School’s yearlong calendar at issue

Low enrollment, scheduling cited

ROGERS — School district officials said they are considering ending the continuous-learning calendar used at Eastside Elementary School.

The school has operated on the calendar since 2005. Students attend the same number of days as the regular academic calendar, but have a shorter summer vacation and more breaks throughout the year.

Virginia Abernathy, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said no decision has been made, but administrators plan to meet soon with Principal Robin Wilkerson to discuss the topic in depth. Moving Eastside to the traditional calendar could happen as soon as next school year, Abernathy said.

The district could use four classrooms available at the school. “But it’s hard to do that if you’re going to force people to take a calendar that’s different from the other schools,” she said.

Most of Arkansas’ 1,046 public schools operate from August to late May or early June. Most of the state’s 478,318 students and most of the 33,394 teachers are off during the summer.

Eastside Elementary is among a small group of public schools in Arkansas where the students attend on a nontraditional calendar throughout the year, including summers. The number fluctuates from year to year. Since the 200405 school year, there have been fewer than a dozen schools on a nontraditional schedule, according to the Arkansas Department of Education’s Data Center.

The number of schools following a continuous-learning calendar has been as high as 10 and as low as three in the past 14 years, according to information posted on the Education Department website.

In Rogers, families who live in Eastside’s zone may opt out and send their children to another elementary school. The district had 66 students opt out this year, according to Superintendent Marlin Berry.

The number from other zones who opted to attend Eastside was not available this week, but Abernathy

said it was roughly equivalent to those who opted out.

Eastside’s enrollment has declined from 565 in 2012 to 446 as of Oct. 1, a 21 percent drop in six years, according to state Department of Education data. The district’s overall enrollment has increased by 8 percent in the same period. Rogers plans to open its 16th elementary school next fall.

The district faces other complications because of the two-calendar system. It’s difficult to share staff members with another school that’s not on the same calendar.

Back-to-school professional development is tricky as well, because the district’s curriculum specialists aren’t back on contract by the time Eastside is gearing up for a new school year, Abernathy said.

Berry briefed the School Board on the calendar discussion at a board meeting earlier this month.

Kristen Cobbs, board president, said she believes strongly in the benefits of a continuous-learning calendar, particularly because it provides students and teachers frequent mental breaks.

But Cobbs said she understands the problems associated with it.

Mathias Elementary School switched to the continuous-learning calendar in 2006, then switched back to the traditional in 2011. That decision came after surveys of Mathias parents and staff members found a majority preferred the traditional calendar.

Some other schools in Northwest Arkansas operate on the continuous-learning calendar. Arkansas Arts Academy, a charter school in Rogers for grades kindergarten through 12, switched to the calendar last school year. It’s been a good change for the school, said Mary Ley, chief executive officer.

“We’ve become a society where we push, push, push, and we want kids not feel that

way all the time,” Ley said. “We think teachers are better when they have a chance to pause and reflect on how they’re doing.”

The Fayetteville School District has three schools — Asbell Elementary, Happy Hollow Elementary and Owl Creek — on the continuous-learning calendar. Those three schools enroll about 1,700 students combined.

Fayetteville Superintendent John Colbert said there are no plans to eliminate the continuous-learning calendar.