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Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino would probably issue their school district admins a great big ol' F for FAIL if they could. Those hundreds of students don't get to sing "no more pencils, no more books" for 34 more days, thanks to "a clerical error on a spreadsheet" at the Chino Unified School District that led to the miscalculation of mandatory time spent in the classroom, according to the LA Times.The kids' last day was supposed to be last Thursday, but now they're in session until July 31st; if the CUSD doesn't force the students--and their parents--to comply, they will "lose more than $7 million in state funds," tied to the permissible amount of time a campus may conduct a minimum day. "Under state law, these days must be at least 180 minutes, and the daily average classroom time over 10 consecutive days must be 240 minutes."
So what happened at Dickson and Rolling Ridge?
An internal audit in early May discovered that 34 minimum days had been 175 minutes at Dickson and 170 at Rolling Ridge, said district spokeswoman Julie Gobin. That adds up to a shortage of 170 and 340 minutes, respectively, which could be made up in one or two school days. But under state law, these too-short days do not count at all, meaning that all 34 must be made up to avoid a state penalty of more than $7 million.
Kids, and their families, are groaning. This impacts summer plans from travel to camp to child care arrangements. Some parents will send their kids to the summer session and hope that the "fun" activities the school has planned will pay off, while others indicated they'll spend their summer as intended--out of school.
