Why EPA Chose A Year Round Calendar
The EPA Board of Directors has asked me to provide to you information on a year round school calendar, so that together, we can decide if this type of schedule would be good for our school family.
The calendar that is attached here is what this year, 2007-2008, would look like if we were on a year round schedule. We would have begun the year in late July and at the end of the first 9 weeks period, we would have a three week Fall Break during the last week of September and the first two weeks of October. The schedule would follow a traditional schedule through a two week Holiday Break at the end of the second 9 week period. We would begin again in early January with the third 9 week period and end it the first week in March. The Spring Break would be two weeks and we would return for the fourth 9 weeks that would end the third week of May. School would resume again in mid-July.
During the Fall Break and the Spring Break, classes would be offered to students in need of remediation. The classes would be designed to help these students in a smaller group setting and to provide them additional instruction to help them become more successful. It would be taught by tutors hired by EPA (much like our ACCEL counselors) and working with students in groups of no larger than 6-8 students focusing on needed skills that have not been mastered. The classes would last 2.5 to 3 hours per day. Open Door could be available for students as needed for the other part of the day.
NYOS is a very successful K-12 charter school in North Austin and they have been using a year round schedule for 10 years. Teresa Elliott, Executive Director, reports that the breaks at the end of each quarter give students and teachers time to relax, regroup and recharge for the next quarter. As we look at our attendance here at EPA, we find that the beginning of the second quarter and the end of the third quarter show increased absenteeism among students. NYOS has also found that they do not spend as much time on re-teaching and reviewing at the beginning of each year. Students retain more information over the shorter summer break. Discussions with the faculty are overwhelmingly in favor of this type of schedule with many of their comments reflecting the time off as a renewal process and a chance to prepare ideas and plans for the next quarter.