Owl Creek School Considers Longer School Year

Continuous learning calendar similar to two other Fayetteville schools

Dave Bowman, Trail Trekker volunteer coordinator with Fayetteville’s Parks and Recreation Department, talks Saturday to kids about bike trail safety Saturday morning before the start of the Family Bike Ride for students and families at Owl Creek School .
Dave Bowman, Trail Trekker volunteer coordinator with Fayetteville’s Parks and Recreation Department, talks Saturday to kids about bike trail safety Saturday morning before the start of the Family Bike Ride for students and families at Owl Creek School .

FAYETTEVILLE — Teachers and administrators at Owl Creek School are putting the finishing touches on information for parents about moving to a continuous learning calendar for the 2014-15 school year.

The information packet will go home with students today. Parents are encouraged to study the information, ask questions and record their thoughts on a survey in early May.

Power Point presentations will be available on the school’s website, explaining the work of the four committees that have researched the proposal and how such a calendar works at other schools.

At A Glance

Owl Creek School

Location: 375 N. Rupple Road

Opened: 2006

Enrollment: 806

Mascot: Owls

Motto: “Owls Soar”

Source: Staff Report

School Year

At least six schools in Arkansas are on some type of continuous learning calendar.

Fayetteville: Asbell and Happy Hollow elementary schools.

Bentonville: Elm Tree and R.E. Baker elementary schools.

Rogers: Eastside Elementary School.

Little Rock: Siatech High Charter.

Source: Arkansas Department Of Education

The format for Owl Creek would be similar to Happy Hollow and Asbell elementary schools. Happy Hollow has been on the schedule for more than 10 years.

The school year is four weeks longer, but students are in class the same 180 days required by the state. The school year starts two weeks before a traditional calendar and ends two weeks later. Three one-week intersessions are scheduled as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring breaks.

One-week intersessions would be in October, February and May. Students could take remediation classes in math and literacy or enroll in an enrichment class.

The intersessions are being designed to engage students by offering an array of enrichment programs such as astronomy, pet grooming and cooking.

Kim Noland likes the idea of shortening the summer vacation by several weeks because boredom often sets in by the end of summer.

The plan will be a good move for her 9-year-old daughter because she will get breaks during the school year and can use that time off to refresh and get ready for the next segment of school.

“The breaks are good and we’re willing to give up those weeks in the summer,” she said. “This is for our children.”

Another parent, J’onnelle Colbert-Diaz, said she doesn’t get the summer off from her job and thinks she will save money on child care for her first-grader. The intersessions will help her child stay involved in school and get to know teachers and other students better.

Teachers have shown support for the switch in a survey, said Deena Brown, a first-grade teacher.

“I love it,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids to fill in the gaps and come to school for fun.”

The switch has to be approved by the Fayetteville School Board. The request probably will go to the board this summer, said Principal Kristen Champion.

Parents moving into Owl Creek’s attendance zone frequently mentioned the positive experiences they had elsewhere with an extended school year, Champion said. Those comments led to in-depth discussions of the plan. General conversations began about three years ago.

Another impetus was when major snowstorms hit the area and schools were closed 10 days during the winter, which pushed the end of the school year only two or three days before the continuous learning calendar schools.

A faculty leadership group strongly suggested nearly a year ago that the idea should get a stronger look, Champion said.

“We want to serve more students in a better way,” Champion said.

In the past few years, the school has struggled with raising student achievement which caused it to be designated “in school improvement” by the Arkansas Department of Education. That label has been removed, Champion said, but the experience was on the minds of teachers.

“School improvement caused us to examine everything we do, to find a way to provide a better product, that is, learning,” she said.

Proponents claim a longer school year raises student achievement because the frequent breaks allow students to refresh themselves during the school year.

However, Sarah McKenzie, the school district’s director of assessment, research and accountability, said, “The national research isn’t clear and isn’t real strong one way or the other.” She is examining test scores at Happy Hollow and Asbell.

One of the strongest complaints from parents is the confusion it causes if they have students on two different calendars.

“We’ve heard that concern,” Champion said. “But we have talked with parents who make the system work.”

Another school is watching the process at Owl Creek with an eye on possibly moving to a continuous learning calendar.

Matt Saferite, principal at Ramay Junior High School, said about half his students come from Owl Creek for eighth grade.

“We’re not officially considering this or studying it as deeply as Owl Creek,” Saferite said, describing it as more of a conversation.

He said in a districtwide realignment in 2015 Ramay will have seventh and eighth-graders when ninth-graders move to the high school.

“Every kid will be new at Ramay,” he said.

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