Summer vacation? Not so fast.

[Eticket]

Chino district's error delays summer break by 34 school days for some students - Los Angeles Times

Chino district's error delays summer break by 34 school days for some students

A mistake in the length of state-permitted short days means students at two elementary schools must stay in school till July 31, or the district will lose $7 million in state funds.
By Seema Mehta
June 16, 2009

School's out for summer -- except for hundreds of children in western San Bernardino County who, because of an administrative snafu, must make up 34 days of school this summer.

The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino exceeded the state's requirement of minutes spent in the classroom, and the last day of school was supposed to be Thursday. But because of the complexities of state law and a clerical error on a spreadsheet, the Chino Unified School District will lose more than $7 million in state funds if classes end at the schools before July 31.

"I'm appalled. I'm just really kind of amazed the state would . . . take it out on the kids," said Michelle Knight, whose son, Tristan, is a Dickson fifth-grader.

Knight said the family's summer schedule is already packed: Mother and son are taking a road trip to Washington to visit family this month, and Tristan is going camping in July with his father, who lives in Colorado. The 11-year-old also has swim meets with the Chino Valley Dolphins team, community theater rehearsals and Boy Scout camp-outs.

"He needs a break. He's a kid," said Knight, a teacher.

Rolling Ridge fourth-grader Sean Cornish said the extended school year would interfere with his plans to spend time with family and swim in his family's backyard pool.

"Oh, mannnnn," said the 10-year-old, adding that the subject has been a frequent topic of conversation among his classmates. "They think it's dumb, that they have to go to school for these extra days because some lady messed up."

School officials are sympathetic.

"We made an error on the minimum days of about five minutes," said Dickson Principal Sue Pederson. "Realistically, that's our accounting mistake as adults. We're unfortunately making the children pay for it by making them give up their summer."

Students at each school exceeded the state's requirement of at least 54,000 minutes of annual classroom time, but the problem arose in the district's minimum days. Schools typically have one shortened day per week, allowing teachers to use the remaining time for planning and parent conferences. Under state law, these days must be at least 180 minutes, and the daily average classroom time over 10 consecutive days must be 240 minutes.

An internal audit in early May discovered that 34 minimum days had been 175 minutes at Dickson and 170 at Rolling Ridge, said district spokeswoman Julie Gobin. That adds up to a shortage of 170 and 340 minutes, respectively, which could be made up in one or two school days. But under state law, these too-short days do not count at all, meaning that all 34 must be made up to avoid a state penalty of more than $7 million.

"The penalties for not meeting the instructional time requirements are high, much higher than just making up of the time," said Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. "It was the intent of the Legislature to make the penalties so stiff [in order] to discourage districts from shaving off minutes here and there."

An associate superintendent at the district, who is retiring this year, has taken responsibility for the errors.

Legislation was introduced last month to give the district some relief and is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. Then it goes to the Appropriations Committee, the Assembly floor and then the Senate.

"I wish we didn't have to go through this process to get this fixed. The rules and regulations are so bureaucratic," said Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills), who wrote the bill. "It's common sense."

Because of the timing, and the uncertainty of the bill's prospects, the district is planning 34-day extensions at Dickson and Rolling Ridge, which will cost about $200,000. The financial stakes are too high not to do so, Gobin said.

The district has recently cut $44 million from its $273-million budget, including closing three elementary schools, laying off 172 teachers and increasing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade, she said.

School leaders are trying to turn the unexpected summer session into something special for the children, including arts, music and hands-on science experiments that are increasingly rare in classrooms. The extra instruction also will allow students to get a jump on next year's curriculum, which appealed to parents such as Nancy Smith, whose daughter Cassidy is in sixth grade.

"It will help prepare her for junior high," Smith said.

Schools are offering independent study packets for students who can't attend the sessions. A survey by the district indicated that roughly half of the 500 students affected will attend school and the other half will study independently.

But based on interviews with parents as they picked up their children at Dickson last week, that projection seems optimistic. Smith was one of two parents interviewed who planned to send their children to school. More than a dozen others said summer plans -- such as pre-paid sleep-away camps and family vacations -- would take precedence.

"It's the school's fault," said Yadira Labrada, as she waited for her sixth-grader son. "I'm not doing it."

Cliffs: The schools had 34 days during the year that were 170-175 minutes instead of 180. Students are being required to make up 34 full days or the district loses out on $7 mil in funds from the state.

[Stiker]

WOW. There just has to be a better solution than that. Poor kids.

[Ksandra]

welcome to California finding easy ways to save money because we have none. That shit is COMPLETELY uncalled for.

[SephYuyX]

If the teachers are nice, im sure they wont do any actual learning, or atleast minimal, and it'll be like a day care~ This happened to me once in 8th grade, but it was only an extra week. We all brought in game boys, movies, games, etc, and just had fun.

[jmc]

Pay the teachers to come to school

Tell the kids not to come to class, enjoy the summers

Inform the state, the kids must be skipping class. (as its upto the school to discipline the kids, not the state?)

School is tech. open for 34 days, kids enjoy their summer..... win/win?


This whole situation blows.

[Dimmauk]

lolCalifornia

[Yuri-G]

welcome to California finding easy ways to save money because we have none. That shit is COMPLETELY uncalled for.

it's funny, I've been planning to move out of MN for years now, and I always wanted to live in San Francisco. I even visited there twice and loved the city.

and yet... every news article I read about California pushes me just a little further away from the idea. the state is seriously fucked up. no doubt it's still a nice place to live in some ways (man I loved the weather) but I'm beginning to think it's not worth it.

[Quixon]

If it's a big deal for some parents, then don't send your kid in. I'm sure some parents are happy for the extra 34 days of free child care.

[Norelco]

An associate superintendent at the district, who is retiring this year, has taken responsibility for the errors.

How convenient.

[Nibe]

Pay the teachers to come to school

Tell the kids not to come to class, enjoy the summers

Inform the state, the kids must be skipping class. (as its upto the school to discipline the kids, not the state?)

School is tech. open for 34 days, kids enjoy their summer..... win/win?


This whole situation blows.

The schools in California get funding based off how many students attend. For every day a student is absent, they lose a set amount of money.

[Ksandra]

it's funny, I've been planning to move out of MN for years now, and I always wanted to live in San Francisco. I even visited there twice and loved the city.

and yet... every news article I read about California pushes me just a little further away from the idea. the state is seriously fucked up. no doubt it's still a nice place to live in some ways (man I loved the weather) but I'm beginning to think it's not worth it.

ya I hate cali tbh. If it weren't for my fiance's job (and friends!), I would be out the door in a heartbeat. I always wanted to live in Florida. Much cheaper, and idc too much about hurricanes.

It's too expensive here, which usually people give "you pay for the weather!". Nice weather isn't worth this much imo

[Belkin]

I would rage so hard.

"Get a jump on next years curriculum"? Get real. That school isn't gonna be anything but a bitch&moan fest for 34 days. You need to have the DESIRE to learn for learning to actually work...Something these kids won't have I guarantee.

Practicality is rarely taken into consideration when these laws are made...Stupid.

[Despain]

Holy shit! O.O that sucks rofl

[Ksandra]

If it's a big deal for some parents, then don't send your kid in. I'm sure some parents are happy for the extra 34 days of free child care.

because we shouldn't think/care about what the kids think or anything. I know they're young, but really, they should be allowed to get their summer off. I'm sure the kids are just thrilled to be stuck in school longer than everybody else, and only getting 1 month summer vacation.

Minus the retarded fact that in reality they actually had more minutes at school previously than is required.

[Eticket]

Also, because they're making up 'minimum' days, school will only be in session each day from 8:00-12:30. That can be a pain in the ass for working parents to deal with M-F for 7 weeks.

[ZarakiKujata]

honestly, as shitty as it is to be those kids, hope their summer retention increases as a result

Lexington: The underworked American | The Economist

Is a good read for why this isn't necessarily the worst thing for these kids. Especially since Chino is a relatively poor area afaik

[Ksandra]

Also, because they're making up 'minimum' days, school will only be in session each day from 8:00-12:30. That can be a pain in the ass for working parents to deal with M-F for 7 weeks.

added to that, seems like cali has a retarded bus system. Seems like 90% of the parents have to pick up/drop off their kids as it is, having to do it everyday gonna suck.

[Atreides]

my high school started a full 2-3 weeks earlier than most public schools (around the 15th of august) and got out for summer break around normal time (1st/2nd week in June) but we still only ended up getting 2.5 months for summer break.

Our school days were 8:00am - 4:30pm too.

[hagun]

By extending the school year, the state is losing tons of money. They would choose losing money over a really non-essential issue.

This is an example of how the school system is a total failure: Adults unable to logically reason that doing one action blindly is actually more detrimental than good. Gotta love this.

[_chuchu]

ya I hate cali tbh. If it weren't for my fiance's job (and friends!), I would be out the door in a heartbeat. I always wanted to live in Florida. Much cheaper, and idc too much about hurricanes.

It's too expensive here, which usually people give "you pay for the weather!". Nice weather isn't worth this much imo

Depending on the area in florida, this is also true.

The schools in California get funding based off how many students attend. For every day a student is absent, they lose a set amount of money.

I recall many of my teachers telling us that Florida schools earn revenue each day from students attending school. Like students in advanced/honors/gifted help the school bring in more revenue per student. If the school gets closed too many days due to inclement weather, they start taking away early release and teacher planning days.

Sort of related, but in high schools, they (advanced/honors/gifted/ap students) are also the ones who make the school much more attractive by passing AP exams. Supposedly, AP exams bring in thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of dollars extra for some school districts. I might have also read somewhere that College Board rebates $8/exam from all the exam fee revenues they generate. It's also very hard to get out of an AP course after choosing it even though it's not guaranteed that you'll be placed into it.