Friday, July 13, 2007

Recent Changes As A Result Of The Year-Round Conversions

Having just completed week #1, I will summarize just a few things that have happened at Leesville Elementary as a result of the conversion.  I’d really like to hear what is being experienced at the other year-round schools.

SPECIALS TEACHERS ARE BEING STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT:  We now only have 1 PE teacher, 1 Art teacher, 1 Music teacher, and our Dance and Drama program has been cancelled.  (before the conversion we had 2 PE teachers, 2 art teachers, and 2 music teachers)  Now, the remaining specials teachers are going to be teaching the entire year without a summer vacation or other breaks during the year except during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break.  When some students are “tracked out”, others will be “tracked in” so the specialists have now become 12 month employees without teaching assistants or breaks.  This appears to be a situation that could lead to FAST burnout.  Is anyone else in a similar situation?
PROGRAMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN CANCELLED:  Our 4th graders take an annual overnight trip to the beach and participate in the “Sound to Sea” program.  The entire grade has a long unit on barrier island habitat, and then in November they take an overnight bus trip to The Trinity Center for a great learning experience.  The students get to interact outside the classroom setting, and the practical learning that takes place is wonderful.  Unfortunately, we found out today that due to several factors associated with the year-round schedule and the cost of the trip, we will not be taking the overnight trip this year.  This is something that the fourth graders have been looking forward to for as long as they’ve known about it, and finding out that it won’t happen this fall is very disappointing.  We will be taking a day trip to the beach instead, but to my 4th grader who has been anticipating this overnight trip for the past 5 years, it’s not the same. 
CLASSES HAVE BEEN BROKEN APART AND STUDENTS REASSIGNED TO OTHER CLASSES AND TRACKS:  Due to the low enrollment numbers, we have already had to “cancel” one 2nd grade class on track 2.  I’ve been told that these students will be either put into the other 2nd grade class on track 2 or moved to another track.  I’m not sure what will happen to the teacher assigned to this class, but sadly I don’t think this is the only group of students and their teacher who will be forced to do something different than expected this school year.
Have any of the other schools recently converted to Year-Round had similar things going on this week?