Pair of North Kansas City schools seeing benefits of year-round classes

Students at Winnwood Elementary School and Crestview Elementary School in the North Kansas City School District have moved on to the next grade but that doesn't mean summer school.

2018 is the fourth year of a modified extended school year at Winnwood and Crestview.

District officials say they added three weeks of school in June and July after teachers were spending too much time reviewing what students forgot over summer break.

And, after being one of the lowest-performing schools in the district, Winnwood is now seeing the results from year-round school.

"We're now in the top third of highest performing schools in our district and that has been and indicator to us that the additional time has helped propel our students forward," Winnwood Principal Dr. Leah Copeland said.

Officials say students are performing at an all-time high in both math and English.

Copeland says that is because a shorter break means less time for kids to forget the material.

And, both parents and students seem to be on board.

"My kids actually get weird if they're off for more than a week and start asking when they can get back," Winnwood parent Ruth Sawyer said.

"My break is also really short so it won't let me forget anything when I come back to school,"fifth-grade student Skylar Connor said.

"If you take a month or two off like other schools, they forget and here it's very easy and we're just ready to rock and roll,"fifth-grade student David Milosevic added.

"Last week, my son said, 'Is it time to go back?' and they'd only been off for five days but came and met his first-grade teacher so he was excited to be back," Winnwood parent Julie Toma said.

Winnwood and Crestview are the only Missouri schools that hold year-round classes but Copeland says the district has been visited by multiple districts from both in an out of the state.

"We've even had site visitors from the state of Louisiana that have come multiple times and they are starting a modified calendar this year as a result of what we're doing here," Copeland said.