Summer Math, Missing in Action

Some parents object to shorter summers, arguing that children need long breaks outside of school to build family traditions and reconnect with nature. "The fact of the matter is children learn outside of the school walls in the summer," says Billee Bussard, who runs the Web site Summer Matters.

In North Carolina, Wake County schools have offered a voluntary year-round schedule for 12 years, Assistant Superintendent Chuck Dulaney told ABC News. But when the district tried to make the program mandatory as a cost-saving measure, parents protested and the district backed down.

The ideal of a slower-paced summer filled with extracurricular learning is appealing. But such learning requires a parent at home or a smorgasbord of day care and summer camps--and the good ones are not cheap. Summer vacation looks more and more like a playground for the well-to-do and a wasteland for those lower down the economic scale.

"Unfortunately," writes Andie Dominick of the Des Moines Register, "there is too little public pressure to implement a year-round school calendar that could improve learning, help kids retain information and accommodate working families."

Dulaney thinks year-round opponents should give the option more credit. "I understand what they're saying...but I don't see that playing out," he said. "In the real world, you find families who struggle to find ways to keep their children occupied [over the summer]."

Is year-round school an option in your neighborhood? E-mail your thoughts to parenting@washingtonpost.com and I'll share your comments next week.

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