CHICAGO -- Lindblom Math & Science Academy faculty recently voted to become the first Chicago public high school to require students to attend school year-round. Long advocated by Mayor Richard M. Daley, the change will take effect with the 2008-2009 school year.

Students and parents complaining of the disruptive impact on family schedules are unwilling participants in an experiment that may determine whether Daley’s year-round agenda transcends the elementary level.

Daley has called for year-round schooling for Chicago kids since his 1995 school takeover, and 14 elementaries have bought in to date. Their students start school in the summer, with three months of classes and one month off.

Proponents cite greater academic retention by students and less burnout for teachers. Advocates maintain American children lag behind their Asian and European peers who spend more time in school.

"If we can spend billions of dollars to put a person on the moon, how, in this day and age, can we give kids two months off?" the mayor recently asked thousands of parents at a CPS parent involvement conference.

His reasoning resounded with Lindblom Principal Alan Mather, whose staff voted in December to make the switch.

"Year-round is a misnomer. It's the same number of instructional days, just broken up differently," said Mather.

A CPS performance school, Lindblom, located at 6130 S. Wolcott Ave., opened in 2005 after a $38 million overhaul of former Lindblom High. With the year-round calendar, its students will begin school in August and have November, March and July off.

Three of 27 teachers voted against the change, expressing concern for parents who will have to juggle different schedules of their other students, as well as the fewer job opportunities that will be available to needy students.

But PTA President Michele Tolbert Ploss said families will adjust.

"Change is always a challenge," she said.

Lindblom’s successful transition will lay a roadmap for other schools, said chief of high schools Donald Pittman.

And at least one student, sophomore Tynisha Sudberry, the highest ranking in her class, hopes more high schools follow.

"When we don't have to go to school, kids around here hang out on the corners, getting into trouble. If we were in school, that wouldn’t happen," Tynisha said. "I think all schools should do it."

Additional information provided by Chicago Sun-Times Inc.