Each year District 202 welcomes 2,400 to 2,500 new students to its learning community. Currently, we serve almost 20,000 students at 20 campuses. As our growth continues, the need for new schools continues. Projections show the district serving 55,000 students in the next 15-20 years. It is anticipated that an additional 34 schools will need to be built at an estimated net cost of about $800,000,000.  (See section II)

 The capital outlays plus the ongoing costs of operating these schools is a significant financial responsibility that has been and will be borne, for the most part, by the local property owners, the vast majority of which are homeowners.

Historically, our community has rallied behind our students and approved both building bond referenda and education fund referenda to support our growing enrollment. In fact, in March 2002, the community approved $159.9 million to build seven campuses over five years. The Board of Education was able to offset that cost by nearly $68 million through the State Construction Grant program. The recent advent of school facility impact fees that are being imposed by Plainfield and Joliet on future annexations will also reduce the burden on the taxpayer.

By 2007-2008, the schools approved in that referendum will be built and the district will again be facing space issues. Again our enrollment will exceed the number of seats available for students. Knowing that it cannot solely rely on the commitment of taxpayers to support our growth, the Board of Education believes it has the responsibility to research other potential solutions including impact fees to assist in paying for new school construction, lobbying efforts with our legislators in Springfield and Washington D.C. for school funding reform and alternative scheduling options including split shifts, overlap schedules and year round education.

In January 2003, the District 202 Board of Education formed a community-based task force to research the concept of Year Round Education. The scope and purpose of the task force is to study the concept of implementing year-round school in District 202 and its effects on students and on the learning community. This fact-finding committee has been studying the concept of YRE in order to bring a comprehensive report to the Board of Education.

The members of the task force, whose names appear below, consist of parents, teachers, support staff, administration, community members and a board of education member.

Facilitators

• Jon Balke – Assistant Superintendent (Retired)
• Ron Kazmar – Board of Education Member

• Glenna Adams – Timber Ridge Middle School Principal
• Brad Bueschel – Walkers Grove Elementary School Principal
• Eileen Nelson – Ridge Elementary School Principal
• George Schlott – Plainfield High School Central Campus Assistant Principal
• Sharon Gronemeyer – District Director of Special/Alternative Education

Teachers

• Terri Lucas-Anderson – Plainfield Academy
• Karie Beck – Association of Plainfield Teachers President
• Linda Schultz – Lakewood Falls Elementary School
• Steve Jepsen – Lakewood Falls Elementary School
• Gay Gallagher- Heritage Grove Middle School

Support Staff

• Mary Ann Kosicek – Timber Ridge Middle School Secretary

Parents

• Robert Galick – Elementary
• Maria Lyons – Elementary
• Gary Hutchison – Middle/High School
• Melanie Jones – Elementary/Middle
• Dave Strom – Elementary/Middle School

Community Members At Large

• James Ariagno
• James Waldorf

Advisory

• Steve Langert – Asst. Superintendent for Finance/Operations – District 230 and PCCSD 202 parent

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Definition of YRE

Single track YRE alters the traditional school calendar to permit a shorter summer vacation and allocates the time spent in school in a more balanced way throughout the year. Students still spend the same number of attendance days in school as they do on a traditional calendar. The school year begins earlier, ends later, and redistributes the students’ in-class and vacation time.

Multi-track YRE, which is what the task force is studying, involves that same concept but in addition to reallocating the school calendar, multi-track involves groups of students rotating on different attendance schedules called tracks. Multi-track’s greatest single advantage is that it has the potential to save the capital outlays for additional schools by increasing the student enrollment capacity of each school by up to 33%. Here is how it works:

Example:

Sample Schedule

July				August				September
1 to 9	10 to 16	17 to 23	24 to 30	31 to 4	5 to 11	12 to 18	19 to 25	26 to 1	2 to 8	9 to 15	16 to 22	23 to 29
Xxxx	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111
Xxxx	2222	2222	2222	2222	2222	2222				2222	2222	2222
Xxxx	3333	3333	3333				3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333
Xxxx				4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444
October				November					December
30 to 6	7 to 13	14 to 20	21 to 27	28 to 3	4 to10	11 to 17	18 to 24	25 to 1	2 to 8	9 to 15	16 to 22	23 to 29
1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111				xxxx
2222	2222	2222	2222	2222	2222				2222	2222	2222	xxxx
3333	3333	3333				3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	xxxx
			4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	xxxx
January					February				March
3 to 5	6 to 12	13 to 19	20 to 26	27 to 2	3 to 9	10 to 16	17 to 23	24 to 2	3 to 9	10 to 16	17 to 23	24 to 30
1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111				1111
2222	2222	2222	2222	2222	2222				2222	2222	2222	2222
3333	3333	3333				3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333
			4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444
April					May				June
31 to 6	7 to 13	14 to 20	21 to 27	28 to 4	5 to 11	12 to 18	19 to 25	26 to 1	2 to 8	9 to 15	16 to 22	23 to 29
1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111	1111
2222	2222	2222	2222	2222	2222					2222	2222	2222
3333	3333	3333				3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333	3333
			4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444	4444
Track 1:	1111
Track 2:	2222
Track 3:	3333
Track 4:	4444
All holiday:		xxxx

 Students are assigned into one of four different tracks, which each have their own separate schedule of attendance days. School hours do not change under this system, only the specific days that students are expected to attend. At any time during the year, one of the four tracks is on break, while the other three are attending classes. Students attend in intervals of 45 school days or nine weeks and then are off for 15 school days or three weeks. This schedule is commonly referred to as 45/15. When one track returns from break, another will then begin their three-week break. All groups have a common one-week break each during the traditional winter and summer break periods.

 This table illustrates how a 45/15 multi-track setting could work in Plainfield. Please remember this is being shown only to help you understand how the space savings are achieved. If year-round education is implemented in District 202, the exact schedule for each track may not look like this example.

As the table shows, during July 10^th through the 30^th, track 1, track 2 and track 3 are attending classes, while track 4 is on break. When track 4 returns to school on July 31^st, track 3 is scheduled to take their break. This type of schedule is continuous throughout the year.

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Task Force Methods

Early on, the task force divided into five committees. Each committee studied the impact of YRE on one of the five domains of public education:

1. Community and Culture
2. Human Resources
3. Curricular
4. Extra curricular
5. Financial and Operational

It is important to note that the task force’s role is to study and analyze the concept of YRE. As the next step, should the Board of Education decide to proceed with the possibility of implementing YRE, there are numerous implementation issues that are beyond the scope of the task force that will need to be evaluated by the district administration.

Our research began with assessing and reviewing the vast amount of information pertaining to YRE available on the Internet, and reading the book Year Round Schooling, Promises and Pitfalls by Carolyn M. Shields and Steven Lynn Oberg. We extensively interviewed former teachers, administrators and students from Valley View School District #365U, which was on a 45/15 multi-track year- round schedule for ten years in the 1970’s. We reviewed and discussed the findings of the various committees, which included among other things a summarization of over 700 e-mails received from parents, staff, students, and community members. We also solicited input from the public, the various park districts, day care centers, and the YMCA. A video, similar to this one was presented to all District 202 personnel to gather their feedback.

 During March 2004, three town hall meetings were held to present the task force’s findings and to gather feedback from the community in the form of a survey and comments. The results of the survey are presented in the community and cultural findings of this report.

 The observations and findings of each of the committee are presented below.

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Community and Culture

The primary focus of the community and culture committee is to gather and compile information regarding the public’s perceptions and concerns related to YRE. In order to promote such feedback, the committee presented through various channels, such as local newspapers, school newsletters and PTA flyers, an explanation of YRE and an invitation to respond by either e-mail or

U.S. mail to the following question: How do you think year round schools would affect you, your family or your business?

As a result of reviewing approximately 700 responses received over the course of six months, the following emerged as the community’s top issues and concerns:

                        1.Children from the same family being on the same track

                        2. Impact on daycare

                        3. Disruption of family summer vacations and other summer activities such as summer jobs

                        4. Effect on summer camps, park district programs and extra curricular activities

                        5. Children’s need for extended unstructured time

                        6. Enhanced student retention through shorter more frequent time off

                        7. Inconvenience of teachers having to change classrooms

                        8. Increased costs for salaries, air conditioning, etc.

                        9. Impact of hot summer weather on student’s ability to learn.

                        10. Maintenance of schools and the additional wear and tear on facilities and equipment

                        11. Keeping friends together on the same track

                        12.  Ability to have a summer school program

                        13. Overall social impact on the community

                        14. Opportunity for off-season vacations

                        15. Impact on school morale

                        16. Boredom during traditional summer break

                        17. Effect on special education

                        18. Potential for teacher burnout

                        19. Problems arising from being out-of sync with surrounding districts

                        20. Ability for teachers to attend summer graduate school

                        21. Money saved on constructing fewer schools

                        22. Impact on housing values

These are issues and concerns that must be considered during the planning and implementation of an YRE program. Similar concerns and issues were expressed at the three town hall meetings. (See section IV) If YRE is implemented, it is unlikely that all of these issues and concerns can be fully resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Based on our research, for YRE to be successful a certain degree of adaptability and cooperation are required on the part of the students, parents and community.        

Based on the 1,000 surveys returned by those in attendance at the three town hall meetings 87% considered YRE to be bad idea that warrants no further evaluation, 9% were unsure and needed more information, .3% had no opinion and .7% did not respond to the question. In addition, two petitions against YRE that contained approximately 1,200 signatures of District 202 residents were presented to the Board of Education at its meeting on March 22, 2004. It is apparent that parents are not in favor of YRE. For further details regarding the feedback gathered from the town hall meetings see sections IV and V. 

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Human Resources

The impact of YRE on the staff, whether it is administrators, teachers, or support staff, can be classified into three broad areas: work load, professional development and personal issues.

Workload issues include:

1. Completing tasks normally done during the summer such as curriculum planning, maintenance, class scheduling, transportation planning, etc.

2. Moving between classrooms when a track changes every three weeks

3. Ability to teach more than one track of students in the same classroom

4. Opportunity to substitute during off-track periods

5. Constant personal renewal because of frequent breaks versus one long summer break

6. Impact on curriculum, lesson planning and student learning

7. Significant complications with respect to scheduling, especially at the high school

8. Opportunity to work more days and earn more pay

9. Staff burnout due to students constantly being in the school

10. Communication with staff and students who are off track

Professional development issues for teachers centered on the ability to attend seminars or to do graduate course work during the summer. In addition, there is significant concern that adequate in-service, pertaining to teaching and curriculum planning in a multi-track YRE environment, be provided to teachers

Personal issues arose, especially with respect to those staff that are employed by District 202, but live in a different district where their children attend school. There are concerns that one of the prime benefits of working for a school district would be lost with YRE because vacations would no longer coincide with their children’s summer break. Also, there is a general concern about the loss of the traditional summer vacation to “recharge the batteries” so to speak.  Furthermore YRE could have an impact on staff retention and recruitment depending on the personal preferences of each individual with respect to working in an YRE environment.

All bargaining unit contracts would need to be reviewed and where necessary renegotiated to accommodate the YRE schedule.

During January of 2004, a video similar to the one shown at each of the town hall meetings was presented at each of the campuses and administrative center for all of the district staff to see. The purpose was to provide information to the staff and to solicit feedback. From the district’s 2,300 personnel, 736 feedback surveys were returned. Overall, 60% of the respondents felt that YRE is a bad idea and should not be evaluated any further. 26% were unsure and said the evaluation should continue, while 9% thought it was a good idea, 3% had no opinion and 2% did not respond to the question. See section III for further details regarding the staff survey.

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Curricular

Of all of the domains of education that were studied by the YRE task force, those issues related to the impact of YRE on teaching and learning are by far the most controversial and complex. Also it doesn’t help matters any that the academic literature is divided on this issue as well. There are numerous articles written that either advocate or oppose the educational aspects of YRE.

 There is no definitive study on the effects of YRE on student achievement as it relates to a particular group of students over an extended period of time. Also, in many cases it is difficult to discern the impact of YRE on student learning because other curricular changes were made at the same time YRE was implemented.  At best, the research that has been completed with respect to student learning is mixed and inconclusive.

Despite the absence of any conclusive findings in the academic research, the committee did identify certain key observations related to teaching and student learning in a YRE environment.

1. Coordinating and managing the curriculum are significantly more complex in a multi-track YRE environment especially at the high school level. 
   
2. Scheduling conflicts will occur as it relates to learning programs external to the district such as WILCO, which are on the traditional school year calendar.
   
3. At the high school level certain honors courses, because of their small enrollment, may be assigned to a single track. Therefore, students who are eligible to take honors course are by necessity assigned to that particular track resulting in all honors students being assigned to one track. Consequently, the assignment of tracks in this fashion fosters the perception that certain tracks are superior to other tracks.
   
4. Based on class enrollment and available teacher resources with respect to certain subjects at the high school and to a lesser extent at the middle school, it may be necessary for one teacher to teach multiple tracks of students within the same classroom.
   
5. Our research failed to identify a single high school in the nation that is presently on a multi-track YRE schedule.
   
6. The nine-week instruction period of the 45/15 YRE schedule promotes a more focused unit of instruction that can be readily aligned with our current learning goals.
   
7. Much of the research plus our own teachers’ experience suggests that shorter more frequent breaks will aid the students’ retention of knowledge especially at the lower grade levels, thereby reducing review time at the beginning of each school year.
   
8. It is impossible from the current body of research to infer with any degree of certainty that there is a beneficial impact of YRE on student achievement. But, at the same time the task force could not identify any significant detrimental effects of YRE on student learning either.

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Extra curricular

The challenges arising from multi-track YRE, as it relates to extra curricular, are primarily logistical in nature in that the concerns pertain to either transportation difficulties or scheduling conflicts. Also, the issues become more complicated at the higher-grade levels.   

In an YRE multi-track environment there is always a group of students who are off track. If a student is participating in an extra curricular activity during his or her off track period the concern is how will the student get to school to participate in the extra curricular activity. It is anticipated that students will be assigned to tracks based on where they live in order to maintain consistency of track assignment within a family unit as well as to optimize the bus routes. Under such an arrangement, during an off track period, buses will not be scheduled to transport those students from a particular subdivision unless the district implemented extra curricular bus routes, which would be costly.  This creates a dilemma for those students in that subdivision who participate in after school sports, music or other programs at their school. During YRE in Valley View 365U, parents made their own arrangements to ensure that their children were able to attend extra curricular activities.

As a result of the transportation dilemma, there is concern that attendance at and participation in extra curricular activities could be adversely affected. For instance, on the day of a major game or event, some of the participants and other students will be off track and hence not in school that day. As such, they will not be part of the excitement that exists in the school nor will their coaches be assured of their attendance. Similar situations will occur for student assemblies or plays. Consequently, multi track YRE may also not bode well for student cohesiveness, school spirit and overall camaraderie, especially at the high school level.        

In the course of the committee’s work, the park districts that serve the District 202 population as well as some of the local day care centers and the YMCA were contacted to determine what impact YRE would have on the services and programs that those organizations provide.  For those that responded, the common theme is that YRE will create significant problems given their present schedules. However, with adequate information from the school district along with sufficient time to plan and implement changes, they are confident that students on multi-track YRE could continue to be served.

Summer camps and activities that are out of district pose a dilemma, in that unlike the local community organizations, the schedules for such activities will not be changed to accommodate YRE. Consequently, participation in such camps or activities would be impacted by YRE. 

The cost savings arising from implementing multi-track YRE can be classified into two categories: reduced capital outlays for new schools and potentially lower operating costs on a per student basis.

This graph shows that the reduced capital outlays result from the fact that ultimately less schools will be required under YRE versus the traditional school calendar. In multi-track YRE on a 45/15 schedule the capacity of each school increases up to 33%. Hence three schools on YRE can educate the same number of students as four schools on a traditional calendar. Applying that ratio to District 202 means that twelve to fourteen less schools would be required on a YRE schedule. The potential savings from not constructing those schools is estimated at approximately $340,000,000. (See section II) 

YRE also allows the district more time to build schools. It is anticipated that enrollment will exceed capacity in 2007-2008. However, if YRE were implemented in 2007 it could delay the need for another building bond referendum by approximately three years. 

The second category of cost savings is the recurring operational costs incurred under YRE versus the traditional school calendar. Some types of expenses increase under multi track YRE, in terms of aggregate dollars, such as salaries, utility costs, maintenance costs, custodial costs and transportation costs. The number of students being educated however increases up to 33%, which in most cases causes the cost per student to decrease

.In order for YRE to be cost effective it is critical that the schools operate at or near capacity. In other words, each track must have an enrollment that fills the school. Otherwise YRE can become cost prohibitive. That was one of the primary reasons that Valley View discontinued multi-track YRE. Its capacity increased faster that the student enrollment and hence it became too expensive to continue YRE.

To determine the cost savings that could potentially be achieved through YRE requires the expertise to develop sophisticated cost analyses and projections, which is beyond the capabilities of the task force.

The effect of YRE on the property taxes of an individual homeowner is difficult if not impossible to estimate due to the numerous variables involved and the uncertainty of long-term projections. In all likelihood however, YRE would probably serve to lessen the rate of increase in property taxes attributable to the school district.  In addition, YRE would reduce the risk of over-building schools as the community matures, which is a very real possibility as evidenced by some of the school closings that have occurred in the older suburbs of Chicago.      

In the operational area, which includes custodial, maintenance and transportation functions, YRE mandates that current practices be changed. Maintenance and major custodial projects will need to be done during whatever downtime is available during nights, weekends or winter and summer breaks. Also, more maintenance and replacement will be required due to the increased utilization of buildings, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

Transportation will be significantly more complicated under 45/15 YRE in that every three weeks some of the bus routes will change. As mentioned during the extra curricular discussion, the YRE tracks will most likely be geographically based, meaning that each sub-division will be assigned to a specific track.  The assignment of tracks in this fashion serves to optimize bus routes and ensures that children from the same family will be on the same track. One downside of assigning tracks by subdivision is that it has the potential of grouping children from similar socio-economic backgrounds into one track thereby fostering a stereotyping of the tracks.  Further complications will occur in the event of an attendance zone boundary change, which in District 202 is likely to occur repeatedly for the foreseeable future. 

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Closing

Much is known about YRE and much is unknown about YRE.  What is known is that multi-track YRE utilizes space more efficiently than a traditional based calendar. Accordingly, it provides the opportunity for substantial savings in capital outlays and has the potential to decrease the district’s recurring operating costs per student.  What is not so readily ascertainable is the impact of YRE on student learning.

Based on other districts’ experiences, our research indicates that it is difficult to isolate the impact of YRE on student learning because oftentimes other educational changes are implemented in conjunction with YRE. However, during the course of our study we did not uncover any significant detrimental effects of YRE on student learning. One of the primary benefits of YRE that is often cited is increased student retention due to shorter and more frequent breaks, especially at the lower grade levels. 

At the secondary level, we were unable to identify any high schools presently on a multi-track YRE schedule. Significant complications arise due to complexity of scheduling the variety and number of high school classes in a multi-track environment combined with the disruption to extra curricular activities. Theses issues pose much greater challenges for implementing multi-track YRE at the high school versus the middle school or elementary school.

YRE is one of three alternative scheduling options that can be used to address overcrowding. The other two options are split shifts and staggered or overlap shifts.

Split shifts require that students attend the same school during two separate shifts. One starts in the morning and ends early afternoon when the second shift starts and continues until the late afternoon. Staggered or overlap shifts, which are generally used only at the high school level, involves one group of students starting early and leaving earlier while the second group starts later and leaves later. During the time when both groups are in school, the earlier group is scheduled for lunch periods to make room for the second group of students who are just beginning their school day.  As with YRE each of these alternatives create their own unique issues with respect to daycare, extracurricular activities and transportation.

District 202 has used both of these alternative schedules in the past. Following the tornado in 1990, the district used a split shift at the elementary level to house students until temporary classrooms were installed. The high schools have and will use the overlap schedule to relieve overcrowding until Plainfield North High School is built.

There are many questions to which we do not have answers. Before YRE can be adopted, a rigorous and in-depth study on the part of the district’s administration is required to research and address the many issues identified by the task force pertaining to human resources, curriculum, scheduling and potential cost savings. Our research indicates that significant upfront effort and costs with respect to planning and preparation are required prior to the implementation of multi-track YRE.

Based on what we now know about YRE, the primary question facing the Board of Education is this: Should District 202 continue the evaluation of YRE to determine if it is a viable option to relieve overcrowding and reduce costs. 

Section VIII provides feedback from the task force members regarding their service on the task force and their individual opinions as to the viability of YRE in District 202.