School's out for summer -- except for hundreds of children in western San Bernardino County who, because of an administrative snafu, must make up 34 days of school this summer.
The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino exceeded the state's requirement of minutes spent in the classroom, and the last day of school was supposed to be Thursday. But because of the complexities of state law and a clerical error on a spreadsheet, the Chino Unified School District will lose more than $7 million in state funds if classes end at the schools before July 31.
"I'm appalled. I'm just really kind of amazed the state would . . . take it out on the kids," said Michelle Knight, whose son, Tristan, is a Dickson fifth-grader.
Knight said the family's summer schedule is already packed: Mother and son are taking a road trip to Washington to visit family this month, and Tristan is going camping in July with his father, who lives in Colorado. The 11-year-old also has swim meets with the Chino Valley Dolphins team, community theater rehearsals and Boy Scout camp-outs.
"He needs a break. He's a kid," said Knight, a teacher.
Rolling Ridge fourth-grader Sean Cornish said the extended school year would interfere with his plans to spend time with family and swim in his family's backyard pool.
"Oh, mannnnn," said the 10-year-old, adding that the subject has been a frequent topic of conversation among his classmates. "They think it's dumb, that they have to go to school for these extra days because some lady messed up."
School officials are sympathetic.
"We made an error on the minimum days of about five minutes," said Dickson Principal Sue Pederson. "Realistically, that's our accounting mistake as adults. We're unfortunately making the children pay for it by making them give up their summer."
Students at each school exceeded the state's requirement of at least 54,000 minutes of annual classroom time, but the problem arose in the district's minimum days. Schools typically have one shortened day per week, allowing teachers to use the remaining time for planning and parent conferences. 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.
