• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

School Delay Effects Unclear: Tourism Industry, Teachers, Students Adjust to Later Year

Posted on: Monday, 5 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Marti Maguire, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Jun. 5--Steve Unruhe's students are learning a lot in their Advanced Placement calculus class as the school year winds down.

But none of it has much to do with calculus.

Ananda Silva has worked her fingers till they're sore knitting a doll during the 90-minute class, while Jerry Tsao has fed his fellow students four times in his pursuit of the perfect homemade pizza.

Unruhe credits state lawmakers for these unusual lessons in his class at Durham's Riverside High School.

When the General Assembly passed a law that delayed the fall semester start of school in most districts, that meant additional weeks of school in the spring. AP students had three weeks of class left after their exams in early May, the dates of which are set nationally by the College Board.

Unruhe decided to let students decide how to fill the time. "They're learning something, but we've already covered calculus," Unruhe said.

It's too soon to tell what economic impact the new calendar has had on the state's tourism industry, which pushed for the change. But students and teachers, particularly at high schools, say the new calendar has created unwanted ripples.

It cut two weeks off the time AP teachers have to teach material before the exams. That created a hurry-up-and-wait class environment. Lauren Jackson, one of Unruhe's students, said both of her AP classes moved especially fast in the spring semester.

"There were things that would normally take three days that you just went over, practiced and moved on," she said. "My teachers were stressed and rushing to go through things quickly."

Other teachers say morale hit rock bottom -- for them and their students -- during the four-day week between Memorial Day and exams in most districts. Under the old schedule, students would not have returned after Memorial Day or would have come back only for exams.

Sitting around a table at Clayton High School last week under a blaring June sun, a group of students bemoaned being in school.

"I ran a mile today in 90-degree heat," freshman Kiersten Holloman said.

Ian Hornsby, a sophomore, said he should be at work, manning the concession stand at the Riverwood Athletic Club. Now, managers must do his job until he can get there after school, he said.

"I feel like it's summer already," Ian said. "It's hard to concentrate."

English teacher Carol Allen at Raleigh's Broughton High School agrees.

"When it gets hot, it's hard to keep them focused," she said.

Winter of discontent

As part of the new schedule, some students who graduated after the fall semester couldn't go straight to college. They were still finishing high school as the spring semester began at colleges.

Many educators also feared the winter break under the new calendar would hurt students who took state end-of-course tests in January instead of December. They might have forgotten material or studied less because of vacations.

No statewide analysis has been done yet, but Wake students performed better on their end-of-course tests in most subjects than they had the year before, said David Holdzkom, assistant superintendent for evaluation and research.

Eddie Davis, president of the N.C. Association of Educators, points out that students in the Northeast, where most districts start school after Labor Day, have been taking AP tests early for years.

He said North Carolina students are "no more disadvantaged than kids in New Jersey."

The teachers group initially opposed the calendar, but eventually backed it after a provision was added that cut by five the number of days teachers must work while students are out of school. Still, Davis said the calendar issue continues to divide his members.

"A lot of it has to do with tradition and people being used to certain things happening," he said. "They don't want to see that change."

The state school board and administrators associations opposed the new calendar. High school principals, in particular, were rankled, because they wanted to finish the fall semester before the long winter break.

"Most of the educators with whom I work feel that this in no way was done with the interests of students at heart," said Riverside High Principal James Key.

What about tourists?

Hotel occupancy rates were up more than 5 percent in August last year -- the first year the start of school was delayed -- said Marlise Taylor, tourism research director for the N.C. Department of Commerce.

But an August bump this year would have to outweigh a dip in May and June, when some families didn't get to take vacations because students were still in school.

At the Oceanana Beach Resort at Atlantic Beach in Carteret County, property manager Tom Outlaw acknowledges slower sales this beach season because of the later school year.

On Friday, he was minding his cell phone for reservations as he put umbrellas and plastic chairs out. It's a job high school students would normally do.

But Outlaw is not complaining. "I'd rather have [kids out of school] in August, when it's still hot and people are trying to get their vacations in," Outlaw said.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: The News & Observer

More News in this Category