In 2009, we challenged Columbus schools to implement an innovative 11-month “success calendar” at all five of its elementary schools, rather than just two.
It would have been the icing atop layers of visionary additions to the Columbus Municipal School District — magnet themes at its elementary schools: aerospace, communication and technology, fine arts, health and wellness and international studies; the district”s first new school in decades and the ambitious International Baccalaureate program.
Del Phillips, superintendent at the time, had hopes of offering the extended calendar district-wide eventually. We hoped the same.
Instead, after two short years, the 11-month calendar is moving toward a quiet death, with plans to resume a regular 181-day calendar next school year.
The extended calendar spanned from early August to mid-June and added 18 “success academy days” to the traditional calendar.
During those 18 days, low-performing students got the remediation they needed, while high-performing students were offered enrichment opportunities — field trips and special classes. They could even take those days off. It was a win-win situation.
Phillips is now a week out the door, and at least one of the innovative programs started during his tenure seems to have gone with him.
We”d hate to see the strides the district has made in programming and true school choice fade away with the exodus of the man responsible for them.
The 11-month calendar was a plan that can and has affected student success in a positive way. That”s straight from the mouths of the teachers and administrators who experienced it first hand. And no one has argued to the contrary.
Even naysayers found no fault with the academic advantage of the concept. Child custody orders and family vacations were the overriding reason cited for opposition to the plan, neither of which have anything to do with children”s academic success.
In a district already under academic watch, the school board should hold fast to programs proven to improve student achievement.
Dollars and cents are at least part of the reason the district is ending the program. The new calendar”s $375,000 price tag was paid for through stimulus funds, of which the district has received more than $2 million the past two years.
We encourage district leaders to seek out grant dollars or find other creative ways to fund the extended year. Programs that help children meet the bar in district struggling to raise it, shouldn”t be slashed with the budget.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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