Student Schedules: What Form Will They Take?

If all Los Angeles schools shift to a year-round operation, what schedule will they follow?

There’s no obvious answer to this question, since district schools operate on six calendars--five versions of a year-round schedule and the traditional September-to-June calendar.

Some students go to school nine weeks and then are off three weeks. Others go for 12 weeks and are off four.

Four district high schools operate all year--Belmont, Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate--and their students go to class for eight weeks and then have four weeks off. Under this schedule, the school year has only 163 days, but the school days are longer.

Last week school Supt. Harry Handler, in proposing that all schools operate year round, suggested an entirely new calendar.

Five-Term Quarter

Under this plan, dubbed the “five-term quarter system, “ students would be divided into five groups. Each group would attend school in four sessions of 45 days. Each group would also have a 45-day vacation at some time during the year.

All schools would be closed for the first three weeks in July, for two weeks at the Christmas holidays and for three days for a spring vacation.

One of the five groups at each school would always be on vacation, allowing the building to enroll one-fourth more students.

“If we were able to move toward all year-round schools being on the five-term quarter system, we would markedly improve our ability to provide services to schools in a cost-effective and cost-efficient manner,” Handler said.

Every Weekday

Under current schedules, year-round schools are open virtually every weekday during the year, so maintenance and repairs take place while students are at school.

Handler said the five-term schedule would give students and teachers a common vacation in July and December when all schools would be shut down. The 45-day sessions would also permit schools to divide traditional semester-long courses into two even blocks.