Traditional School Year vs. Year Round School

[funscout 11]

My kids still have over a month of summer vacation left, but one of my neighbors will start her new teaching year next week, because her district is year round (also called Balanced School Calendar).

 

Are there any differences for scouts who have year round school? Do the Cubs still have to do an activity in August for the Summer Time award, when their Summer is already over?

 

Our district has kicked the "Balanced School calendar" idea around for several years. Some would love it, because you would get two to three week vacations in the Fall and Spring. Others hate it, because they want Summer to go on forever! (My kids are in the latter group.)

 

How are sports handled when neighboring districts use different calendars? Do you suspend Cub Scout meetings during the Fall and Spring vacations, like many Packs do in the Summer? Our Boy Scout troop meets year round, so that wouldn't change with a different school calendar.

 

Just curious...

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

fs,

 

As I see it from my own experience, any time person, place or time is changed, so goes boys and or leaders. The more continuity that a group achieves, the stronger is overall attendance, thus making it important to have a well planned yearly program. FB

[scoutldr 732]

In this area, year 'round schools are just at the elementary level. Scouting is supposed to be a year round program, so it shouldn't be a big deal. If it does go to the middle and high school levels, I wonder what will happen to summer camp.

[funscout 11]

Our Council's Boy Scout camp runs sessions only through mid-July. I never thought about it before, but it's probably because there are school districts in our area who start back to school the beginning of August.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

My first knee jerk reaction, one of many, to year round school and the summer camp dilemma was to chip in, "they still get time off". My second thought was, "yes, but the summer camp staff cannot be gathered during changing schedules to meet the times that the schools are out". My third reaction was, "well, they can all go to High Adventure bases" but I stopped myself before I nose dived directly into Mother Earth.

 

Then, "Eureka!, we may have to change Summer Camp altogether and make it unit based with specific programs and instructors rather than the old Ford has a better idea assembly line approach to MBs". Camp would be a series of camps throughout the year. Some MB's that were done at S.C. would now be done back at home and visa-versa. Various Councils would stage one or two week specialty camps. Councils and Districts might "resource up" a company that would pay for a special program for a week. I can think of lots of ways that the program would be made richer and would bring into focus ways of doing things that might be more along the lines of the 21st century.

 

Example:

What about partnering with a school for a two week Science Camp with Science Teachers as the instructors, the Scouts providing the camp and a supplemental aquatic program with staff from the student body and Science based companies picking up the bill and providing literature and projects? The curriculum could include the Science MBs and school required subject matter, as well as providing current demonstrations from the real world. There could be a Science fair and/or a related competition that would bring it all to a conclusion. This would, of course, include girls and possibly Ducks but parents could be brought in to help supervise the whole operation.

 

I hope I didnt explode upon impact. FB