UPDATE: The Chesterfield School Board voted to keep year-round schooling for Bellwood Elementary School and return to a traditional school calendar for Falling Creek Elementary.
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Chesterfield Schools experiment with year-round school may soon be coming to an end. At a Tuesday night meeting, Chesterfield Schools Superintendent Merv Daugherty will propose changing the two year-round schools in the county back to traditional-calendar schools.
Bellwood Elementary and Falling Creek Elementary switched to a year-round school calendar in 2018 and 2019 to improve student test scores.
However, data collected by the county showed year-round students did not fare better than their peers at schools that took summers off.
A literacy analysis found that on average, students attending year-round schools scored lower than similar students at a traditional school.
Data from the 2021-2022 school year also suggested that year-round schools may harm student attendance during the first 30 days of the school year.
It could also make it hard to recruit and retain teachers who prefer a traditional schedule.
Per Superintendent Mervin Daughtery's recommendation, Bellwood Elementary and Falling Creek Elementary would transition back to the traditional school calendar beginning July 1, 2024.
That would mean year-round students would complete the year-round school calendar, ending school in June, and then the traditional calendar would come into effect July 1.
Students would then start the next year of school alongside other traditional calendar students, beginning in August.
UPDATE: Chesterfield County Public School Board voted regarding the following in a Tuesday night board meeting:
- Unanimously voted in favor of Elementary School Redistricting for Enon & Marguerite Christian Elementary Schools
- Voted 4-1 in favor of returning to traditional for Falling Creek Elementary
- Voted 4-1 to not return to traditional for Bellwood Elementary School
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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