ROGERS -- Arkansas Arts Academy is switching to a continuous learning calendar for the 2017-18 school year.
That means a shorter summer vacation and more breaks scattered throughout the school year compared to the calendar Arkansas Arts Academy and most other public schools now follow. The school's board approved the switch during its Jan. 10 meeting.
About the school
Arkansas Arts Academy, an open-enrollment charter school, has more than 700 students in grades kindergarten through 12. It began as the Benton County School of the Arts in 2001. About 59 percent of its students live in the Rogers School District and about 27 percent live in the Bentonville School District. The remaining 14 percent come from other districts in Benton, Washington and Carroll counties.
Source: Staff report
The next school year will start Aug. 1 and run through June 13, 2018.
In addition to the typical winter and spring breaks, students will be out of school the first two weeks of October, all of Thanksgiving week, the second full week of February, the last week of April and first week of May.
Eastside Elementary School in Rogers is the only other school in Benton County following a similar calendar.
Bentonville's Elm Tree Elementary and R.E. Baker Elementary schools also were on a continuous learning calendar for many years until this school year. Both were placed on a more traditional calendar along with the rest of the district's schools.
Mary Ley, the school's director, cited several benefits to the change, including less learning lost over the summer, more time for students and staff members to rejuvenate during the year, and more flexibility for families when it comes to planning vacations.
"It also gives teachers a chance to reflect and have time to recalculate when they get back from their breaks on which direction to go," Ley said.
Feedback from parents on the school's Facebook site has been mixed. Some parents said they loved the idea. Others complained about the potential difficulty of finding child care for their kids during the weeks off throughout the year.
Ley said she has been in touch with the Rogers Activity Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County about arrangements for children needing a place to go during vacations.
The idea to change the calendar came from Matt Young, principal of the Arkansas Arts Academy's elementary and middle schools, Ley said. Young began working for the school last year.
"I believe in Matt," Ley said. "Everything he's done so far has been right on."
Administrators determined there would be little to no financial impact as a result of the calendar change, Ley said. The number of school days and days for which staff members are being paid will remain the same.
Stephanie Summit of Bella Vista has a daughter, Madison, who is a freshman at the school. Summit said she's excited about the new calendar.
"It basically gives the kids five to six weeks of instruction, and then a week or two of a break. I think that's fabulous, because after so many weeks of learning and learning and learning, they can get a little burnt out," Summit said.
The calendar's six-week summer vacation -- about half of what's typical for public schools -- is long enough, Summit said.
Usually by the end of summer my daughter is itching to go back to school anyway. She's tired of being home doing a whole lot of nothing," Summit said.
NW News on 01/21/2017