Year-Round Students Yearn for the Ol’ Days
Puberty has arrived in Ann Howitt’s sixth-grade class.
The girls whisper about their newest crushes. The boys chat about the newest couples. The girls wear dresses. The boys comb their hair.
“You got to find out who is going with who,” Jacob Bailey, 12, said. “You can’t mess with the wrong one or you can get in trouble.”
Yes, they are changing every day, but one thing hasn’t been altered by time: their opposition to year-round schools.
In July, they started school in triple-digit temperatures--without air conditioning. The teacher had trouble motivating them. The students stared outside and missed playing with friends.
In October, even the celebration of their first six-week break since summer provided no consolation.
And now again, as they embark Friday on a six-week break until mid-May, Howitt’s maturing students still don’t like the new system.
“It feels like we should be able to get out for the whole year,” Jacob said. “But we’re going to have to come back again.”
For Mike Alpuche, 12, the year-round schedule has left him a bit confused.
“You get used to being off,” Mike said, “and then you got to go back. And you only have a little time to get your memory back.”
Howitt, however, has learned how to overcome the memory problem. Before each vacation, she ends a certain subject matter, and begins with new issues when the youngsters return. It actually makes her plan more precisely.
At first, Howitt grew frustrated because the hot weather forced her to go more slowly than she would have preferred. The students could only consume so much when distracted by the heat, she said.
But today, after eight months of instruction, she is pleased with their overall progress.
“Even though we didn’t move fast in the beginning,” Howitt said, “these kids didn’t have the interruptions other classes have had.” During the year, she added, students are often distracted by clubs, candy sales and other school-supervised programs, “but in summer, none of that stuff was going on, so they could learn more.”
Once the students return in May for the final six weeks of school, Howitt said, she will focus her math instruction on ratios and concentrate her social studies instruction on Canadian history. “They have basically learned most of what they’re going to learn this year,” she said.
Meanwhile, the students are looking forward to vacation, but have some reservations.
“It would be better if it were longer,” said Cameron Duty, 11. “This just isn’t enough time.”
Juan Avino, 13, said vacations in the middle of the year aren’t nearly as attractive as time off during the summer.
“Nintendo gets boring real fast,” Juan said, “and you even feel like going to school after a while. That’s not a problem during the summer.”
Al Diaz, 11, said it’s hard to play in neighborhood sports leagues because his schedule differs from those of other youngsters. He said he signed up for baseball but doesn’t know how he will balance his class responsibilities with sports.
“I still don’t like it,” Al said, referring to year-round schools. “And I certainly don’t want to be back in the summer again.”
The memories of the sultry days in class last summer remain with Howitt’s class. On a psychological level, they still haven’t been able to accept the concept of school in summer.
“Summer is for fun,” Mike said. “You think of playing, not doing schoolwork.”
BACKGROUND
Beginning last summer, 23 San Fernando Valley schools started year-round instruction, affecting thousands of youngsters. To chronicle one group of youngsters’ reactions to the schedule, Valley View has followed Ann Howitt’s sixth-grade class at Sylmar Elementary through its first year on the new plan. In this third report, the class is about to begin a six-week break.
