Year round calendar begins at Hamilton E.L.C.
LA CROSSE, WI — Class is in session for about 85 kids in La Crosse. Thursday was the first day for Hamilton Early Learning Center.
The school is piloting a year round calendar where kids have class for nine weeks, then go on break for three.
Steve Michaels, the school’s principal, says other than starting in July, getting ready for day one has been just like every other year.
“It’s still school, still the same curriculum, still the same number of days, it’s just spread out differently, so in many respects this feels the same as the start of any other school year.”
The calendar will stay for at least three years.
During that time, administrators will be looking closely at attendance and academic performance, to see if the calendar is making a difference.
“We want to make sure that we’re able to mitigate what we see as a summer slide when we have a two or three month period of time in the summer when kids aren’t here, and by shortening that we want to get the kids back in school and get at the work they need to do to keep them on grade level for their reading and mathematics,” says La Crosse School District Superintendent Randy Nelson.
If you want to learn more about the new calendar, News 8’s Lisa Klein has a 30 minute special with details.
