Nicholas Hall’s first period language arts class at John Adams College and Career Academy is rarely full, he said, especially during the first few weeks of his school’s year-round school calendar.
John Adams starts school in July, about three weeks earlier than most other schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). That different start date is probably why more than half of John Adams’ students don’t come to school until the traditional schools start in August, he said.
“It’s a huge challenge,” he said. “It’s like we have two first days of school.”
John Adams is one of six CMSD high schools with a year-round calendar, which has a shorter summer break and additional breaks throughout the year. The district has several other alternate calendars with different breaks, including some with longer school days.
CMSD is considering changing the school calendars for two reasons: to save millions of dollars and to give students at all schools similar experiences.
Right now, the district is considering two options. One would put nearly all schools on the same traditional school calendar with a long summer break. The second option would trim the calendars but allow some schools to continue with longer school days.
School officials said recent research showed that the additional school days didn’t translate to better test scores in math and reading, according to the study. The cash-strapped district could save $9.3 million if it cuts the number and length of days for many schools or $4.1 million if it lets some schools keep longer days.
CMSD staff plan to formally recommend calendar changes to the Board of Education at its March 18 meeting. Board members will vote on those changes at the end of April. Any changes will take effect next school year.
Students, teachers, parents and community members have strong opinions both opposing and supporting a single traditional school calendar. Some parents say alternative calendars better prepare students for college and the workforce while preventing learning loss over the summer. Others like a longer break for summer jobs and family vacations. Some teachers have found ways to incorporate internships into their longer school years, while others say all the different calendars create problems with attendance and curriculum schedules.
Signal Cleveland heard from more than 100 people with questions and comments about CMSD’s calendars and changes the district is considering.
‘Difficult to align’ curriculum schedules
Without the right support, a year-round calendar can be challenging for both teachers and students, said Hall, the John Adams teacher. Most of CMSD’s schedules for curriculum and athletics, for example, are based on the traditional calendar with different breaks, he said. Teachers often have to play catch up on lessons because the district’s curriculum schedule doesn’t account for the longer fall, winter and spring breaks at year-round schools, he said.
“It’s extremely difficult to align with a calendar that’s about a month off, sometimes more, than our school is,” Hall said.
If CMSD leaders decide to put John Adams on a traditional school calendar, Hall and other teachers would have to take a pay cut because they would be working fewer hours. But being on the same calendar with the district’s other schools would be worth it, Hall said. Having curriculum and test schedules lined up with the rest of CMSD would take some pressure off teachers and students at year-round schools, he said. It would also make it easier for teachers to collaborate across different schools, he said.
“The pay change in terms of going from year-round to traditional, it’s significant,” Hall said. “It’s definitely something I’m thinking about, but I don’t know. I think the pros outweigh the cons in that regard.”
Incorporating internships into the school year
Alternative calendars may not work in every CMSD school, but students and teachers at some schools make good use of the extra days, said Rev. B. A. Gregg, a Latin teacher and head of the professional medicine pathway at the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine.
The Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, one of the district’s highest-rated schools, has specialized career pathways for students who want to study specific fields. Because of that model, the school adopted an extended-year calendar with 20 more school days than the typical CMSD calendar. Most students use extra days at the end of the school year to do internships, Gregg said, adding that some students use the time to catch up in classes if they’re behind.
Teachers guide students each step of the way, from finding to completing their internships, Gregg said. When the program began, Gregg personally visited students to make sure they were doing OK at their internships, he said.
Many students at the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine plan to be the first in their family to go to college, he said, so they rely on guidance from teachers who have experience getting students ready for higher education. If CMSD decides to cut the extra days, it would be more challenging for students to secure the kinds of experiences they need to get into prestigious universities, he said.
“The first thing they’re going to lose is a solid support network for their internships and all their other summer programs,” Gregg said. “Plus, they’re going to lose the incentive to do it.”
In presenting CMSD’s suggested calendar cuts to the Board of Education, Chief Academic Officer Selena Florence said schools would still have options to provide extra enrichment activities for students and extra professional development for teachers. For now, it’s unclear how that would work.
‘I may end up looking at other schools’
Tanya Holmes, the owner of a Cleveland farm called Ka-La Healing Garden Center, believes a long summer break gives students opportunities for extra learning through summer jobs.
Holmes works with Youth Opportunities Unlimited to employ young people at her farm over the summer, but it’s more than just a job, she said. She teaches students about growing food and running a business, but some students miss out on parts of the experience because they have to go back to school early, she said.
Holmes grew up in New York City, where the schools end in June and start up in September after Labor Day. She thinks a traditional CMSD calendar should have start and end dates like that to better align summer break for summer jobs and family vacations.
“I’m working all summer with the kids,” Holmes said. “Now I can have some vacation time, and my grandson is like, ‘Grandma, I go to school in about a week.’”
A long summer break like that doesn’t work for everyone, though. Cleveland resident Maria Davila’s two sons both chose year-round CMSD schools specifically for the alternative calendar, she said. Her older son graduated from MC2 STEM High School, and her younger son currently goes to Davis Aerospace & Maritime High School.
The year-round calendar is more in line with the real world beyond school, Davila said. She also noticed that her sons progress through school better because they don’t lose as much as they would over a long summer break, she said.
“It’s that continuity that prepares them for real world working because you’re not going to get three months off in the summer,” Davila said. “Seeing them grow academically and retain the knowledge and develop their skill sets. They’re not learning the same thing over and over again.”
The year-round calendar works for Davila herself, too. As a working single mother, she doesn’t have to worry as much about what her children get up to during a long summer, she said. And during the longer fall and spring breaks, her son at Davis finds temporary jobs to keep himself busy.
“For me and my family, I don’t know at this moment,” Davila said. “I may end up looking at other schools, whether I have to send them to private schools or not. I send them to Cleveland public schools just because they enjoy the year-round learning so much, but if that goes away, then, I mean, what’s the difference between going to a public or going to a private school?”