Ypsilanti Community School District could make history in more ways than one
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Students wave goodbye from the bus window on the last day of classes for the Willow Run School District. After the upcoming merger with Ypsilanti Public Schools District, the combined district might be the first school in Washtenaw County to adapt a balanced calendar.
Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com
They are expected to become the first district in Washtenaw County to adopt a balanced calendar — a system where the long summer break is shortened in favor of more frequent breaks throughout the year. Research shows a balanced calendar addresses absenteeism and learning loss, especially for those students living in poverty.
While there wasn’t time to implement a radically different calendar for the 2013-14 school year, the district's new board of education decided on a school year longer than either of the two districts had in the past, with the goal of implementing a balanced calendar in 2014-15, said Scott Menzel, superintendent of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, as well as superintendent of the new school district during the transition.
“If you look at the academic achievement of Ypsilanti and Willow Run, students have been struggling significantly,” Menzel said. “We are adding more instructional time, but time by itself does not solve the problem. It has to be combined with strong instructional practices and students doing the right kind of work.”
YCS will have 187 instructional days and 195 staff days for its first year, which is more than either district had in the past, Menzel said. The state requires at least 175 instructional days, he said. The YCS school day also will be lengthened by 30 minutes, to 7 and a half hours, which includes 30 minutes for lunch.
Scott Menzel
Menzel said there are several ways a balanced calendar can be accomplished. It could be 45 days of instruction followed by a 15-day break, repeated in cycles, Menzel said. Elementary students could have a different calendar than secondary students, or higher achieving students possibly could skip a summer session. The key, Menzel said, is to create a flexible system that meets the needs of different students.
“Ypsilanti Community Schools may come up with a plan that’s different from anywhere else,” said David Bates, school board president. “We need to figure out how to meet the needs of our kids.”
It’s a balancing act, Bates said. Not all students need a shortened summer and not all families want it. “It’s a very big challenge,” he said. “We need a system like the Meijer stores: Open when you need them.”
How the state would fund a district where students attended for a varying number of days also is uncertain, Menzel said. A task force of teachers and community members is expected to present a proposal for a balanced calendar to the board in November or December, Menzel said.
The YCS board was able to add instructional and staff time to the calendar without union approval because there is no existing collective bargaining agreement in the new school district, Menzel said. That won’t happen until after the new board meets July 1, the beginning of the new school year and the union is approved.
In the absence of a contract, the board created terms and conditions of employment, which include a longer day and more days.
“It’s something unique when there is this type of transition,” Menzel said.
For the short run, the cost of adopting a balanced calendar would be little, perhaps limited to the expense of extra utilities accrued, Menzel said. For the longer haul, however, it could become more expensive if additional instructional days are added and facilities need to be upgraded for things such as air conditioning. Finances always are at the forefront, Menzel said, especially since the two districts face a combined debt of $13 million.
The board also created a new salary structure for teachers. While the new district attempts to maintain similar wages for the more tenured teachers, it improved the annual salary for starting teachers from $32,000 to $40,000, as an attempt to attract new teachers to the district, Menzel said. The new salary structure, however, does eliminate the traditional steps of the teacher salary scale and instead attaches pay increases to performance evaluations.
A balanced calendar is just one change Menzel said he hopes will improve learning and begin to attract students who have left the Ypsilanti and Willow Run school districts under Schools of Choice, where students can attend a school outside of their home district, space allowing.
In the 2011-12 school year, the two districts lost a total of 2,600 students to Schools of Choice, Menzel said. That represents about $19 million in state revenue, Menzel said.
“We want to restore confidence and restore resources.”
Comments
Dog Guy
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 2:11 p.m.
A balanced calendar might work for Ypsi, but everything in AAPS has been unbalanced for so long that any change would cause a Jenga ? crash.
Topher
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 1:24 p.m.
I'll be very interested to see how this goes. I hope that the new district will collect data to measure the outcomes. I'm interested in the following: 1. What does this mean for services and things like Free/Reduced Lunch? Will schools receive more funding, or will they just spread the resources thinner over the extra days? 2. I expected the district to not pay teachers more - teaching is becoming more like a factory-type job or social worker (except that you cannot do the job in 40 hours/week, don't get any over-time or comp time, and many people are convinced they can do the job because they themselves went to school). It will be interesting to see what the retention rate for teachers is. KIPP schools follow a longer school day/year model and their turnover is very high (something like 2 years per teacher). 3. What will classes look like in regard to tracking? It seems that if student can opt out of summer sessions (and this will tend to be students who are financially stable) what will the diversity amongst classes look like?
TryingToBeObjective
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 12:30 p.m.
I guess it could save some money, if you have fewer days to keep schools heated in the winter. But are schools reasonably comfortable learning environments in the summer? It's my impression that come June, classrooms are hot and stuffy, and certainly in August as well. If community programs that provide camps and alternatives for child care/ activities in Ypsi can match a new school calendar, this "new" program may actually draw some parents who are curious to try it.
local
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 11:44 a.m.
I am anxious to see how this schedule looks. My family who teaches in Kentucky has a similar schedule and they start school the first of August so that the 2nd 3 week break happens around December holiday. I thought our state had a law stating schools couldn't start till after Labor Day. Just wondering what this schedule would look like. On a side note, if professional teachers are working longer days and MORE days, they all should be compensated accordingly. How will district deal with families who just pull kids for vacations regardless of school schedule? Or summer camps?
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 10:54 a.m.
Bravo to WISD & YCS Superintendent Scott Menzel and to the board of YCS for taking this important step to ensure that all the children in the YCS district are properly educated! A great description of how a balanced calendar works in one page of text and graphs is here: www.nayre.org/calendar_comparison.htm President Obama's Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been making speeches for years about how important it is for schools to move to a balanced calendar. See: http://news.yahoo.com/longer-school-help-hurt-us-students-131056148.html Moving to a Balanced Calendar will make a dramatic impact on low and moderate income children because scientific research indicates that their academic progress is significantly hurt by the traditional long Summer break. High income children are not impacted by it one way or the other because their parents ensure that their children receive academic enrichment outside of the classroom during the traditional long Summer break. Moving to a Balanced Calendar would significantly raise the MEAP scores of that large population of children in Ann Arbor Public Schools and other Michigan schools who are failing to pass the MEAP tests. If you are interesting in reading an excellent essay by the best seller author Malcolm Gladwell that reviews the research on this issue written in a very exciting and engaging way, just send me an email to ranzini@university-bank.com and I'll be happy to send it to you. 21-23% of all children end up as functional illiterates as adults and we are failing them today with the traditional school system. Solving this problem is perhaps the key social justice issue of our day and critical to the long term success of our democracy! A balanced calendar, if widely adopted in our public schools, would make a huge positive difference!
Basic Bob
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 10:51 a.m.
This is a great plan. There aren't so many farmers who need their kids in the field all summer. Or university professors taking months long trips to Europe. Or teachers spending all summer with their kids at the lake house. People in Ypsi actually have to work all year to get by, and are still responsible for their kids during breaks. Research says the kids will benefit. Might as well keep them in school.
localvoice
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 11:57 a.m.
Research? Which research? There is research that shows in fact that the opposite is true. It's very expensive, ruins sports programs, and does not increase student achievement. Just google it.
Bulldog87
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 11:28 a.m.
LOL! If a public school teacher has a lake house to take their kids to all summer, or the university professors take month long trips to Europe, I would guess that their spouses are paying for it! What world are you living in when you talk about Ypsi/Willow Run teachers having "lake houses"? I don't disagree with the balanced calendar, but didn't think the jabs at educators was necessary.
missmisery
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 11:02 a.m.
My concern is that in the summer, there are many different camp programs offered in this community for children. Parents can pick and choose programs that will interest their child and know their child is engaged in something interesting while they're at work. Will there be similar programs available during the 15 day breaks? One 15 day break would wipe out a working person's vacation time for the entire year.
Ruth Kraut
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 10:33 a.m.
"The board also created a new salary structure for teachers. While the new district attempts to maintain similar wages for the more tenured teachers, it improved the annual salary for starting teachers from $32,000 to $40,000, as an attempt to attract new teachers to the district, Menzel said. " And what this means, if teachers have to work longer hours/days, is that for more tenured teachers they will actually be getting an hourly pay cut.
Bulldog87
Wed, Jun 26, 2013 : 11:24 a.m.
Not sure if the public realizes this, but the most tenured teachers took ANOTHER pay cut in the new district. We were all surprised because they told us we would come in at the same wage. Teachers from YPS will not make about $10,000 less than we were making 4 years ago (the most qualified, experienced teachers). But yay for the new teachers!