Advocates say year-round school helps prevent summer learning loss and burnout for students and teachers. Falling Creek is a Title 1 School that receives federal funding to help meet educational goals of their large populations of low-income students.
Alison Beatty is the Dean of Students at Falling Creek.
“I think it’s going to be really beneficial for the kids--preventing the summer slide, giving opportunities for remediation and enrichment during these breaks is going to be awesome.”
Instead of a three-month summer break, Falling Creek would have “intersession” breaks between instructional days spread throughout the year. During these intersessions, some instruction and academic support will be provided.
The District says there’s a projected additional cost of over $200,000 a year with a major part going to staffing and transportation to help with the intersessions. To cover these costs, Chesterfield County Public Schools has applied for $300,000 from the VDOE Implementation Grant.
The change still needs to approved by the State Board of Education.
