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Lengthening the school year, and the hours the children attend is something that should be weighed and considered. It would academically benefit the children because the longer time spent at school will result in the children learning more. Working parents will not be faced with the dilemma of childcare, especially in the long summer months. Also, children would not be left alone in an unsupervised home during parents work hours. Extending the school year will solve these problems. There are more pro’s then con’s when it comes to year-round, extended hour schools. Year-Round schools do not take away the summer months breaks they space them out over the calendar year. There are many different ways of making schools year-round and extending the hours. There are also schools that have hours of 8:00 am-5:00 pm. Instead of the traditional calendar where students go to school for 180 days with a summer break, there are calendars set up to 90/30, 45/15, and 60/20 (Year-Round Schools May 1). For example “In the 90/30 calendar, … students attend school for 90 days, then are on vacation for 30 days” (Year-Round Schools May 1). There are also multi-track systems, where students are divided up into different tracks. “The tracks rotate in and out of school with one track always on vacation, theoretically enabling a facility to accommodate more students”(Year-Round School May 1). Using year-round schooling can also help in reducing the overcrowding that some schools face. Year-round schools would reduce the burden of finding childcare for parents who work. Some children are too young to stay at home alone, and must be placed in supervised care. Extending the school year would eliminate the costly expense of childcare, when it comes to the three-month summer break.
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