Keeping students - and pencils - sharp year-round

VIRGINIA BEACH

Students at most Beach schools will struggle to get their brains back in gear when school restarts next week. But for about 1,650 students at the city's four year-round elementaries, classes have been under way for more than a month.

Progress reports already went home, and at one year-round school, Seatack Elementary, fifth-graders are preparing for their first strings concert.

A shorter break is one way year-round schools aim to reduce the academic forgetfulness that takes place over the summer. Over students' school careers, all those summers off add up. By ninth grade, less-stimulating summers lead to lower academic performance by students from poor families, according to a study published last year in the American Sociological Review.

This fall, Beach schools are reviewing how well the year-round programs at Seatack, Plaza, Point O'View and Corporate Landing elementaries are working.

Pattie Adams said her family moved from King William County in part so three of her four 10-year-old sons could attend a year-round school.

"They blossom at Seatack," she said.

In orchestra class on a recent August morning, the boys learned how to position their fingers on their new string instruments: the cello for Joey, the viola for Ricky and the violin for Johnny. The fraternal brothers are in fifth grade at Seatack, but their brother Tommy will attend Pembroke Elementary in September.

All of the boys have learning or physical disabilities related to their premature birth. Shorter summers and breaks after 45-day instructional blocks have helped them catch up to their peers, Pattie said. They were born as a set of quintuplets, but their brother Jimmy died in infancy.

Tommy, who is blind, attended the now-closed state School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-disabled in Hampton. He will attend Pembroke because it has facilities for blind students.

Except for a brief summer program, Tommy has been home this summer. His brothers have been back to school since July 21.

Johnny, Ricky and Joey have varying opinions about whether it's worth giving up a few weeks of their summer, but their mother is convinced.

"The other three - it's been miracles," she said.

Reviews of the year-round programs at Plaza, Point O'View and Corporate Landing over the past few years showed academic gains and parental support, but difficulty attracting enough students.

Families who live in the attendance zones of the city's four year-round schools can choose that school or one with a traditional schedule. Typically, more choose the traditional schedule.

Last fall, three year-round schools were at least 20 percent under capacity, double the average number of empty seats in city elementaries.

Irv Beard is principal at Birdneck Elementary, which enrolls the students who opt out of Seatack. He supports the year-round concept, but said it doesn't work for everyone. At Birdneck, 60 percent of his students come from military families and 40 percent turn over each year. Most come from schools on traditional calendars.

The year-round schedule can also be complicated if families have older children, he said.

That's because no Beach middle schools are year-round. Hampton has one year-round middle school and seven year-round elementaries.

Beard said that to combat summer learning loss, his staff sends home tips to parents and encourages students to read books and practice math at the grocery store.

If they don't, there's an inevitable "ramp-up" in the fall, he said.

The Adams boys will face that challenge next year when they enter middle school.

"I wish it could go to 12th grade," their mother said.

Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com