‘Year-Round Challenge’

The real “challenge” is not to struggle to make year-round school as “solid as possible” but to convince the public and our legislators to provide funds for long-overdue new schools.

Contrary to what School Superintendent Harry Handler’s recently broadcast propaganda film suggests, the proposed year-round plans do not improve education--they were introduced to alleviate crowding and have many drawbacks. The plans do not increase time spent in class nor do they shorten the long “summer” vacation--they merely stagger the times at which youngsters take their long vacation.

The drawbacks of the year-round plans have been stated by many parents. Families would have one child vacationing during winter and another in spring--each one losing out on summer recreational activities.

Youngsters would suffer on long hot summer bus rides and then swelter in 100-degree classrooms while waiting for “promised” air-conditioners (some current year-round schools have waited five years).

Scheduling, always troublesome, would become extremely difficult and totally occupy counselors and administrators, preventing them from educating; electives would gradually disappear. Teachers would no longer be assigned their own classrooms, destroying their morale and their motivation to prepare interest-arousing exhibits.

It is doubtful that year-round school would be economical over the long term. Additional money would continually be required for: administering the scheduling complexities of the multiple year-round “tracks;” constructing, running, and maintaining the air-conditioners; and operating the buses needed to transport students from the overcrowded parts of Los Angeles (already, unfortunately, on year-round) to the less crowded areas.

Year-round school was originally conceived as a temporary stop-gap measure. It would be most unwise to lower our standards and hastily adopt one of these poorly documented and untested plans as a permanent fixture. We should be facing the “crowding” challenge properly. We should be raising funds, cutting red tape and building new schools in which to give every child a quality education!

DAVID B. MICHELS

Northridge