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Show Pilot program suggested to test year-round school IlilF 'AllllIRIl v 5 ' n 1 ; f " I ' ' " ' tended break. Schiller suggests staffing the pilot year-round school with interested and supportive elementary and middle mid-dle school teachers, and new staff members, if necessary. They, too, should be volunteers. Under the plan, one of the veteran teachers will be appointed half-time instructor r and teacher-leader; or principal. Sufficient support personnel, person-nel, such as custodial and food-service food-service workers, also would have to be hired. . "This will offer a pilot setting to try out the concept without committing commit-ting to the entire structure," Schiller said. "It will be easy to disband if we view it as a temporary system and easier to expand if it works well. "It will reduce the overcrowding at the elementary school and the angst of elementary parents who fear for their fourth graders in the middle-school setting," he added. "It shouldn't cost too much more and we might be able to get a chunk of that $50,000 available to the district for implementing year-round year-round schools to help defray start-up costs." Dr. Brian Schiller wants to staff pilot program with volunteer teachers. reduced time of break will reduce the time of reteaching." ..' He said that when students return to school after summer vacations, they have to be retaught basic skills that were forgotten during the ex- by JIM SMEDLEY Record staff writer The concept of year-round school sends shivers down the spines of some parents and raises confusion with others. "People don't really know what to chairman of the year-round schools, study committee appointed by the Park City Board of Education. The year-round school committee has been studying the concept since a pilot group attended a Provo conference con-ference on the topic last August. They have been talking to administrators ad-ministrators and educators who have been trying it, reading seemingly seem-ingly endless literature and have visited four schools in Utah that are experimenting with the concept. , ....a At the last school board meeting,, the committee presented the "Schiller plan," a proposal created by Treasure Mountain Middle School Principal Brian Schiller. The plan calls for a 60-20 split 60 days in school, 20 days off. His plan would create year-round school at the middle school for one section of children in grades one through six. The children will be volunteers and the class size will be kept at a about a 20-to-one pupil-, teacher ratio. The Schiller plan is an unrefined version of what the final recommendation recommen-dation to the board will be, according accord-ing to Johnson. The committee will . present its final proposal at the Dec. 10 school board meeting. Year-round schooling applies to the elementary and middle schools only. The high school is excluded from consideration. ... "I suggested this plan because I'm interested in providing a way of experimenting ex-perimenting with year-round school without getting everybody up in arms that they will all have to do it,',' Schiller said. "I asked that a sunset provision be adopted because then ' we can stand back after two years and see what has been done. ' ' A sunset provision requires that a program be phased out after an agreed-upon period of time unless it is specifically continued. "One for-sure problem we're fac- ing is that the elementary school is overcrowded. The fifth and sixth grades at the middle school may be staring at overly large class-size ratios, ' ' Schiller said. The district received a $20,000 grant to study year-round schools . and problems associated with changing the old system. A multitude of concerns about the program has been raised by parents and teachers. Parents with children , at more than one school are worried about scheduling vacations. Some people want time to ski in the winter. Some teachers want time to attend university classes in the summer. But the basic question asked ts,' "How will the quality of education ,.' be affected?" m " "There is some evidence showing that year-round school is better for the students and there is some that shows it doesn't matter," Schiller said. "With the 60-20 plan, there is less time spent on breaks between instruction periods. Hopefully, the |
