2 cities pursued more school for kids. Only 1 pulled it off.

Facing massive pandemic learning loss, the superintendent in Richmond, Virginia, tried to remake one of the most untouchable aspects of school – the academic calendar

Jonathan Oliva is in third grade, but struggles to read and write.

“His teacher said he’s like a kindergartner. He doesn’t know anything,” his mother, Veronica Lucas, said in Spanish, standing in the parking lot outside his elementary school.

So many obstacles stand between Jonathan and reading fluently. Much of his short academic career was spent online.

“He needs more time in school," said Lucas, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala when she was 13 and has limited experience with school herself.

Lucas doesn’t know the man in charge of Richmond’s schools tried — not once, but twice — to give students just that.

Superintendent Jason Kamras tried to remake one of the most untouchable aspects of school — the academic calendar — to give kids more time with teachers. It’s the kind of drastic intervention some experts say is needed to help students recover after two-and-a-half years of interrupted schooling.

While Richmond school board members said it would be too expensive and disruptive, school officials 20 miles away, in Hopewell, pushed forward. In 2021, theirs became the first Virginia district to adopt year-round schooling systemwide.

Why was one city able to do the seemingly impossible, while another failed?

Richmond’s superintendent met opposition from teachers and parents, particularly among more affluent families. Hopewell’s much smaller size, and teachers that backed the change, made it easier to build support in the community.

Back when Hopewell schools followed a traditional calendar, 10-year-old Gi’Shiya Broggin remembers sleeping late, swimming and visiting family during summers away at her father’s house. By fall she would feel like she “didn’t know anything” — especially in math.

Math still vexes the talkative fourth grader with glasses and cornrows. “I need help with subtraction,” said Gi’Shiya. “If the bigger number is not on top, I get really confused.”

Several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hopewell had begun studying year-round school as a way to boost lackluster performance in the 4,000-student district, where 91% of students are economically disadvantaged and 60% are Black.

Most teachers supported the change, according to district documents.

The need for intervention became acute after kids spent 16 months outside of school buildings. Test scores show Hopewell students lost the equivalent of more than two years of learning in math, some of the worst among thousands of school districts in a recent study.

In the summer of 2021, students began the new calendar. Summer vacation was reduced to four weeks. The school added three two-week breaks, or intersessions, when students can opt in for additional classes.

Now in its second year, it’s hard to know how much the change has helped. Chronic absenteeism remains high. However, teacher turnover is lower than it has been in years, Superintendent Melody Hackney said.

This year, only 20% to 25% of students participated in at least one intersession class.

The experience of Gi’Shiya's family suggests some may not be aware of the need.

Her mother, Quinn Branch, struck out trying to sign up her twins for their top choices. The courses filled up so quickly she gave up and sent her kids to visit their father during the breaks.

But Branch did not know her twins were receiving help because they are behind in math and reading until contacted by a reporter. Had she known, she would have tried harder to get them into the intersession programs, she said.

In Richmond, Superintendent Kamras initially resisted suggestions to extend the school year.

Then the pandemic hit, and the school board voted to shutter schools for the 2020-2021 academic year. Kamras saw online learning and social isolation devastate children’s emotional lives and academic motivation.

“I was all in then,” he said.

Tests have since shown Richmond’s average student lost the equivalent of nearly two years in math learning.

In the spring of 2021, the school board agreed to add days for the 2022-2023 school year. Kamras proposed either extending the school year by 10 days, or adding three intersessions to help the neediest students. By the next fall, however, several board members were skeptical.

Board member Kenya Gibson said the changes would put too much strain on teachers and students.

“We need to find a way to make the time we have work better,” said Gibson, a Black, Yale-educated architect who represents one of the more affluent areas of the city.

Gibson asked Kamras to consider another option — maintaining the schedule as it was.

Kamras complied. In a survey issued to staff and families, teachers overwhelmingly chose the option closest to the status quo.

It was a huge defeat for Kamras.

“It feels like the mantra is: ‘Fix everything, but don’t change anything,’” he said.

Most teachers responded to the online survey, but parents' voices were largely missing. Those who did respond were mostly from families with higher incomes.

Richmond struggled to adopt year-round school because wealthier parents couldn’t see any benefit of more class time for their children, said Taikein Cooper, executive director of Virginia Excels, a statewide education advocacy organization.

On the city’s south side, where enrollment is growing thanks to an influx of Latino immigrants, Kamras would have found an eager, if unrepresented, audience. A quarter of Richmond students are Latino, but there is no Latino member on the school board.

On a recent afternoon, dozens of mothers waited in their cars in the pick-up line outside Cardinal Elementary School. None of five mothers interviewed knew about the attempts to extend the school year. Each would have jumped at the opportunity.

Veronica Lucas would like more time in school for her son Jonathan. “I can’t afford to hire him a tutor,” she said.

There may be another chance for Jonathan.

Kamras is making a third attempt at year-round school, this time calling it a pilot for interested schools. As before, approval rests with the school board.

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