Year-Round Elementary Schools Get Support

Backed by parent and teacher support, a proposal to convert two Ventura elementary schools to year-round education appears to be gathering steam.

In a report presented to the Ventura Unified School District board Tuesday night, Sheridan Way Elementary School principal Robert Fraser and E.P. Foster Elementary School principal Gregory Kampf urged board members to back a proposal that would put both schools on a year-round schedule by July.

Kampf said a year-round schedule would allow the two schools to better meet the needs of the Ventura Avenue area, providing children with a wider variety of courses and activities.

“We’ll be able to do things not just in academic terms, but in recreational and social terms,” Kampf said. “The kids would be active in very positive activities that would contribute to their overall education. A lot of the kids in our neighborhood don’t have that unless the school is able to put it together.”

Offerings could include mini-soccer camps, intensive remedial reading courses and expanded child care, Kampf said.

According to Kampf and Fraser, there appears to be overwhelming support for year-round education from parents, teachers and staff at both schools, a conclusion drawn in part from a formal survey sent to parents in December. The survey did not, however, directly ask parents to make a choice between year-round and traditional programs, leading one parent to question the survey results.

“We were never directly asked if we were in favor of a year-round or a traditional school,” said April Martens, who also served as a member of the advisory committee that reviewed the year-round concept.

“I would like to use the neighborhood school, but I don’t like the idea of being forced into just one option. I’d like to have a choice.”

No decision was made Tuesday night. The board will discuss the plan again Feb. 13.