Big School Schedule Change in S. Nevada

[dancer_mom]

Hi all

It was just announced here that ALL elementary schools will be back on a traditional 9 month calendar starting next school year. (affects 50 some odd schools) This is for Clark County school district which encompasses most of S. Nevada.

I have no idea how this might or might not affect the Disneyland crowd patterns (I imagine lots of parents take kids out of school for vacations no matter which schedule they are on)

Just thought it was an interesting bit of news and maybe the more seasoned DL folks can predict if there might be a difference??? Happy planning everyone!

 

[Lissame]

Wow, that's big news. My sister lives in Las Vegas and her kids have been on the "track" system since they started school. She loves it, that's too bad they are changing.

 

[tink929]

Oh, I had heard rumors, but didn't realize it was a definite! I wonder how it will affect traffic at DL...

We homeschool, so we always go when 9-monthers are in school anyway.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I wish we were on a 9 month schedule! The school I work at (where my boys go) and the school where my DH works are all a 10 month schedule! We have off June and July and back the second week in Aug. What happened to giving kids the full three months off? As our entire family lives by the school calender, going to DLR during "off times" is pretty much impossible for us.

 

[GrandBob]

Any rumors whether northern Nevada - Reno - may do the same thing?

Our granddaughter is on year-round right now. DSS & DDIL had gotten her on a track that worked perfectly with their schedule. Then they switched everyone to the same year-round track. Hello? What's the point of that?

The new track is the absolute worst for DDIL. DGD has off exactly those months that DDIL has to work Saturdays. They can't go on vacation at all! We're hoping that Washoe County (Reno) changes to a traditional 9 month schedule.

-Bob

 

[Ariel224]

Any rumors whether northern Nevada - Reno - may do the same thing?

Our granddaughter is on year-round right now. DSS & DDIL had gotten her on a track that worked perfectly with their schedule. Then they switched everyone to the same year-round track. Hello? What's the point of that?

The new track is the absolute worst for DDIL. DGD has off exactly those months that DDIL has to work Saturdays. They can't go on vacation at all! We're hoping that Washoe County (Reno) changes to a traditional 9 month schedule.

-Bob

Bob, changes for Reno/Sparks will be specific to the school. We are in Sparks. We received notification two weeks ago that our year round multitrack school is converting to year round single track this next year. The point is staffing reductions. On a multitrack schedule, personnel such as the principal, vice principal, secretaries, cafeteria workers, counselors, librarians, music teachers, janitorial staff, and anyone else not teaching a "specific" group of children, work all year long, only being off for 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for Spring Break, and 1 or 2 weeks during summer. With single track, those staff members will be contracted for far fewer days, as they will be off during the other midyear track breaks.

Additionally, we are assuming that there will be teacher layoffs resulting in larger class sizes across the board. On a multitrack system, typically there is only one classroom per track for each grade. (So, for example, you have four 3rd grade classes, one in each track.) Eliminating one teacher would essentially eliminate the the entire track for that particular grade. Going to single track allows the students for the laid off teacher to be redistributed into the three remaining classrooms.

Sorry your family is being so negatively affected by the changes. We are dealing with the fact that I have a coworker with much seniority who traditionally takes extended vacations during the exact months we will now be off.

 

[Kiwianna]

Single track, multi track,- could I please have a quick lesson that explains how your school year works?
It sounds a little more complicated compared to our system in New Zealand, where the schools close about a week before Christmas until late January/early February when the school year starts. Three more breaks of two weeks each in April, July, and September/October, give our schools a four term year.

 

[Ariel224]

Single track, multi track,- could I please have a quick lesson that explains how your school year works?
It sounds a little more complicated compared to our system in New Zealand, where the schools close about a week before Christmas until late January/early February when the school year starts. Three more breaks of two weeks each in April, July, and September/October, give our schools a four term year.

Let's see if I can not make this too complicated....

In a "traditional" US school calendar, there would be a couple of weeks off at Christmas, a week off in March or April and an extended summer vacation of 2.5 to 3 months (June, July, August). The new school year starts at the end of summer break.

In our district, single track and multitrack are two variations of a year round school calendar. Single track means that all students attend at the same time and have all of their vacations at the same time. Our school will go 3 months, then have about 4 weeks off, and repeat the cycle, inserting "traditional" vacation time for Christmas and 2 extra weeks in summer. This is our calendar for next year, to give you an idea. http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/docs/calendar/09-10single_track_green.pdf

On a multitrack schedule, it gets a bit more complicated. The school's population is divided into fourths (4 tracks). At any one time, 3/4 of the students (3 tracks) are in session, and 1/4 (1 track) are on break. At the beginning of each month, one track is returning and another track is going on break. This is called a 60/20 calendar, as they are in school for about 60 days (not including weekends) and then are off for about 20 days. This does result in a lot of changing of classrooms each month, which can be challenging for the teachers. The rationale behind this is that a school can accommodate more students in the physical space than if everyone goes at the same time. Here is a compilation calendar showing all of our 4 tracks (red, green, yellow and blue). http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/docs/calendar/MTYR_Calendars_09-10.pdf

There are other variations on this theme, such as 45/15 (9 weeks on and 15 days off). Our district is extremely lacking in standardization, and you will find all of the above described traditional and year round scenarios, depending on the elementary school you happen to be zoned for. Currently, all of the middle schools and high schools in the area follow a traditional calendar. This wreaks havoc on families with children in both year round elementary and traditional middle/high school.

Personally, I love our track assignment, as we are off the entire month of November....going to DLR!!!!

Hope this helps with, and doesn't add to, the confusion.

 

[Kiwianna]

Exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you so much Ariel 224.

 

[DaisyLuvr]

If the school was on the multiple track system then I would say that's sad news! I grew up on the 4 track system as did my Niece and we both loved it and so did our parents. We had off October, February and June so we took our Disneyland Vacations in those months which was great the parks were never as crowded. Now that my sister is in Junior High (we are 11 years apart) I take her to the parks in the off season by pulling her out for a Friday and a Monday when her work load is low. It's not ideal but we just can't stand the crazy high crowd times!

 

[lisalisalisa]

Let's see if I can not make this too complicated....

In a "traditional" US school calendar, there would be a couple of weeks off at Christmas, a week off in March or April and an extended summer vacation of 2.5 to 3 months (June, July, August). The new school year starts at the end of summer break.

In our district, single track and multitrack are two variations of a year round school calendar. Single track means that all students attend at the same time and have all of their vacations at the same time. Our school will go 3 months, then have about 4 weeks off, and repeat the cycle, inserting "traditional" vacation time for Christmas and 2 extra weeks in summer. This is our calendar for next year, to give you an idea. http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/docs/calendar/09-10single_track_green.pdf

On a multitrack schedule, it gets a bit more complicated. The school's population is divided into fourths (4 tracks). At any one time, 3/4 of the students (3 tracks) are in session, and 1/4 (1 track) are on break. At the beginning of each month, one track is returning and another track is going on break. This is called a 60/20 calendar, as they are in school for about 60 days (not including weekends) and then are off for about 20 days. This does result in a lot of changing of classrooms each month, which can be challenging for the teachers. The rationale behind this is that a school can accommodate more students in the physical space than if everyone goes at the same time. Here is a compilation calendar showing all of our 4 tracks (red, green, yellow and blue). http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/docs/calendar/MTYR_Calendars_09-10.pdf

There are other variations on this theme, such as 45/15 (9 weeks on and 15 days off). Our district is extremely lacking in standardization, and you will find all of the above described traditional and year round scenarios, depending on the elementary school you happen to be zoned for. Currently, all of the middle schools and high schools in the area follow a traditional calendar. This wreaks havoc on families with children in both year round elementary and traditional middle/high school.

Personally, I love our track assignment, as we are off the entire month of November....going to DLR!!!!

Hope this helps with, and doesn't add to, the confusion.

Thank you for the great explanation. We have three terms here with our main holidays at Christmas, Easter and 6 weeks in the summer.

If you have more than one child or children at a higher school do they all sync?

 

[Kiwianna]

Let's see if I can not make this too complicated....
In our district, single track and multitrack are two variations of a year round school calendar. Single track means that all students attend at the same time and have all of their vacations at the same time. Our school will go 3 months, then have about 4 weeks off, and repeat the cycle, inserting "traditional" vacation time for Christmas and 2 extra weeks in summer. This is our calendar for next year, to give you an idea. http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/docs/calendar/09-10single_track_green.pdf
.

I showed this to some children and the first thing they did was count up the number of days your school is open. So now, it is not fair, life sucks, etc.etc. because their school year is about twenty days longer.