As year-round school bells ring Wednesday, students may take heart in this: About 60,000 others are walking in your shoes.
They, too, will leave behind swimming pools to hit the schoolbooks, either now or on some other "track" under year-round schedules.
Soon, they could have a lot more company.
Utah schools are going to have to make room for 100,000 new students by 2010, state number-crunchers have predicted. Year-round schedules, particularly in elementary schools, have been a low-cost way to ease crowding.
"As we see those numbers begin to rise, we will expect to see an increase in year-round schools as well," said Patty Murphy, school statistics specialist for the State Office of Education. "No doubt about it, (schools) face some very difficult questions."
In the 1980s, Utah schools were in a quandary. The economy was faltering. School enrollments were skyrocketing, and the state was having a hard time finding money to educate so many. The state predicted it needed $1.8 billion for buildings.
In fall of 1984, two elementary schools turned to year-round schools to boost school capacity by as much as one-third.
The idea worked. Building-related spending fell from $142.9 million in 1985-86 to $69.6 million in 1988-89, despite enrollment growth, the Utah Foundation, a public policy research group, reported. Between those years, the number of year-round schools climbed from five to 42. In fall of 1993, 86 year-round schools enrolled 16 percent of Utah public-school pupils, marking an all-time high, State Office of Education numbers show. And not all were because of crowding.
A handful of Salt Lake District schools, including Whittier and Franklin, have single-track year-round schedules.
They hope students will better retain what they learn with short breaks rather than three summer months off.
South Kearns and Woodrow Wilson elementary schools in Granite District do the same. "It keeps them in the groove all year," senior director of elementary school services Sharon Prescott said.
But year-round isn't for everybody.
A year ago, numbers dipped to 80 year-round schools enrolling 13 percent of public-school students.
Alpine School District, perhaps the state's fastest-growing, tossed year-round schedules because parents complained about the scheduling conflicts. Children in the same family often were on different schedules, depending on whether they attended a year-round elementary or traditional secondary school, and it was difficult to make plans. Older siblings used to watching younger ones during the summer couldn't do so on year-round schedules, forcing parents to pay for day care.
So now, crowded Alpine schools have "extended days," where students arrive at different times to maximize building use.
Several years ago, Granite's Brockbank and Thomas Jefferson junior highs didn't have parental support to continue year-round schedules, Prescott said. Crowding is handled by busing students who want to go to less-crowded Wasatch and Churchill on the east bench.
More schools might adopt such measures in the next enrollment wave. Or, they might ask voters to hike property taxes — Alpine District just passed an unprecedented $200 million for new schools.
Some undoubtedly will opt for year-round schools, already in place in Davis, Granite, Jordan, Provo, Salt Lake and Washington school districts.
Hayden Peak Elementary in West Jordan began its first year-round schedule Wednesday. The school, which grew from 720 to 870 students in a year, has primed the community for the change since it opened two years ago.
"You're always going to have some who prefer traditional over year-round," principal Denney Berrett said. "But as far as people being accepting, we have a wonderful community. They understand we have outgrown our building."
Across the district, students at eastern Sandy's Park Lane Elementary had the summer off for the first time since 1988. Jordan assistant superintendent Brenda Hales said enrollments allowed for year-round or traditional scheduling; parents opted for the latter.
"I think they were all ready for it," Hales said. "As communities get older, the need for year-round disappears."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com