School district announces that Metcalfe will stay on traditional calendar, Rawlings will adopt year-round schedule

Press release from Alachua County Public Schools

ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Department of Education has approved the district’s request to keep Metcalfe Elementary School on a traditional 10-month calendar while moving forward with a year-round schedule at Rawlings Elementary School for the 2024-25 school year.

Under the year-round schedule, the first day of school for students at Rawlings Elementary will be Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The complete year-round calendar is available at www.sbac.edu/yearroundschools.

Families at both schools are being notified of the change and receiving the appropriate calendar for their school. They are also receiving information about the option available to families to request a zoning exception for their child. If approved for a zoning exception, a child at Rawlings could attend Metcalfe and vice-versa to take advantage of the calendar they prefer.

Information on zoning exceptions is available on the district’s website at https://www.sbac.edu/zoning.

Rawlings and Metcalfe were among five schools in Florida to receive approval in January to participate in the Year-Round School Pilot Program under a state law passed during the 2023 legislative session. Schools in Marion and Brevard counties and P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville were also approved.

In addition to Rawlings, Wyomina Park Elementary in Marion and Challenger 7 Elementary in Brevard will be switching to a year-round calendar for the upcoming school year. P.K. Yonge has shared that the earliest it would consider implementing year-round schooling would be in the 2025-26 school year.

Under a year-round schedule, the school year starts earlier and breaks are distributed more evenly throughout the year. That eliminates the long summer break that leads to what is commonly referred to as the “summer slide,” the learning loss that comes with an extended period with no school. 

Among the other potential benefits the pilot program would offer are more opportunities for ongoing academic support and targeted intervention, fewer challenges with attendance and behavior, continuity in programs and structure, and stronger bonds between students and staff.