Bill Fletcher Responds

Year round
I support the expansion of voluntary year round schools. The inaccurate enrollment projections provided by county government have put the system more than 10,000 seats behind the 2000 projection for the current year. Year round expansion must support the healthy schools concept and provide families with options to meet their particular needs. The ideal solution is completely voluntary.

Conversion of an existing school calendar to year round is being proposed and promoted by members of the County Commission. Because of inadequate capital funding, expansion of year round is likely. And there must be some mechanism by which we all can be assured that those converted schools will be filled to capacity. But there must be clearly defined rules and procedures about opt-in/opt-out, transfers, appeals, etc. What options would be available for track changes, track alignment between grade levels, alignment with high school, etc. If year round expansion is driven by only cost concerns, as is being suggested by members of the county commission, then parental choice and preference will be minimized in order to implement the most efficient model for capital and operational dollars.


Bill Fletcher