Year Round Education

THE LAST GASP of a plan that was drowning anyway was heard in Howard County this week. By admitting they had made a mistake in calculating the savings that could be rendered from a conversion to year-round schools, officials have all but called it quits on promoting the idea.School Superintendent Michael E. Hickey labeled it "pretty much" a dead issue this week, after it was learned that the calculations were faulty. Dr. Hickey blames the mistake on timing, saying that the board's refusal to take up the issue of year-round schools until next April prompted officials to proceed with more expensive school construction projects.

EDUCATION OFFICIALS studying year-round schooling in Howard County have revealed it for what it is: not an experiment, but a form of political extortion.It's another ugly alternative for officials to dangle over the heads of county officials and say, "If you don't give more money for school construction, you'll get year-round schools -- but good."Why else would officials conclude in a report that year-round education would save a half-million dollars annually and could be accomplished quickly -- opposite the findings of some other Maryland school systems -- and then withhold a recommendation?

The Howard County PTA Council expressed its concerns over the school board's handling of a study of year-round education at yesterday's school board meeting.Jerry Bialecki, representing the PTA Council, told the board that holding meetings of the study committee during regular business hours prevented working parents from participating.Reading from a statement prepared by the PTA Council's executive board, Mr. Bialecki brought up other concerns.The public does not understand why the school system is looking at year-round education and how it "may adversely affect the monetary support from local and state governments as far as funding of the capital budget," he read.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer proposed yesterday to give five school systems money to study, implement or test year-round school schedules beginning early next year.Under Mr. Schaefer's plan, which he outlined at a statewide conference on year-round education, the five districts would get as much as $100,000 each in state money to explore alternate schedules.Proponents say the year-round concept would lower school construction costs and increase student achievement, but many parents and others are dubious.

Students worried about having to spend their summers in the classroom have little to fear: Year-round schools won't be coming to Maryland anytime soon.The idea -- pushed by former Gov. William Donald Schaefer as a cheap way to solve student crowding -- has failed to gain support in the state's fastest-growing counties. And with Gov. Parris N. Glendening taking a more passive role in the debate, it doesn't appear that that's going to change."Year-round education is not dead, but it may be in hibernation," said Eileen Oickle, a senior specialist in middle and high school learning in the state's Department of Education.

Despite resounding opposition to year-round schooling in a recent survey, the Howard County school board is pressing ahead with a proposal for state funding to explore the idea."

JESSICA BRAUSESCHOOL: Atholton High SchoolHOMETOWN: ColumbiaAGE: 16Jessica serves as the student associate to the five-member Board of Education, a role in which she represents the 36,000 students enrolled in the county's elementary, middle and high schools.As a student associate, she attends the school board's regularly scheduled meetings and gets to share her opinions on matters important to students, such as year-round education, the budget and changes to school system policies.At Atholton, she belongs to the Spanish and French clubs and Amnesty International.

Howard County schools Superintendent Michael E. Hickey is expected to unveil his proposal for next year's operating budget at tonight's school board meeting.Unlike in previous years, the superintendent has not released advanced copies of his fiscal year 1995 proposal to reporters.But Dana Hanna, chairman of the school board, said he hopes that the superintendent's proposal will allow for restoration of programs that have suffered cutbacks in recent years."It's been tough times for the past few years," Mr. Hanna said.

The Howard County school board will decide in April whether to place the county's elementary and middle schools on a year-round calendar.The board agreed late Thursday night to make a decision during its April 25 meeting. The board scheduled a public hearing for April 2 and a public work session for April 18.The decision was delayed until April to give members of the community time to study a report presented to the board Thursday night explaining how the traditional 10-month calendar could be stretched to 12 months.

ONE OF THE arguments being used by local proponents of year-round schools is that they could help troubled institutions such as Severn's Van Bokkelen Elementary, where social problems breed poor pupil performance. Without a doubt, a year-round calendar or even longer school days which would extend the calendar beyond the state-mandated 180 days ought to be considered for Van Bokkelen.Schools in similarly impoverished, transient communities, such as Robert W. Coleman Elementary in West Baltimore, have found that year-round schooling promotes stability and cuts down on "summer learning loss," especially with remedial students, who account for a disproportionately large percentage of the population at such schools.