Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
ACS superintendent Allen Johnson reveals the decision to Hall Fletcher staff/Hall Fletcher photo
Big news for parents, and a cover story on today’s Citizen-Times: Hall Fletcher Elementary in West Asheville will be our district’s pilot school for a balanced (year-round) school year, starting in 2014.
From the Hall Fletcher Facebook page, an excited announcement:
HALL FLETCHER APPROVED FOR BALANCED SCHOOL YEAR IN 2014-15!
Dear friends of Hall Fletcher. Check the front page story in the Asheville Citizen Times! We have been selected as the district’s pilot program in offering a balanced, year round, school calendar in the 2014-15 school year! This is huge opportunity to be an educational leader in offering a calendar that can serve the needs of all children, all year! This is the start of a long process of preparation for this challenge, and we will include the input of HFE families all along the way!
A Hall Fletcher parent comments:
I have seen what year round can and will do for ALL children. My sons were at Hall Fletcher in the 90’s, I watch them and others catch up, move forward faster. THIS WONDERFUL!
If the program is successful, a balanced school year could be extended to all city schools, making our district the second in the state to have school year-round.
From the Citizen-Times: School board passes year-round calendar test
Superintendent Allan Johnson said other city schools expressed interest in being a part of the pilot, and that the system will consider moving more schools to the new calendar after the initial program is off the ground. The early projections on expected costs for the change, which will primarily be for intersession and after-school programming, is about $50,000, he said.
The school district picked Hall Fletcher, Johnson said, because it has the highest percentage of students getting free and reduced-priced lunches and it had the highest percentage of faculty support in a recent survey on the calendar option.
“It’s a risk we’re taking here with Hall Fletcher, and we’re not taking it lightly,” Johnson said. “But I think if we want something that yields real results we need real change, and we’ve got the opportunity to design this program in a way that we know works.”
Interested parents can follow Hall Fletcher on Facebook.
Hall Fletcher website
Hall Fletcher is on Twitter as @HallFletcher
Hall Fletcher video (about the school, not the new pilot program)
Join In from Hall Fletcher on Vimeo.
Shouldn’t children have some down time to prevent burnout? Summer can be a time of enrichment as well.
Year round schools have plenty of breaks, some of them being pretty long, offering students plenty of down time and giving families the time to take vacations as well. My 13 year old really wants a year round school to happen in this town. Let’s make this happen at the high school level too:)
Can parents “opt out” by sending their kids to a different school?