News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Quite a few middle and elementary school students have started their summer vacations. School doesn't end until July 2.
According to Sisters Middle School Principal Rich Shultz, 32 students have checked out with parental permission for most or all of the last few weeks of school. The school enrolls 255 students.
Some are on family vacations, some are at summer camp; a couple of Camp Sherman students are in Washington, D.C. for National History Day competition.
Elementary school Principal Tim Comfort reported absences ranging from 29 to 61 students in recent weeks, out of a population of 466.
"No doubt, we're having higher absenteeism than usual," Comfort said. "It's sporadic. Some of them are taking long weekends and then they are here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."
On Tuesday, June 23, absences were down again to 31, Comfort reported.
The middle and elementary schools are in the first year of an extended calendar that provides longer breaks at Christmas and over spring break, and shortens the long summer break.
The high school remains on a traditional calendar.
The shortened summer break is supposed to help students retain learning better, shortening review time when school resumes.
According to Shultz, schools have no real authority to challenge a parent's decision to pull a child out of school.
"Ultimately, it's still the parents' choice," he said.
And the schools have no effective negative incentive to keep kids in school. According to Shultz, students who withdraw early are given the grade they had when they left.
The schools' early withdrawal policy is designed to avoid punishing students who move or whose family situation changes in the middle of the year.
The idea is that the student will pick up where he or she left off at another school.
Shultz said that, if the schools stay on the extended calendar, they may have to rethink the policy covering withdrawals late in the year and create "a separate policy based on why parents are pulling their children."
The higher-than-usual level of absenteeism may be a way for some parents to "vote with their feet" on the new calendar. Some parents who have students in middle school and high school have complained about having to deal with split calendars.
Some of those parents are also middle school teachers. The entire middle school staff has formally come out against the split calendar.
"Middle school teachers would prefer that all three schools had calendars that were aligned," Shultz said. "To a staff person, they feel a high level of concern about having the split calendar, and these absences have heightened that concern."
But passing judgment on the new calendar at the end of the first school year may be premature.
It takes time to determine the academic effects of the extended school year.
"It'll probably take two to three years to see any pattern develop, to see any significant data," said schools Superintendent Steve Swisher.
"I think we're creatures of habit," said Laurene Fitzjarrel, who served on the committee that designed the calendar. "It's so ingrained in us that the school year should be what it was when we were kids. It takes a while to really give it a fair chance and see what the results really are, instead of our preconceived idea of what a school year is."
Fitzjarrel taught on an extended calendar in San Diego for about six years, and on a traditional calendar for about 18 years.
She is a firm believer in the benefits of more frequent breaks and a shorter summer lay-off.
"I know I was able to cover more material in a school year because I didn't have to re-teach as much," she said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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