Monte school board wants to discuss year-round school.

The Montesano School Board wants to begin a community dialogue about the possibility of “year-round” school.

That doesn’t mean adding any more school days, it simply adjusts the school-year calendar to cut down on the length of summer break, adding those days off at other times of the year.

School board chairman Steve Poler broached the subject at the school board’s regular monthly meeting on Aug. 28. Other members of the school board were receptive, but definitely wanted more information.

“I really would like to see a discussion,” Poler told the board and small audience at the meeting. “I want to hear from parents, teachers, administrators — and students — and get their feelings on a year-round calendar.”

Poler said that he felt the traditional nine-month calendar was somewhat outdated, created in a time when the country had a different schedule, based on a more agrarian society. Poler also pointed out that under current schedules, high school students return from Christmas break and straight into finals. He called that “counter-intuitive.”

“From an educational standpoint, it makes no sense,” he said of the nine-month model, “but I understand there’s a whole lot more to the discussion than just education, including athletics. But I really want to get the topic out there and, over the next couple of months, have a discussion.

School board member Dick Stone felt the first step should be to get the board more information regarding studies of effectiveness of year-round school and some examples of different year-round schedules.

“That’s a place to start, so we know what the implications are,” Stone said.

“I know there are multiple (year-round) calendars, so there’s not just one option,” said Poler.

Superintendent Dan Winter was open to the topic, but felt it would take time to flush out facts and feelings.

“I think this is a multiple-meetings subject,” he said, suggesting the board may want to schedule and publicize a study session on the topic to help get the ball rolling and gather opinion from the school community.

The board plans to discuss the topic more at it’s next regular meeting and is hoping interested parties will show up and express their opinions and ideas during the public comment periods. The next regular meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25.

“I really want the feedback from the community and the schools. As a board, we really have to think about the big picture sometimes,” said Poler, noting that he had no idea how people would react. “There’s a lot of things I don’t have the answers too — I just want to get the process started.”