Majority of year-round schools will return to nine-month programs

The Clark County School Board on Thursday set the stage to return the majority of 55 year-round elementary schools to nine-month calendars for the 2010-11 school year.

Recognizing that it might not be practical or prudent for every year-round school in the Clark County School District to make the switch, the School Board made allowances to keep some schools on 12-month calendars.

Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Lauren Kohut-Rost said the vast majority of the district's 76 year-round schools will change calendars. The district will review and identify the schools that will change their schedules in the next few weeks. Twenty-one schools already have been told to make the switch because of declining enrollment.

Principals will be seeking feedback from school communities. Older schools with limited facilities or those primarily serving at-risk students who benefit from year-round academic and social services seem less likely to switch to nine months.

Whitney Blackburn, a parent at Iverson Elementary School, said her school is more than ready for the transition with its "empty classrooms and portables."

Because her older children are on nine-month school schedules, "it has created a rift in our house, as if we have two different families living in the same house," she said.

Under pressure from the public, the School Board reversed course after voting two weeks ago not to change its policy on enrollment. School Board member Sheila Moulton apologized for "causing consternation in the community" because she originally had preferred a more incremental approach to the schedule changes.

In a 6-0 vote with School Board member Larry Mason absent, the School Board on Thursday allowed for more year-round schedule changes by tweaking the policy and inserting a new clause about "resource limitations," that would allow for changes during economic crises.

Because year-round schools are so unpopular with families, the district is essentially using its budget crisis to make lemons into lemonade.

The calendar conversion is expected to save the district as much as $12 million at a time when funding is expected to be down as much as $141 million next year because of cuts in state funding and an expected decline in property tax revenues. On Wednesday, the School Board approved a tentative final budget for next year that still needs to be pared back by $30 million. A total of 1,077 employee positions are at stake if the district cannot find alternatives to job cuts to resolve the budget shortfall.

By cutting back on year-round schools, district officials anticipate savings with fewer expenses for utilities, transportation and salaries.

While most teachers at year-round schools work the equivalent of nine months, specialists such as art and music teachers work extra days and will see their salaries cut. One special education teacher said he could lose as much as $7,000 because he would be losing 25 days of work.

When introduced, year-round schools were intended to save the district money. With the school year spread out over 12 months, students are rotated on different vacation schedules to alleviate crowding on campus.

District officials on Thursday identified many factors that have made 12-month calendars unnecessary, including the expansion of class sizes in grades 1-3, which will free up classrooms, the opening of four new elementary schools in August and school enrollments that are declining or remaining flat.

School Board President Terri Janison stressed that the calendar conversions won't mean these schools will be flooded with new portable classrooms, saying only 10 additional portables will be needed districtwide.

The district now has a surplus of portables because more high school students are choosing to go to career and technical academies, which frees up space at comprehensive high schools, said Sharon Dattoli, the director of zoning and demographics.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686.