Brevard district to start a year-round school pilot program at one elementary site

After about two and a half months of discussion, the Brevard Public Schools board is moving forward with a pilot year-round school program at Challenger 7 Elementary School in Port St. John.

The program comes after multiple talks regarding the concept, with Board Chair Megan Wright championing the move. Though the initial discussion in December didn't focus on a specific school, the board gave direction to move forward with the pilot program at Challenger 7 at Tuesday's work session.

Wright, who grew up in Brevard and attended year-round school as a child, hopes it's just the first of multiple schools to offer the program.

"I've heard from several people that are like, 'Why cant we have this at our school?' And I'm like, 'Well, maybe one day,'" she said.

What does the year-round calendar look like?

Year-round school isn't new to Challenger 7. Previously, the school offered it several decades ago.

School would start July 22 and end May 28. Breaks would be scheduled throughout the year, but unlike in a typical school year, there would not be a long break over the summer.

Tentatively, this is how breaks would be spread out:

• First two-week break: Sept. 23-Oct. 4

• Second two-week break: March 10-March 21

• Thanksgiving holiday: Nov. 25-Nov. 29

• Winter break: Dec. 23-Jan. 3

• Third two-week break: March 10-March 21

Students would also get certain holidays off, like Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day, and there would be early release days every Friday.

How do parents, teachers feel about the change?

Challenger 7 currently has just under 500 students in attendance. Of the 259 parents and guardians surveyed, 66.8% said they would remain enrolled at the school if the school switched to a year-round calendar, while 33.2% said they would not.

That breaks down to about one grade’s worth of students who would no longer be attending the school. For families who want to opt out, their children can attend Atlantis Elementary School or Enterprise Elementary School.

Students may also be able to choice in to the program from nearby schools.

Of the 86 families that gave reasons for not wanting to do year-round school, 72 said scheduling was a contributing factor to their decision. Childcare was the second biggest reason families gave.

Staff was largely in favor of the change. Of the 50 staff members surveyed, one person — or 6% — said they would not stay in their position if the school switched to a year-round schedule. All others said they would stay.

Wright said when the idea was presented to teachers, they responded with overwhelming positivity.

"When we had the teacher meeting — this doesn't happen like this very often, but we got a round of applause at the end of it," she said. "Staff is on board. They love it."

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Board response

The board was largely in favor of the proposed calendar, though they expressed some concerns related to families adapting to the change, after-school costs and transportation.

After-school care would be available during the three two-week breaks — something that is only available at certain sites during the summer. Harris said there would be a cost associated with it that would match the summer program.

There’s also the possibility that the school could offer an academic enrichment program during breaks, which would be free.

Supporting families through the transition was an important point for Jennifer Jenkins, who brought up that families may not be able to coordinate childcare with grandparents without the extended period of time over summer, or may struggle to get their disabled students into after school programs or daycare.

“Many after-school (programs) and daycares are not going to take students with moderate to significant disabilities,” she said. “That’s just a reality for many of our families. Students who have even just ADHD — if their child is running around the room and knocking over furniture, a daycare doesn’t want to deal with that, and they kick that child out of that daycare.”

She also worried about families with custodial agreements, asking that the board approve the calendar as early as possible to prevent any issues.

Superintendent Mark Rendell clarified that with the board's blessing, they could move forward to bring the calendar to a board meeting for approval.

"And then any other ... things that we have to do to accommodate all these needs would come back for board approval," he said.

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Pilot program for year-round school kicks off in July at 1 Brevard site