Breaking News

Well, today is the big day that the reassignment proposals for WCPSS were released. In case you haven’t heard, you can access specifics of the plan by going to their website at http://www.wcpss.net/

My family was not directly affected, but when I see that over 3,000 traditional school students have been reassigned to year-rounds, it strengthens my resolve to fight what will end up being an albatross around the neck of our community. As you know, over the past two years, I have done extensive research on all aspects of year-round education – pros and cons. To me, the most disturbing findings are those which cite cases all over our country where school systems mandated year-round conversion, only to return to traditional schedules within a few years. The reasons why might vary slightly, but the most recurring themes had to do with greater-than-expected costs, no significant educational advantages, the destruction of close family and neighborhood ties, and teacher burn-out.

It would be futile to even try and share all of my findings in this venue. What I will do, however, is refer you to articles, webpages, etc. that I have found to be especially interesting and informative. As with almost any subject, you can find whatever you want to find “out there”, but I will be selective in what I choose to include. Also, there might be a few comments that do not apply directly to our situation.

First of all, from a piece posted by Wes Walker, “To go year-round for overcrowding reasons is letting the facilities dictate the program, and not the program dictate the facilities."
His entire site is at: http://www.geocities.com/weswalker99/