WILLIAMSTOWN — Schools in Grant County may open a few weeks earlier this fall, becoming the first rural county in Northern Kentucky to move away from a traditional farming-based calendar.

        Grant County Schools and Williamstown Independent Schools are considering adopting year-round school — also called “alternative calendars.”

        The traditional school calendar was designed around agriculture seasons, when summer workers were needed for farms. As communities have changed in recent years and become less dependent on agriculture, there's less of a need for students to have summers off to work family farms.

THREE FORUMS

Grant County and Williamstown Independent Schools are holding public forums to answer questions and get suggestions on proposals to adopt an alternative calendar. All forums are at 7 p.m.     • Feb. 5: Grant County Middle School and Williamstown High School     • Feb. 6: Grant County High School     • Feb. 13: Mason Corinth Elementary

        School officials are looking at year-round education, which has steadily grown in popularity over the past 15 years as a way to keep students from losing academic ground over long summer vacations.

        “As school leaders, we feel an obligation to explore all possibilities that have the potential to positively impact our delivery of educational services,” said Grant County Superintendent James Simpson.

        The county and city school boards are expected to vote on the new calendar in April. If approved, the districts would start the new schedule next school year.

        The districts would be the second and third in Northern Kentucky to adopt an alternative calendar. Silver Grove Independent Schools in Campbell County was the first last fall.

        Only three other schools in Greater Cincinnati, all in the Cincinnati Public Schools district, are on a year-round calendar.

        Earlier this week, Grant County held the first two of five public forums to present the proposal, get reaction and answer questions. Williamstown has talked to teachers and plans to survey parents this month. It is holding a public forum next week.

        The alternative schedule doesn't eliminate summer vacation.

        Students would go to school the same number of days with a shorter summer vacation and two-week breaks in the fall, winter and spring.

        During the breaks, or intersessions, schools would offer optional remediation and enrichment courses for one week.

        “Kids forget over the summer, and there's a lot of loss of learning,” said Grant County spokeswoman Ruth Odor.

        “If they go to all four intersessions, they'll get an extra month of learning.”

        Advocates of year-round education say it improves attendance, discipline and student performance, allowing schools to help students who are behind during the year.

        Opponents say the quarterly breaks are disruptive for parents and students, and cite poor attendance for the remedial services.

        Grant County's calendar committee has been looking into alternative calendars for a couple of years. School officials surveyed parents in November, asking them if they wanted to know more about the possibility. One-third responded and 75 percent of those said yes, Mrs. Odor said.

        When Grant County decided to take the idea to its parents and teachers, Williamstown — a smaller independent district in the county — followed. The two districts share many services, and students often transfer between the two.

        “As closely connected as we are, I thought it makes sense for us to do the same thing,” said Williamstown Superintendent Cliff Wallace.

        Grant County staff members will present feedback from the forums in March to the calendar committee, which will make a rec ommendation to the school board. Williamstown will likely base its decision on what Grant County does, Mr. Wallace said.

        “I'm not convinced it's the best way to go,” he said. “But I'm going to be open to it, and we'll weigh our decision heavily on what the county does.”

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