Year-round schools and parental choice

Many parents get annoyed -- understandably -- when changes in school district policies upset established family routines. The problem is especially acute in Southern Nevada, where rapid growth has resulted in regular school zoning re-alignment and the implementation of more year-round schedules.

What's the solution?

Well, if Clark County were home to four, five -- even 10 -- different school districts, parents could vote with their feet. But it is not. Instead, the county consists of one giant behemoth district -- now the fifth largest in the country. Take it or leave it.

That, of course, only exacerbates the problem because many parents complain they become frustrated dealing with such a massive bureaucracy.

But breaking up the district is not a realistic option at this time -- the powers-that-be prefer the status quo and fear what change might bring. So parents are left to deal with the existing establishment.

Last week, district Superintendent Walt Rulffes announced the formation of a committee to study the issue of year-round schools. The move is in response to comments from Henderson parents who complained about district plans to convert several schools in the area from nine-month schedules to year round.

In addition to assuaging parents, the district has another motive: In 2008, it will ask voters for more money to fund school construction. Evidence that the district is operating efficiently and listening to its constituents might help convince those who go to the polls to support the bond measure.

"We want to have optimum community input to assure we have credibility in our policy," Mr. Rulffes said.

The proposed panel will feature six parents, three community representatives, two School Board members and two school representatives. They are charged with examining the issue of converting schools to 12-month schedules.

Interestingly -- and further evidence that such a large district doesn't react quickly to parental concerns -- this will be the first time since 1990 that the year-round matter has received this type of examination.

"I don't want other schools to go through what we went through in terms of being so up in the air," said Suzannne Buck, president of the PTA at Henderson's Gibson Elementary School, which was slated to become a year-round campus but was eventually taken off the conversion list due to parental protests.

It's difficult for families when siblings are on different track schedules or kids are uprooted from an established campus due to rezoning. The default setting for district administrators should be to make any changes with minimal inconvenience to the kids involved -- and to their credit, district officials have altered proposed rezoning and scheduling changes at the request of families.

We'll see what the committee comes up with -- and whether its recommendations are actually implemented or just stuck on the bottom shelf alongside the many other state and local government "studies" on growth, taxation, housing, traffic -- and on and on and on.

At the very least, however, the committee should examine policies that give parents more choice over where their children attend public school -- so that those who prefer a year-round schedule have the option of moving to such a campus, while those who don't can find a nine-month alternative.