You may hear year-round school and think, “Never in a million years would I want to go to school for the whole entire year!” Well, it’s not what it sounds like. Instead of having a long summer break, students in year-round school attend classes anywhere from six to nine weeks, broken up by two-to four-week breaks in between. In other words, students get more frequent, shorter breaks throughout the year.
Although Harrison High School does not do year-round school, there are twenty-two schools in Ohio that do. There are many pros and cons to year-round school. Since summer break gets shortened, students are less likely to forget the materials taught their previous year. It is also argued that year-round school prevents burnout amongst teachers and students, while also decreasing the amount of absences. Not only that, but it is also proven to solve overcrowding within the building.
With benefits, comes disadvantages… Parents may oppose the idea of year-round school because it essentially takes away the ability to travel during the summer. Although, it provides more chances to travel throughout the year. Since students would attend school during the summer, it would most likely eliminate most opportunities for kids to get summer jobs or participate in summer sports or camps that occur during the day. When it comes to fees, if a traditional school year suddenly transitions to a year-round school, the initial costs would increase. Along with that, it would be challenging for staff to get paid for year-round work.
Principal Joseph Pollitt states that year-round school has not been considered at Harrison High School. “I’ve been here for two years, and year-round school has never been brought up to me,” said Mr. Pollitt. He then goes on to discuss pros and cons of it. “Both of my boys play sports and extended breaks would interfere with sports; it would be a difficult transition with all of the different schedules.” Mr. Pollitt also mentions, “It would make it impossible to have year-round school within past years because we didn’t have air conditioning.”
Collectively, there are many pros and cons to the concept of year-round school. While it has never been brought up at Harrison, the information behind the concept is worth discussing. The transition to overall school would be a lot for Harrison students to handle. Would year-round school be something that interests you?
