Jeff Co Bails On Year-round Calendar

This from C-J:

Berman wants them all on traditional schedule

Launched 14 years ago to boost student achievement, the once-popular year-round schools will likely become of thing of the past soon in Jefferson County Public Schools.

Four of the district's six remaining year-round schools -- Dixie, Rangeland, Breckinridge-Franklin and Roosevelt-Perry -- have recently decided to return to the traditional school calendar for 2009-10, saying the year-round calendar is too costly to maintain.

That leaves Jacob Elementary and Liberty High on the year-round schedule, and Superintendent Sheldon Berman says he wants them back on a traditional calendar, too.

"I don't believe having a year-round calendar is the most effective system out there," he told board members at a budget work session Wednesday night.

Berman said that returning all schools to the traditional calendar will save the district approximately $400,000 in transportation and professional development costs, which is why he has included it as one of 53 proposed cuts to make up for an expected $45 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year that begins July 1...