What is the track system?

Elk Grove is the 5th largest school district in California. We have 43 elementary schools with 62,061 students K-12 and total population at 177,000.

Our school district just can’t keep up with the growing population. We have many houses being built in the southwest part of Elk Grove and many of these houses are being bought by families. Elk Grove School District has marked for 2 more elementary schools in this area but they will not be built soon and once they are built the new schools tend to fill up fast. This means our schools have to be put on a track system so there is enough room for students at the school.

In Elk Grove most of our schools are year round but there are some that are modified traditional and traditional. There are 4 tracks (A,B,C and D) which always leaves one track that is off and leaving a room empty for another track to be there. Track schools are also called year round schools leaving around one week that the school is not open.

A Track tends to be the most popular because it works well with the middle school and high school schedule. These schools are on a Traditional schedule. A Track is off July, half of August, November, and March.

B Track is the first to be off during the beginning of the school year. Some love this because its still warm outside and it could be considered ” summer time” still. B track is off half of August into September, 5 weeks in November since it runs into Thanksgiving and Christmas break, and April.

C track is probably the least favored, but that might also be beneficial if you are wanting to get into a school that is impacted or full. By requesting C track, you may increase the likelihood of getting a spot! C Track is off September, January and May.

D Track is the next track to be similar to Traditional. Their summer starts first along side the middle and high schools. They have October, February and June off. (Nothing like Disneyland in February..)

Pros
The pros of the track system is you can travel during the off season. When your off track time runs into a holiday week it’s even better! I know so many families that are able to take 2-3 week long trips because they are off track.

This could be a time to catch up if your child is behind, but you also don’t want to burn them out considering this is their “summer break” Some people stay on top of their child’s education by doing tutoring or worksheets.

I love knowing who my kids teachers will be, since most teachers like to stay in their tracks.

Cons
The cons of the track system is if you work you need to find child care. Thankfully there are several off track camps in Elk Grove including CSD and Elk Grove Kids Camp.

It’s hard to stay on schedule when the kids are off track. When it gets close to time going back we have to work on not staying up till midnight and eating 20 times a day. We have to “retrain” them.

Sometimes schools can’t get your children on the same track. They try their best, but sometimes this happens. Or even worse the same school!!

The kids tend to stay with the same students throughout there elementary time and don’t mingle much between their tracks.

Many people can’t wrap their mind around the track system, but Elk Grove has been doing this system for a long time. We receive so many comments about how “weird” it is, but my kids don’t know any better.