August 2, 2002
Dogwood Elementary opened its doors on a new school year this Monday, July 29. The opening came over a month before the opening of most other Fairfax County Public Schools.
Dogwood students, who run on a year-round schedule, finished the last school year on June 23 — five weeks ago. They will stay in school for the next nine weeks, and will receive a two-week break in October. After each academic quarter, save the last of the year, Dogwood students and staff go on two-week breaks. Their summer break is expanded to five weeks, but is still far shorter than the standard three-month summer vacation.
"If you talk to the kids, most say they're ready to come back," said Dogwood principal Ricki Harvey. "Most say, 'I miss the other kids, the teachers."
Harvey added that the shortened break doesn't give students a chance to forget the lessons they learned during the previous year. Several parents agreed with Harvey's appraisal.
Beth Oldham, whose daughter Zoe is a first grader at Dogwood, said the best part of the year-round schedule is that the students "don't forget as much."
"Summer lasts too long with the boredom and all," Oldham said. "We just moved from a school district where they were not on a year-round schedule. [Zoe] would be ready to go back to school by the end of summer."
Dogwood reading teacher Elise Passentino said the shortened summer is especially helpful to children who do not speak English at home.
"It's important that they are getting back around people who are speaking English all the time," Passentino said.
AT FIRST, OLDHAM was "not excited" by the prospect of year-round school. She feared the schedule would not leave enough time for summer vacations.
"But if you know the schedule in advance, you can plan around it," Oldham said.
For some families, though, it is more difficult to plan around the five-week break. Devendra Pore, who has a kindergartner at the school, is from India. Every other summer his family makes a trip back to their home country.
"Now we have less time to go," Pore said.
The truncated break also impacts school administrators, who must rush to prepare for the new year. The school added four new classrooms this year, according to Harvey. She said enrollment is up, which is a plus, but that it has been a struggle to interview new teachers and furnish the new classrooms.
"Most schools have eight or nine weeks to do that stuff," Harvey said. "We have four."
On Monday morning, though, Harvey was ready. She said the first day of classes was progressing smoothly.
"All the kids have new teachers and some are still trying to find their new teachers," Harvey said, motioning to parents as they helped their children find their classrooms. "But all in all, it's really orderly."
Six other Fairfax County elementary schools use the year-round schedule: Timberlane, Graham Road, Glen Forest, Parklawn, Annandale Terrace and Franconia.