Math and reading scores have also improved at Hamilton.

The year-round schedule, known as a 45-15 calendar, is just slightly different from a traditional schedule. Students have all of the traditional holiday breaks and in service days off that students at other schools have. Hamilton students get a six week break at the end of the school year and start again in mid-July, but they have three week breaks between the quarters of going to school, which lends to longer breaks in October and April.

A recent survey of La Crosse School District parents with 900 responses found 48 percent were interested in expanding the year-round concept to the middle school level. The school district is targeting Lincoln Middle School since students who attend Hamilton Elementary naturally move to Lincoln.

“What we really learned from that in the big picture is if we’re going to do this, go slow to go fast,” said La Crosse School Superintendent Randy Nelson. “Make sure we include our parents in the planning along the way. At that time we were really looking at would we do this building-wide or would this be a smaller piece.”

Nelson said there may be more challenges to creating a year-round program at the middle school level such as busing, the fact middle school students change classrooms more often during the school day and begin to have the choice of extracurricular activities. He also believes starting a year-round program in a middle school will cost more than it did at Hamilton.

He said the best option is to start a school within a school, something very common in most La Crosse schools that might have from 30-75 students to start with.

A committee of Lincoln Middle School staff members has started studying whether a year-round schedule could work.

“I think things would go well,” Lincoln Middle School Dean of Students Eric Check said. “I don’t think there would be any opportunities lost for students both in school and in the community.”

The Rochester, Minnesota School system also has a year-round school program. There has also been a lot of interest in the concept at other schools in the region. Michaels said he’s made presentations to nearly 50 schools in the past three years.

-John Davis

Episode Credits

  • Hope Kirwan Host
  • Matt Clark Producer
  • John Davis Producer
  • Randy Nelson Guest
  • Steve Michaels Guest
  • Eric Check Guest