PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. – The Brevard County school board has a rough draft of a calendar that will help it decide if members want to hold classes at an elementary school in Port St. John for almost the entire year.
It would happen at Challenger 7 Elementary and if adopted, students would start next school year on July 22 instead of in August.
School would still end in May, leaving teachers and students one full month of summer vacation.
They would have off in June.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
School Board Chair Megan Wright went to Challenger 7 when she was growing up and back then, the school had a similar calendar.
“I think it permits families the ability to travel on times where it’s not quite so busy,” Wright said. “I also think that it gives people a break. I mean, honestly, everyone comes back from a vacation refreshed and ready to go and year-round permits opportunities for that.”
The school year would still be 180 days.
A PowerPoint presentation to board members Tuesday showed there would be two-week breaks in the fall and the spring.
Breaks for the holidays would be like the rest of the schools in the district.
Another school board member, Jennifer Jenkins, was convinced that the district will be there for families who need help with childcare.
“But I do think we need to be sensitive to those families that it’s going to be a significant burden, that they want to keep their student in that school,” Jenkins said. “They love that school, that community and their staff. So I asked my fellow board members to consider possibly supplementing some of those childcare expenses for some of our families where it might be a little bit difficult for them.”
The PowerPoint also included a survey of staff members and families at Challenger 7, and overwhelmingly, most of them wanted the new calendar.
But for the families who don’t want the change, Brevard Schools said it will help place them in the other two elementary schools in Port St. John.
Wright said that hopefully, the board can vote on the new calendar within the next month.
School districts across the state are considering year-round school after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a pilot program into law last year.
The pilot program will begin in the 2024-2025 school year. Districts are supposed to apply to participate in the program, with the Florida education commissioner choosing the school districts.
Year-round schooling is not a novel concept. Countries like Japan, Australia, China and India have year-round schooling. Other countries have students in school for longer periods.
American students go to school for about 180 days a year, with a months-long break over the summer and smaller breaks during the school year. But some school districts in other states, including Washington, Michigan and Tennessee, have what is called a “balanced calendar,” which changes the way those 180 days are distributed to allow for more even break periods.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: