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Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Walt Rulffes
Potential benefits of traditional school calendar
- In addition to $13 million in savings in personnel and operating costs, the district would save another $7 million in support services such as transportation and special education.
- School maintenance would be reduced because of less wear and tear on facilities, and it would be easier to schedule major repairs.
- Many parents prefer to have all their children on the same academic calendar, so older siblings can keep an eye on the younger ones. This might be particularly true for struggling families looking for work, or where day care costs have become prohibitive.
- The problem of air conditioning failures at schools in the summer — a common occurrence, particularly at older campuses — would be solved.
- Some campuses might be able to offer summer institutes, with programs for both remedial students and those seeking enrichment and accelerated learning.
Sun archives
- Superintendent Walt Rulffes: Schools need plan of action for success (12-27-09)
- Window opens for School District (7-19-08)
- Teachers resist increasing pressure to accept pay cuts (2-5-10)
- Budget crunch puts shorter school year, teacher pay cuts on table (2-4-10)
- Education cuts may never be healed after special session (3-2-10)
Sun coverage
More than 20 years ago, when the Las Vegas Valley began swelling with thousands of young families moving here for the bounty of plentiful jobs, the Clark County School District realized it couldn’t build new campuses fast enough.
One solution: convert some schools to year-round schedules, which had the effect of creating more classroom seats at a time when they were at a premium.
Now, with growth at a standstill and the School District under the gun to save money, Superintendent Walt Rulffes says it may be time to reconsider the strategy of year-round schools.
Converting the district’s 76 year-round elementary campuses to nine-month calendars could save an estimated $15 to $20 million annually, he says.
Rulffes wants the idea on the table for discussion and possible implementation in the 2010-11 academic year beginning in August.
To make that change, the Clark County School Board would have to agree to bypass some of its own regulations and policies related to portable classrooms, and the 2011 Legislature would have to grant continuance of a waiver passed during last month’s session allowing the district to maintain larger class sizes in the lower grades.
The idea is sure to stir emotions among students and families, particularly if the change were only until the economy rebounds, growth returns and the year-round schools are again necessary.
In a memo to the Clark County School Board, obtained by the Sun, Rulffes outlines potential financial rewards, as well as the risks.
The move could make it easier for the district to schedule professional development for staff, prepare students for state-mandated testing and reduce costs of transportation and special education services. On the downside, the legislative waiver allowing increased class sizes expires in 2011, and once it does the district would likely have to revert to year-round calendars at many campuses.
The district has long argued that year-round schools can be a more cost-effective route, and changing tacks now could be tricky.
“The message of a ‘savings’ by converting to a nine-month calendar is inconsistent with previous messages, even though both messages are accurate under different conditions,” Rulffes wrote in his memo.
Converting to nine-month schools isn’t without risk, the superintendent acknowledges.
“Such a dramatic change as a result of increasing grades 1-3 may send a signal to the Legislature that returning to former class sizes is not advantageous,” Rulffes wrote.
There is no significant difference in student achievement among the district’s nine-month and year-round schools. Each category has its standout performers and struggling campuses.
But some parents prefer the year-round schedule because it means students have structure during the summer months.
And some studies nationally have found that year-round programs are preferable for English language learners, who account for about 20 percent of the district’s student population, because they benefit from continued instruction without a long summer break, especially if they are in homes where English is not spoken.
Another troubling possibility is that the public will fight a return to year-round schedules in the future, when — it is hoped — the region’s economy rebounds and more classroom seats are needed.
And there is a segment of the community that thinks the district would be in even better financial shape were it to put all elementary schools on a year-round calendar and shut down unused campuses entirely.
Because of declining enrollment growth last fall — the first drop in student numbers in more than a quarter-century — the district converted 17 elementary schools to nine-month from year-round calendars, leaving about a third of the elementary schools on the 12-month schedule. (No secondary school is year-round.)
Rulffes’ immediate goal is to finish budget cutting to meet the Legislature’s special session demand for a 6.9 percent spending reduction. In the Clark County School District, that equaled $123 million, and he’s $32 million short of the target.
The Legislature allowed districts to put off replacing some textbooks and classroom materials, which shaved $10 million off the shortfall balance. Another $30 million in savings will come from increasing class sizes by one per room in grades 1 and 2 and up to two students per room in grade 3, eliminating 540 teaching positions. The lower grades had been protected by the state’s class size-reduction mandate, which was temporarily suspended by lawmakers.
It’s likely that enough people will retire or relocate at the end of the academic year that most of the teachers who lose their grades 1 through 3 classroom assignments will be reassigned.
With personnel costs accounting for more than 86 percent of the district’s operating budget, eliminating another 500 teaching jobs would account for the final $32 million to be lopped off the budget.
Going to a nine-month schedule would significantly reduce the last cutbacks needed to reach the Legislature’s target.
Principal Celeste Oaks has worked at both year-round and nine-month schools, and can see the potential benefits of both schedules.
Lincoln Elementary School
At Lincoln Elementary, where she worked for more than four years with at-risk students, the nine-month calendar allowed time in the summer months for remedial programs. She’s in her third year at Walker International Elementary in Henderson, a dual-language program thriving on a year-round schedule.
If the district can significantly trim its budget by reorganizing schools, and those savings don’t have to come in the form of teacher layoffs, then the conversion concept needs serious consideration, Oakes said.
“Saving classroom teacher jobs is so important, because that’s the closest place to the students,” Oakes said. “And that’s what we all want — the least impact on the children.”
It is unknown how many teaching jobs might be saved by switching to a nine-month calendar. All teachers are paid for the same 184 contract days, whether it’s at a nine-month or year-round school. Some specialists — in areas including special education and the fine arts — are paid for additional contract days to cover year-round schools. Those people would see their pay reduced, said Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association.
Another concern for the union is the effect of counting portable classrooms as regular classroom seats, and how that might affect students, Murillo said.
“I would hope the district would look at this on a case-by-case basis and do what’s best for each individual school,” Murillo said.
Paychecks for the district’s year-round school principals are about 13 percent more than what they would have earned at a nine-month school — an annual salary, on average, of about $118,000 versus $105,000. And the administrators’ union contract with the district protects that salary bump. Principals at year-round schools continue to earn the higher salary even if they are reassigned to nine-month schools, although the district can add extra work duties during the summer months to compensate for the extra pay.
Steve Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators, said he plans to begin meeting today with principals at year-round schools to get their input.
“If we can save money and make this a long-term move, then I think we should consider it,” Augspurger said. “If it’s going to be a short-term fix that’s going to be very disruptive, that has to be considered.”
As for whether principals will support the switch, Augspurger said he expects to hear from both sides of the equation.
“There are going to be people who say ‘Yippee, it’s about time’ and those who say ‘Oh no, why are we doing this,’ ” Augspurger said. “We have principals working on year-round contracts who believe this is the best thing we could be doing for children, and it has proved results.”
Principals of year-round schools who do not believe their campuses should be converted will be asked to make their case to the region offices.
School Board Vice President Carolyn Edwards echoed Augspurger’s concern about the timetable for the switch.
“It would have to be for at least two years,” Edwards said. “The problem we have is the Legislature could say no (to extending the class size reduction waiver).”
She’s also worried about setting a precedent by waiving district policy and counting portable classrooms as permanent classroom seats.
However, Nevada’s economic recovery still seems far off and the School District is expecting to lose even more funding next year as enrollment and local tax revenue decline.
The conversion concept represents “big dollars,” Edwards said. “I think lawmakers will understand we’re looking for ways to save money. It would be irresponsible of us not to consider it.”
Is this for next year(if approved?)
If approved by the School Board, the year-round schools could switch to nine-month calendars for 2010-11 academic year, which begins in August.
The nine month calendar evolved out of the need to keep our children home, to help out on the farm during the summer...so the family could eat during the winter.
Perhaps, as a compromise, we should bump the school year up to 200-210 days.
Another thing that should be considered: Hiring instructors without a degree, in fields such as Art, music, or sports.
I'm not suggesting these positions go to people who are inept, nor am I waiving the background checks.
I'm merely saying that while Louis Anderson didn't have a degree- I would argue that my child (anyone, really) would have benefited from having him as a music instructor.
It is nice to see the District finally admitting that year-round schools are more expensive to operate than nine months schools. Funny that until now, the District has always represented that they are cheaper by ignoring the full cost of operation (never have included the extra cost of running transportation over the summer or fully absorbed utility and maintenance costs) and basing their cost comparison on 'what if' enrollments instead of actual enrollments.
Also funny how Carolyn Edwards is worried about setting precedent when the District has never even come close to consistently applying the year-round policy in the first place.
Jeessshhh, wouldn't it be nice if we could get a school story that actually referred to the education and enlightenment of our youth?...oh my allah, we are so misguided...hence, we are doomed to at best, mediocrity...
VegasVixen--the issue is about saving money--how do you think adding 10% to 20% more days to the school calendar will save money??
I am a second grade teacher at a year round school. I have 20 students in my class and so do the other second grade teachers. They have 19-20 as well. I am not sure why all the fuss of upping class sizes by 2 kids. Many teachers already have more than than 1-16. The public is being deceived with class size reduction numbers. Principles often use teachers for learning strategist or other positions in the school and up class sizes anyway. I work at a year round school and my school has one portable for storing furniture and no teacher roves classrooms during vacations. There is o reason to even be year round. The district sets guidelines on the way they count rooms which make no sense. They are willing to switch their rules when it suits them for 2 years. In reality they need to really look at the guidelines for year round schools. Many schools are only short one class or two. I am sure that portables would be cheaper in the long run or having the art or music teacher float into rooms while teachers are on prep; would be a better solution than spending 20 million a year. Maybe the district should of looked at this a few year back and they would have a little money right now. I think this article misrepresents parents. All I ever hear are parents wanting to get a zone variance to a 9 month school. The only parents that half way like year round are track 5 parents. The news station should come in the middle of July and take photos of kids waiting on line in the a.m. for school and after lunch. It is 115 degrees out and students are ready to pass out. I have had kids faint and throw up from the heat. Parents pull their kids out for vacations in the summer and kids stay home more to swim and enjoy the summer. Year round schools make no sense at all! I would love to see a survey put out to all teachers at year round schools and to parents at these schools.
Vixen---Louie Anderson is a musician? I think maybe Snoop Dogg would be a good music teacher too. Just leave all the windows open.
Ms. Cook, you should be careful about what you say regarding your employer... anyone could be reading this.
@ loricook
Tell it like it is. If the truth hurts them let it. Incidentally, 20 kids is a piece of cake.
Vegas Vixen you are way off. Thank God you won't be making any decisions these next couple of weeks. Your recommendation of more days of school is a subject that is too dumb to comment on. On the other hand, fine arts educators go through the same rigorous teacher training as the general ed ones do so why should we get unqualified teachers to train those students in the arts? I take it you have never seen the curriculum standards for an art, music or PE teacher. It takes more than playing a guitar to teach music. Haven't you heard of the word, "pedagogy". There is a lot of mediocrity in this school district but we have some of the best fine arts people in the country. Other states pay our fine teachers to come to their school districts to train them so they can be like us. I think the community in general realizes the benefits of a well-rounded education but people like you have no sense and should have your online privileges revoked due to stupidity!
I WENT TO A YEAR ROUND SCHOOL AS A CHILD AND MYSELF I DIDN'T LIKE IT , BUT ON OTHER HAND MY SON LOVE'S IT. I AM A SINGLE FATHER OF AN YR OLD AND IT WOULD BE HARD ON SINGLE PARENTS AND FAMILIES WITH SAME HOURS AND BUDGET WOES AT HOME.AT THE MOMENT I DO HAVE HELP, BUT IF NOT IT WOULD HURT ME. ITS HARD ON FAMILIES RIGHT NOW AND I DO UNDERSTAND THE BUDGET ISSUE, BUT FROM ALL THIS I HOPE OUR STATE BE MORE EFFICIENT ABOUT SPENDING AND BUILDING SCHOOLS. IT'S NOT THE TEACHER PAY, BUT THE PERSONNEL WHO GET PAID 100,OOO PLUS A YR TO GO NO WHERE AND KEEP THERE WALLETS FAT. LET PAY THE TEACHER MORE AND BE MUCH CAREFUL IN SCHOOL SPENDING. MY OPINION.
TheFacts:
"--the issue is about saving money--how do you think adding 10% to 20% more days to the school calendar will save money??"
The issue is about changing the LENGTH of the school year in order to save money. I said my suggestion was meant as a compromise. Cutting 12 month schools to 10 months is still a savings. The extra days would benefit the kids, as well.
Rough:
"Louie Anderson is a musician?"
Yeah...But I can't make the joke work, without being mean- so I'll leave it at that. ;D lmfao @ Snoop, though!
Scottie:
Having done you no harm, I'm not sure where all of your vitriol toward me is coming from.
"...why should we get unqualified teachers to train those students in the arts?"
Again, I never suggested that those instructors be INEPT (incapable, maladroit, gauche). As to pedagogy- some of the greatest teachers were never taught how to teach.
I'm sure YOUR sainted Mother spent many years shoring up her advanced degrees in early-childhood education, psychiatry,sociology and of course, teaching, in order for her to know how to instruct you in sitting up, walking, speaking, etc.
Most of the REST of us, were just given lessons from ameteur hacks- some of them had never even HAD A CHILD, before we showed up, if you can imagine such a horror!
"I think the community in general realizes the benefits of a well-rounded education but people like you have no sense and should have your online privileges revoked due to stupidity!"
I think the community in general understands that a well-rounded education is not possible in a sterile, classroom environment.
You could have the world's most educated instructors spend YEARS drilling kenetics, physics, mathmatics, anatomy, and all of the other things a Pitcher could possibly need to know about throwing a ball- but it's not going to be enough to teach you how to throw a curve ball. Education is both THEORY, and PRACTICE.
If that concept makes no sense to you, perhaps you should spend MORE time using YOUR internet connection. It's possible you would discover that merely proclaiming something senseless, does not actually make it so.
If you can give proof, that Socrates had a degree, or that Plato was harmed in his education, because his mentor lacked said degree. I'll take my entire opinion back.
Barring that; show me the CCSN Fine Arts Teacher, who will prove to be ANYWHERE near as influential, 2000 years after their death.
Heh heh...Let it be known, that I admit my errors.
Of course, I meant to say:
"show me the CCSD Fine Arts Teacher"...
Mea culpa
Interesting.
I'm watching with a certain amount of disgust as gains made in Las Vegas are being wiped out in the rush to "stay within budget."
Year-round schools were set up to alleviate overcrowding and to make maximum effective use of classrooms. Now the Superintendant proposes make ALL schools 9 month, by adding students into existing classrooms, or crowding more "temporary" portable classrooms onto playgrounds, claiming that the dollars saved will be worth the havoc it creates in the year-round schools.
In order to do this, he's proposing extending the "temporary" waiver of Grade 1-3 class size limitations. The question then is just HOW MUCH LONGER will this "temporary" waiver last?
And teacher layoffs, salary reductions, reducing the school week to only four days, ad nauseum, are all still up for consideration.
It appears these proposals are gaining support from the public at large -- and adds up to all our had-fought educational gains being flushed down the toilet without so much as a whimper.
Perhaps, if the savings are so important, the public will entertain my suggestions for even GREATER savings in educations -- why don't we just go back to the ole' one room school, crowd grades K-12 into 'em, give 'em a chalkboard to write on while the "ole' schoolmarm" teaches out of the Webster's Dictionary and the Bible (saving hundreds of thousands on textbooks, computers and the like), and we can reduce the school year to three months in Winter and three months in Summer (because planting is in Spring and harvesting is in Summer).
We'll save all those MILLIONS of dollars, and, while I can't guarantee our standing in the nation, seeing we're already 49th in the nation already, a change in our standing won't be much of an impact, as it appears Vegas doesn't really value education anyway...
VegasVixen--apparently you don't understand that kids at year-round schools only attend 180 days--same as the 9 month schools. The schools use a 'multi-track' system that staggers when they are in school to increase capacity, not the number of days they attend. So your suggestion is not relevant.
The Facts:
I said :"bump the school year up to 200-210 days".
This would make the schools' year LONGER than 9 months, but still SHORTER than 12, which would still save money according to Rulffes' plan...which is NOT about 'increasing capacity'.
The point is, if you're going to mess with the entire system ANYWAY, do something that might benefit the kids.
Please make sure you DO get the facts, before you dismiss things out of hand.
The Facts:
They are not going to shorten the 12 month schools to 200-210 days. They're going to make everyone 9 months and either rezone or cram kids into portables. They are also going to cut AP's and eliminate programs like ESL, etc. There are teachers being laid off with low seniority and the district is still hiring in high need areas.
Rough:
You state you don't want inept teachers but they don't have to have any kind of licensing, degrees, etc.? Would you like meth-head Joe who can play the guitar to come and teach your children? Who determines if they are suitable? You? The Antichrist?
It's funny you keep coming back to Socrates, Plato, etc in your laughable argument since that was the birth of ethos. That includes qualified people to teach music, drama, history, etc. They didn't let some dumbsh*t teach all those people. Ancient Greece didn't have a lot of things so that is pretty sad if that is your only example. Are you from that period of history?
You also preach to the public about your extensive knowledge of the pedagogical process. When was the last time you had to create lesson plans and implement them to current NV and federal standards? Every teacher must be deemed highly qualified in their content area so they actually know what they are talking about. Students learn best in cooperative groups and hands-on activities which is the practice component of a lesson. You spew dung like it was teachers standing in front of a podium lecturing all day. I challenge you to sub or volunteer for one week and you would run out of the building screaming!
There are some great kids doing great things in this district based on the teachings of the great fine arts education they are receiving. I personally know students who went though the school system and participated in community concerts, events and there are some that are touring in Europe. Take the melba toast out of your mouth and attend a local student concert at Ham Hall once in a while. Can you teach them to play like that? I thought not!
BTW since you are bringing my mother into this (you pig) you have no idea what a fine arts teacher does in this district. State licensing is a safeguard to maintain quality but no one knows how a teacher will do until they get in there. Who knows how these students will turn out. I will say in general it seems like all the good ones leave the state due to lack of opportunity. We need to express gratitude to the good teachers we have and not make comments like the ones that are coming out of your decrepit mouth. That blatant negativity keeps our teachers down.
Rough:
I'll wait until he apologizes to you.
(Here I was, thinking that ANYONE could tell the two of US apart!)
VegasVixen
You don't understand sarcasm. Stick to episodes of "Murder She Wrote" and leave the conversation to the sane people.
It makes me SICK that Las Vegas has been forcing low income children who live less than 2 miles to walk to school in the hot summer heat. Bring back the 9 month schedule, make life easier for the parents and children. It is bad enough that these kids who are forced to walk have to be exposed to the area sex offenders in addition to heat exhaustion. More kids will be walking as parents are losing their cars and homes due to the economy.
Scottie:
"You don't understand sarcasm."
I haven't seen you USE any...so I guess no, I don't understand YOUR definition of it.
MY definition is illustrated by Mlyons:
"Perhaps, if the savings are so important, the public will entertain my suggestions for even GREATER savings in educations -- why don't we just go back to the ole' one room school, crowd grades K-12 into 'em, give 'em a chalkboard to write on while the "ole' schoolmarm" teaches out of the Webster's Dictionary and the Bible..."
What I've mostly seen from you, is defined as 'invective'.
Feel free to stick THAT in your Funk and Wagnalls.
Vegas AARP:
Yeah I guess you would understand that kind of sarcasm since it takes you back to the prairie days. I guess mine is a little too dry for you. I'm not even going to let you bring me down you old bag so I'm moving on. GO REBELS!