Summer school no longer a free pass

By ROBERT KING

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 14, 2001

As summer school starts Monday in Hernando County, budget cuts will mean some students will be locked out of classes, including middle schoolers who were counting on summer courses to avoid failing for the year.

Summer school, which is likely to be eliminated next year, took a 13 percent cut this year as the School Board reduced its overall budget, which was on pace to be overspent.

That meant eliminating summer classes for sixth- and seventh-graders, tightening summer enrollment rules for grades eight through 12, and reducing school bus service during the summer. In all, nearly $76,000 was cut from a budget that approached $600,000 last summer.

The reductions will be most keenly felt at the middle schools, where students are required to pass every class to be promoted to the next grade.

In the past, students who failed a class or two could make it up during the summer. Now, that's available only to eighth-graders trying to move into high school.

Powell Middle School put together a makeshift after-school program in April when it became clear that summer school would be scaled back. But it couldn't meet all the needs.

As of Wednesday, principal Cy Wingrove said he was still trying to come up with a way to help the sixth- and seventh-graders get the lost credits they need for promotion.

At West Hernando Middle, students who would have made up credits during summer must take care of that business in the fall.

Sixth-graders who haven't passed all their classes will be allowed to take seventh-grade academic courses. But they will lose physical education, band or vocational classes until they make up the sixth-grade requirements they lack.

West Hernando principal Ken Pritz expects to see more students retained this year because summer school has been lost. But, as Pritz notes, most of those students were capable of passing their classes the first time.

Instead, he says, many goofed off during the year because they didn't think they would really fail. Some even planned on using summer school to catch up. He suspects that won't happen next year. "I think the kids will get the message pretty quick," Pritz said.

That reality -- that some kids use the guarantee of summer school to cruise from August to May -- is why a majority of the School Board wants to kill off summer school. Its official demise will be discussed later this summer during budget talks.

At the high school level, cuts to summer school will be less extreme. Students in the afternoon session won't have school bus transportation, but most of them drive anyway.

"Grade forgiveness," which allows students to retake a class in hopes of getting a better grade, will be offered only to students with such low grade-point averages that they are in danger of missing graduation.

And physical education, which in the past has been populated largely by athletes trying to keep in shape, will be limited to kids who need to make up an elective.

Cutbacks aside, one budget-related change has been welcomed.

To reduce the summer school costs being charged to the beleaguered 2000-01 budget, which expires June 30, summer classes are beginning later this year. Instead of 15 days of summer school in June, there will be only 10.

The later start is giving teachers extra time to catch their breath after the end of the regular school year. Steve Crognale, a physical education teacher and head football coach who works during summer school, says it's like getting a longer vacation.

"That's been kind of nice," he said.

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