How would "year-around" schooling affect scouts?

[SpEdScouter]

Their is a growing trend towards year-around schooling which basically means no long summer breaks. Just 2 week long breaks between sessions.

 

Does anyone do this in their areas?

 

How would such a system affect scouting and summer activities like camps?

[Eagle94-A1]

Currently we have 2 Scouts that are year round; one is homeschooled so summer activities are not a problem as the family can work around them. However the other is in a private, year round school, and it does indeed affect him. 

 

This past summer, the troop had a narrow window of weeks he could attend summer camp. He was unable to do trip he wanted to go on, the AT trek, due to being back in school.  Further on some late meeting nights, he had to cut it short due to homework and school. It's bad enough that his mother requires him to leave 30 minutes early whenever school is in session, but having to leave an hour early cuts into some stuff. (He lives 45 minutes one way away the troop. He's actually spends more time on the road than at meetings, but that is both His wish and his dad is willing to do whatever it takes.)

[fred johnson]

IMHO, we will see drastic changes in how schooling is provided in the next 10 to 50 years.  More online.  More flexible.  More cafeteria set of options instead of one monolithic school year.  

 

Scouting will adjust.  Perhaps instead of sending 30 to 50 kids from one troop at the same time, scouts will form groups that go at different times.  Perhaps another option.  We will see many many changes over the next 50 years.

[NJCubScouter]

This has not been seriously proposed for New Jersey public schools.  The conventional wisdom for why we are still on a schedule designed to allow students to help Dad harvest the crops, when there are precious few crops to be harvested, is basically that (1) it would be too costly to pay the teachers what would amount to about a 16 percent increase and (2) many schools, particularly those more than about 20 years old, are not air-conditioned and it would cost a lot to change that.  I don't necessarily believe these are insurmountable problems, but I keep hearing about them every time someone dares to raise the subject.

 

Are there states that have completely eliminated the summer break?  I would think there would definitely be a major impact on Scouting in that situation.

[RememberSchiff]

Year round public schooling here is growing but only for those students

     - who have IEP's which require it.

     - who are below grade achievement levels as determined by assessment tests.

Both take a week break here or there for camp or family vacation.

 

Year round work for adults is a bigger issue. Less vacation time and less certainty in scheduling it.

Edited August 29, 2016 by RememberSchiff

[Horizon]

Here is our local schedule:

 

July 13 - First day for Year-Round Students

Fall Recess Sept 19, 2016-Oct 7, 2016

Winter Recess Dec 19, 2016 - Jan 6, 2017

Spring Recess March 20, 2017 - April 7, 2017

Last day for ALL students: June 9th

 

Impact: Summer Camp scheduling, if it is to include the entire troop together, has to be between June 9th and July 13th if the year-round kids are to attend. Note that for us, year-round is only through 8th grade / Middle School.

 

We have done Summer Camp "early" to allow the Troop to go together, though the number of year-round kids shifts over time. I would love to see our year-round kids take better advantage of their long breaks, but that only happens if there is a parent ASM whose child is in the program.

[perdidochas]

Their is a growing trend towards year-around schooling which basically means no long summer breaks. Just 2 week long breaks between sessions.

 

Does anyone do this in their areas?

 

How would such a system affect scouting and summer activities like camps?

 

Local camps would open based on local school calenders.

[NJCubScouter]

Year round public schooling here is growing but only for those students

     - who have IEP's which require it.

     - who are below grade achievement levels as determined by assessment tests.

Both take a week break here or there for camp or family vacation.

Right, in NJ they call that "Extended School Year" but it only covers a fraction of the school population. Most IEP's do not require it, and as for your second category, if it is not an IEP situation I think the student has to fall into the "economically disadvantaged" category AND have limited achievement. I believe federal grants pay for that group.

 

But my assumption was that this thread was about year-round schooling for ALL students.

[qwazse]

...But my assumption was that this thread was about year-round schooling for ALL students.

If all your boys have IEPs which require it, then you have bigger problems.

[NJCubScouter]

If all your boys have IEPs which require it, then you have bigger problems.

I think you misread my post.

 

The original post seems to be about year-round schooling for everybody. It has nothing to do with IEPs.

[meyerc13]

This is an interesting question.  For a Cub Scout leader, I think it would be easier to hold year round den meetings if School was in session year round.  Our Pack always meets on Monday nights if the School is open.  So we stop holding Den Meetings in summer, and resume again in the fall.  I can definitely see the challenge though in scheduling camp.  Our Pack historically went to Webelos resident camp in late July, and Cub Scout resident camp in early August.  We've been hesitant to go earlier than that due to a lot of kids voluntarily going to summer school (which runs from June to mid-July).

 

Living in a cold climate, I can't help but think that we won't see year round schooling because of the tourism impact.  Waterparks, swimming pools, etc. are only accessible for a few months in the summer, and having School in session during those periods of time would mean a huge drop in attendance (not to mention a crazy amount of people during the weeks when all schools go on break).

[Zaphod]

Some CA school districts have year round schooling. What makes it really hard to adjust is that they are not all on the same schedule. They have 2 months on and one off but not all at the same time (this allows them to save money by having teachers teach year round). My stepson lives in that area so I researched it to figure out how it would impact his visitation schedule. It was almost impossible to predict what schedule he would be on from one year to the next. So I think Scout Troops would have to make plans to accommodate all the different schedules and say goodbye to entire Troop outings in the summer. Probably group Patrols by schedule and be willing to make changes every year. 

[JosephMD]

My state just mandated that the school year start after labor day and end before June 15 with a 180 day requirement.  They can extend beyond June 15 if there are emergency closures for weather, etc.

 

My children are home schooled, and they do go year round, and since we set the scheudle, we can work it around any scouting activities.

[David CO]

Their is a growing trend towards year-around schooling which basically means no long summer breaks. Just 2 week long breaks between sessions.

 

Does anyone do this in their areas?

 

How would such a system affect scouting and summer activities like camps?

 

I don't know of any year-round schools in my area.

 

If we had year-round schools, I should think it would have no negative effect on the viability of campgrounds.  It might even help them. 

 

There are a lot of people who don't like camping on hot summer days, but would love to do a week of scout camping in the fall.  

 

I have directed Outdoor Education programs during the regular school year, in the spring and fall, and I think it is every bit as much fun as summer camp.

[Stosh]

With the heavy emphasis on AP type classes and "success in the classroom", a lot of our boys attend summer school as well as regular school.  Year around school is just around the corner for us and a few of the grade schools have already moved in that direction.