Results from last week's online poll

Should the Cape Girardeau School District move to a year-round schedule?

* No: 58.7% (315 votes)

* Yes: 37.8% (203 votes)

Undecided: 3.5% (19 votes)

537 votes cast

Comments:

* "Yes. It would help give the kids something to do in the summer months instead of getting into trouble. It would also help keep their minds in a "learning state" instead of being wasted."

* "That's when crime shoots up, is when they (kids) are out of school."

* "If a year-round schedule is meant to imply increased number of school days, i.e., more student contact in order to improve student performance, I believe a year-round schedule is not a means to improve student performance and better prepare our students so that they are able to compete nationally or globally as well. Our education system need to look at better ways to educate our children. Quit the practice of "dimming the diamonds and polishing the pebbles." Use common sense, the method that has been proven to work -- check those methods out, no matter where it comes from. These methods that are known to work do not take much $$$ to implement."

* "I went to a year-round elementary school before moving here to Cape. It was a wonderful experience and makes more sense than the traditional summers-off schooling."

* "Children need a break and need to enjoy the summers off as we did. This is the only time you can get the fresh air and enjoy water sports."

* "The students need the time off and the teacher's need the extra time to further their education."

* "Kids get bored in the summer. Give them shorter breaks year-round to help prevent burnout and keep them on the learning track!"

* "This is a useless, outdated custom that started back when kids were needed to help with the farm crops in the summer months. It's time to get into modern times. How many kids in this town live on farms? With the education kids are getting these days those extra three months in school are needed."

* "Summer break has always been the time for the entire family to go on last-minute trips and enjoy the summer events without planning around school days and hours. If there was school all year-round kids would definitely miss more days due to parents wanting a break from getting up early all year. The kids work hard in school an entire 9 and a 1/2 months, but if they have to have surgery or get sick and miss more than 5 days the school board is sending letters home threatening to take some form of action. Whoever came up with this idea must not have children or any enjoyment other than work. I say take a vacation, sleep in, lounge around for a couple days then get out and enjoy doing something that you don't have time for when you're working 8 hours a day 5 to 6 days a week! I work hard and I am raising 3 children, I do not want my A honor roll student ending up quitting school because he gets burned out just because some people may want to work all year because they don't have enough to do during the summer break. Those are the ones that try to ruin everyone else's plans. Maybe those people are in the wrong profession!"

* " No, heck, no."

* "Kids need their summer break!"

* "I believe the more time a child spends in the custody of state government's paid teachers, the worst they will be able to cope with life's ups and downs without depending on government to support them. The public school system is a failure."

* "What is the actual difference in days spent in the classroom?"

* "They are so incompetent for nine months, why let them screw up a whole year. The students' performance is deteriorating because of the teachers' inability to teach, not because students are not going to school long enough."

* "Year-round is just not an option ... many students count on the summer to enjoy leisure activities and most have summer sports teams that are so much fun because they get to travel all over the states! Most teachers have part-time summer jobs that would not be available because of the breaks being split up! This is a terrible idea.

* "I attended year-round school for my last two years of high school when my family moved to Zephyrhills, Fla. They called it 45/15 because that was the amount of school days you attended and then were off. Once you got used to it, it was great! You still got the same amount of time off, just spread out across the whole year."

* "Kids need breaks, too!"