Year-Round Schools in L.A.

I would like to voice what seems to be a minority opinion on the year-round school issue. I speak as a parent (currently of pre-schoolers), as a former secondary teacher, as a former recreation center administrator, and as a museum educator.

Having school operate year-round seems eminently sensible to me, given that children will still have adequate vacation time. Most parents work year-round; in fact most of modern society functions on a 12-month schedule. Few of us are fortunate enough to have more than three or four weeks vacation annually. Even with longer vacation periods available, job considerations and family budgets tend to make several shorter holidays more feasible than one grand trip a year. The year-round schedule would still allow a reasonably grand trip anyhow.

I think that the frantic anticipation of vacation and the stress associated with the end of a long vacation will be minimized with a year-round schedule, to the great advantage of children who suffer these phenomena and parents and teachers who have to deal with them.

Very little learning takes place in the average classroom as the school year winds down to mid-June, as any teacher can tell you. Parents are all familiar with the end-of-summer blues brought on by a mixture of boredom and anxious anticipation before school starts in September. Some of these emotions will still remain as school sessions end and begin, which is fine. Childhood should not be bland.

But I am convinced that more learning and less wasted time will result with shorter holiday sessions. Besides, the surf is great in the winter too! School staffs will also benefit from being able to take holidays at other than peak vacation times.

The issue of child care during multiple short vacations has been raised. There is bound to be a period of adjustment. But organizations that currently supply after-school and vacation programs can adjust their schedules to operate all day year-round to great advantage. My own experience as an after-school child care provider left me convinced of the wisdom of giving children the same 12-month schedules that their working parents have. We had an empty building most of each week day, most of the year, and a heart-breaking inability to provide full-day care to all of those in need in June, July and August. For the children, their parents, and the employees a year-round schedule would have been a great boon. Nowadays more and more mothers work, creating ever greater need for year-round child care.

I live in Santa Monica and plan to send my children to Santa Monica schools. I would be happy to see other cities’ school districts follow Los Angeles’ example. My own primary concern is not for relieving overcrowded schools (for which year-round is an excellent solution), but for a schedule that more sensibly reflects the needs of modern working parents.

JUDITH SLOANE BLOCKER

Santa Monica