saving on school energy costs

[bj]

Lengthening the school day Mon thru Thurs and not running the school buses, a/c and heating on Fridays would save aBIG wad if money. But then parents would have to arrange child care for that Friday! Schools could set up childcare on Fridays much like they do in summers without heating EVERY room or the whole facility. How about that?

[Pamela Treacy]

Is this the survey that Knox County did or that the state did?

[momto3]

It was a state wide survey.

I would agree that it needs to be educationally sound, whatever the decision. I just think that Abl and I have to agree to disagree. I have never found any research (that wasn't paid for by a biased group) that says either year round or traditional calendars have any substantial academic impact. It just doesn't make a difference when you teach children, it's the who that's teaching them and the student's interest, and parental involvement that make for successful academics.

So for me, deciding on starting the school year later (and doing so does not mean that you MUST test after winter break) in order to save much needed money is worth considering.

I hope that with Dr. McIntyre's coming from a system that starts around September 8th, he will have the open mind, and understanding that school start dates don't make for successful students. Giving our teachers every bit of help and support is what will make that happen.

[Abl]

If you will read some of the articles I referenced you will find support of year-round schooling that has not been funded by a biased group. That being said, the statistics you provided were funded by a biased group. It's not fair for you to say you won't accept any information from a biased group while at the same time only providing support for your opinion that comes from biased groups (Save our Summers and the Coalition for a Traditional School Year).

My disagreement with you is not over when the school calendar should start, but with the documentation you are presenting to support your view. The logic is faulty.

[momto3]

The only thing that should, at this economic time, support my view about when school should start is the savings to be had by moving the start date. A later start date saves money, there is no support of an alternative view.

Nevermind the documentation to support a traditional or year round school system, it's irrelevant in the issue of saving money in schools.

I never said I won't accept information from a biased group, you did. I will read it but I consider the source, I prefer to base my reasoning on information that was gathered by groups with no self-interest in the out come of the study

The statistics re: the survey, I provided were paid for by a group that supports a later start date, but the questions that were asked were not developed by them. USA Survey did that. If you read the questions carefully you can discern whether they are biased or not. I don't believe they are. You may decide otherwise, but that may have something to do with not liking the answers people gave.

The Knox County school board had Donna Wright and Russ Oaks present information to Dr. Gantt at UT and draw up a calendar survey based on their information. A survey that is full of biases because those providing the information weren't diverse enough.

You only needed to read the survey to see the bias, knowing that the information provided for it was from the school administration and not a diverse group of people representing ALL calendar configurations and not just those closely associated with the school administration only adds to its discredit and the likely bias of the results. If a later start date is the "winner" in that survey it will only be because the few (I think EVERYONE deserved to be surveyed) who took the survey were able to discern what the questions were steering you to answer in a particular manner.

One glaring example, the August 18th option could have easily had a short fall break included and still test high schoolers prior to winter break. But that is not how that option was presented. Why? Because it would have garnered more yes votes. It would have included just about everything most folks like, a later start date, a fall break (no, not a week off) and testing prior to winter break. But they didn't include those in that option because they didn't want people to choose that start date.

I also maintain that the research I have used to support my claim that neither year round nor traditional calendars have any inherit academic value were provided by two unbiased university research studies. The support comes from the Ohio State University and Arizona State University not Save Tennessee Summers or the Coalition for a Traditional School Year. I really have no desire to continue trying to point out your inaccuracies in your explanation of how I present my "view." It's really tedious.

Again, it's about saving money. Earlier start dates, longer school years, cost more money. Moving the start date back and streamlining the calendar would save an enormous amount of money in utilities and non-instructional costs. The board could easily research that by asking for public information from the many school systems in the Southeast that now start school in late August. They could look at there own numbers and see the savings. I hope they are, I hope they are seriously looking at every area to save money, as long as it doesn't directly impact teachers or their classrooms.

[cathymccaughan]

I have a hard time imagining how a 4-day schedule would work at the high school level and I have the same concern that I had with the terrible staggered times schedule. You are talking about children getting home from school at or after dinner time on school nights. You are eliminating tutoring, sports, karate, clubs and many other activities that normally take place at 4. I don't care when the school year starts or ends. I care what we do with the limited amount of time that we have in the school. If we are truly interested in saving school energy costs, all new construction needs to be green and students shouldn't be bused past one school to attend another.

[bj]

school day... 7:00-3:45 = 8.75 hrs X 4 days = 35hrs
presently...amount of instructional time on Mon-Fridays ...8:00-3:00= 7 hrs X 5 days =35 hrs... same amount

It would be interesting to see who of the teachers, parents, students would "go for" the 4 day week

[momto3]

UGH! 7:00 AM! I would have to get my kids up by 5:45 AM for them to have time to get ready and eat, and then only have 15 minutes to get them to school (which takes 15 minutes), and they'd still get counted as tardy because you can't arrive right at 7:00 AM and be on time! You've got to get there early enough so your child can get out of the car and into their classroom BEFORE the bell rings at seven.

I think I'd end up being one of those parents in those meetings at West High school about chronically tardy or absent children!

Besides that problem, and with three kids, it really is a problem. I'd love to have them home with me on Fridays, fortunate for me, it's my day off too!

But would they be completely loaded down with more homework that would interrupt their extracurricular activities, or church activities? I get that it's the same amount of time for instruction, but would that actually translate into not feeling the need to load them down with more stuff to do at home?

[granma2]

Many classes at Farragut High School already start at 7 a.m. and have been for years because of the over-crowding.

[momto3]

Well, then, they have my sympathy if it's for non-elective courses and they have no choice, and/or their parents if they still have to get the child to school themselves.

[Karen Carson]

In response to posts on Page 1 of this thread I'd like to post the numbers in attendance at the West Knox high schools today:
Farragut High
9th: 399 10th: 402 11th: 500 and 12th: 529 Total 1830

Bearden High
9th: 493 10th: 496 11th: 4442 and 12th: 436 Total 1867

Karns
9th: 351 10th: 323 11th: 361 and 12th: 512 Total 1547

Hardin Valley
9th: 504 10th: 395 11th: 250 and 12th 0 Total 1149

I will repost the numbers after Labor Day.
Karen

[cathymccaughan]

Thank you for posting those numbers. Is enrollment expected to drop or increase? What about Austin-East or West?

[Ginevra]

Appreciate this information. Thank you