Since Academy Heights Elementary School closed, the debate between year-round and traditional calendars has been a topic of discussion as many parents consider what’s best for their children.

Many parents and teachers believe the alternative calendar offers more flexibility for students in terms of instruction and scheduling, while others still prefer a traditional nine-month calendar.

Year-round has been a program of choice in the Moore County school system since 1997, and interest in it has grown over the years, as more families buy into the program’s apparent benefits.

Almost 12 percent of elementary students (689 out of 5,867) are enrolled in a year-round program at the system’s four schools offering the option.

Southern Pines Primary School offers a districtwide program for kindergarten through second grade, and Southern Pines Elementary School offers it for grades three through five.

Pinehurst Elementary offers a year-round program for students in the Pinehurst and West Pine Elementary School attendance areas.

Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, students living in either Pinehurst attendance area will be able to enroll in the programs at Pinehurst Elementary for kindergarten through second grade and West Pine Elementary for grades three through five.

As this expansion in the year-round option moves forward, the Moore County school system is conducting an informational campaign about the year-round option, with hopes of gauging the community’s interest in potentially expanding the option to other areas in the county.

Schools have sent home informational pamphlets about the year-round program with all elementary students on the traditional calendar, and the system has been holding meetings for anyone who is interested in learning more about year-round and talking to a task force of parents with students currently enrolled in the program.

Brian Phillips, assistant superintendent of elementary education, is leading the campaign to let people know what year-round programs offer and to determine how the system should move forward based on input from parents at all 14 of the system’s elementary schools.

The system has held three informational meetings at Carthage Elementary School, West End Elementary School and Robbins Elementary School. This week, the remaining meetings will be held at 6 p.m. in the media centers of Vass-Lakeview Elementary School on Tuesday and Aberdeen Elementary School on Thursday.

At the end of the month, the school system will send out a survey via a Connect-Ed phone call that will ask parents of all elementary students one question about whether or not they would like to see other year-round programs established in the county to make the option more accessible. For more about the information campaign and survey, click here.

Phillips said that the biggest misconception about the option is that people get hung up on the term “year-round” and think that students are in school all year long.

“It’s just a different calendar, and it starts earlier,” he said.

‘Never Stop Learning’

Year-round schools operate on four nine-week sessions, beginning in mid-July and breaking for four intercessions each year. Breaks usually last about three weeks during the traditional calendar year, and students get five weeks off in the summertime before starting a new school year.

Year-round students attend school the same number of days as students on a traditional calendar, observe the same holidays and go through the same curriculum. Students also have access to the same special programs, such as academically or intellectually gifted (AIG) and exceptional children’s programs (EC).

Proponents of year-round school tout its benefits that improve academic performance with more frequent, shorter breaks between instruction, though studies have found no significant difference between student performance in either calendar.

Year-round teachers and parents both say that regular breaks allow students to re-energize and also give families the chance to arrange vacations throughout the year.

Proponents also say that breaks offer opportunities for tutoring and enrichment activities if a student is falling behind or is interested in learning more about a subject.

Task force member Cathy Larose credits her son’s improvement in reading to the fact that his year-round kindergarten teacher was able to identify a reading problem. Larose said her son was able to get into a reading recovery program and went on to become one of the top readers in his class as a first-grader.

“That was huge,” she told parents at the Carthage Elementary meeting. “To me, that is the most important part of the program — for kids to never stop [learning], always be moving forward.”

On a scheduling standpoint, a year-round calendar helps school systems loosen the constraints of the N.C. calendar law, which restricts when school can start and dismiss on a traditional schedule, especially when inclement weather requires schools to make up missed instruction days.

‘Excited, Refreshed’

While the year-round concept may be new to some, for others, the option is a part of everyday life. At Southern Pines Elementary School, 243 of the school’s 402 students are enrolled in the year-round program.

Principal Marcy Cooper says the school has seen growth in its year-round enrollment each year for the last four years. Last year, the school saw its year-round student numbers overtake the number of students enrolled in the traditional track.

Southern Pines Primary School also has more year-round students enrolled than traditional.

Though interest in year-round continues to grow, Cooper hesitates to push one program over the other and stresses that the choice between either program has to be made based on a family’s individual circumstances.

“It’s very important being the principal of a dual tract school to realize that it’s a choice,” she said. “It’s just all about what works for your family, your situation and your child.”

Andrea Hanlon, a third-grade teacher in the year-round track, has taught at Southern Pines Elementary ever since the program was established there. Though each class is different, she often sees her students returning from breaks ready for a new start.

“Everybody seems excited to be back and refreshed,” she said. “It’s a well-needed break away from everything. The kids want to be back and see their friends and are ready to get to work.”

She adds that shorter breaks reduce time spent reviewing old material and provide the opportunity for continual learning.

“For a lot of kids, it is a huge benefit to not have that huge chunk of time [off in the summer],” she said. “Some kids don’t have the option of reading at home. We spend a little bit of time that first week reviewing, and then we’re ready to jump into new material.”

One of Hanlon’s students, Logan Mancos, transferred into the year-round program this year. He says he doesn’t mind being in school during the summer months and that besides the different schedule, school doesn’t feel any different.

“It’s actually kind of awesome because I get to spend more time around my family,” he said, referring to the trip to Disney World he and his family enjoyed during last fall’s intercession.

‘Chopped-Up’ School

Though Southern Pines has more students in year-round, some families have chosen to remain on the traditional calendar despite having the option to switch.

Jennifer Dembowski has three children enrolled in Southern Pines’ traditional track — a kindergartner at Southern Pines Primary School and a third-grader and a fifth-grader at Southern Pines Elementary.

Dembowski said that because her husband is in the military and the family has to move a lot, often in the summers, switching from traditional to year-round didn’t offer the continuity she felt her children needed when they moved to Southern Pines 19 months ago.

“I certainly asked questions about [year-round] and looked at the benefits,” she said. “It just wasn’t my choice.”

Dembowski said that even if her family didn’t move so much, she would still choose the traditional calendar because it offers more opportunities for family time.

“I enjoy my long summer breaks with my kids,” she said. “That’s a big chunk of time I have with them, and we can take longer trips.”

She added that her children would have a hard time adjusting to the start and stop of a “chopped-up” year-round school year.

“Three weeks of no kindergarten seems like a lot to overcome,” she said. “I find that even a long weekend gets my kids off-kilter sometimes.”

Dembowski added that with her daughter starting middle school next year and having children at three different schools, keeping all three children on the same schedule makes sense.

She admits that the one apparent benefit in the year-round schedule is the reduced summer learning loss, but Dembowski said that isn’t an issue for her family because she makes sure her children are engaged during the summer.

Either way, she likes the fact that families in Moore County have the choice.

“They both work for different families,” she said. “[Traditional] works for us.”

‘Moving Forward’

Attendance has varied at the informational meetings the school system has held so far, but parents who show up have many questions about the possibility of getting into a year-round program.

Many have said they appreciate being able to talk to parents on the year-round task force because they offer insights about the day-to-day details about having a child in year-round.

Helena Wallin-Miller attended the West End Elementary meeting with hopes of learning more about enrolling her child in a year-round kindergarten class at Pinehurst Elementary School next year. She lives in the West Pine attendance area and was very happy to learn that the Moore County Board of Education voted to lift enrollment restrictions on the Pinehurst year-round program earlier this month.

“I was waiting for last Monday’s decision with baited breath,”she said. “Now, it’s a numbers game. I want to encourage everyone to apply.”

Wallin-Miller found the meeting very informative and sees the school system taking great steps toward transparency by making information about year-round readily available to parents.

“They’ve started off the year with good communication,” she said. “And I’ve started off the year with much more hope that my child can go to year-round, near where we live.”

Despite so much optimism, Wallin-Miller is concerned that the system is not including in its survey parents preparing to enroll children in kindergarten — a group she believes would show a lot of interest in the possibility.

“I hope the task force can find a way to get the level of interest in year-round [from parents of incoming kindergartners],” she said.

In the meantime, Wallin-Miller plans on spreading the word about the informational meetings and letting parents who can take the survey know that it’s coming at the end of the month.

Both Phillips and task force members have stressed that parent participation in the survey is key to letting the system and the Board of Education know where, if any interest, lies in establishing future year-round programs.

“This whole process has been very positive, and the task force members have been really supportive,” he said. “We anticipate seeing what the results are and seeing how we can use that information to move forward.”

Contact Hannah Sharpe at hannah@thepilot.com.