WASHINGTON — Manassas Park public schools could be the next school system to join the year-round school wave.
The school division has just received $50,000 in funding to “pursue options” for an extended calendar. Officials there said they will spend the next six- months studying the issue.
Manassas Park is one of 13 school districts across Virginia getting grant money from the state. Some 13 other Virginia schools already have year-round schedules.
Advocates of the extended schedule believe it helps close the achievement gap, especially among students who are economically disadvantaged, and who speak English on a limited basis.
With a year-round school calendar, students would still go to school for the standard 180 days, but the calendar would merely be designed differently: instead of a three-month summer vacation, that time would be split into smaller, more frequent school breaks. The shorter break, say supporters, helps students avoid the “summer learning loss.”
Operating costs for year-round school would also increase by about three percent each year.
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