Portables, Extended-Day School Options Weighed

Still trying to find a way to cope with an impending enrollment surge, the Los Angeles school board took a look Thursday at two new options: adding hundreds of portable classrooms to its crowded schools or putting its junior and senior high schools on extended-day sessions.

With a final decision set for Feb. 24, the board and the staff have immersed themselves in the complexities of finding space for 82,000 extra students over the next five years in an already overcrowded school district.

Last month, the board tentatively accepted Supt. Harry Handler’s plan to move toward a year-round operation by 1991, but several board members say they want to delay the move as long as possible.

On Thursday, officials said the district could buy or lease as many as 1,500 portable classrooms in the next few years, creating enough space to seat 40,000 children.

“That surprised me, and I think we ought to pursue that option as far as possible,” West Valley board member David Armor, a foe of the year-round school plan, said after the meeting. “It could give us a way to avoid going to further year-round schools.”

However, Sally Coughlin, director of the staff unit working on the overcrowding issue, said more portable classrooms would help, but they will not solve the problem.

“All of our plans call for using more portables,” Coughlin said. “They make prudent use of the space available, and they save on (the) travel costs” of busing students to less crowded campuses.

“But by 1988,” she added, “there is no way to avoid putting additional schools on year-round (operation).”

By the end of this month, the board wants to settle on a specific plan for the next two years. Before voting, it will hold further discussions and public hearings on Feb. 13 and 20.

Only two firm conclusions emerged from Thursday’s meeting. First, no more schools will be put on a year-round schedule next year. District officials said they want to give parents, children and the school staff more warning before their calendar is changed.

But second, by the fall of 1987, the district will have no choice but to begin putting more schools on a year-round schedule, or--in the case of secondary schools--switching to an all-day operation.

Under the so-called “staggered day” plan, some students would start early and leave early, while others would come late and stay late. The middle of the day would include four lunch periods. Since one-fourth of the study body would always be out of school or at lunch, the campus could accommodate one-third more students.

Board to Consider Plan

Though the extended days are not being considered for the elementary schools, the board next week will consider such an option for the junior and senior high schools.

In the 1960s, schools in the then rapidly growing San Fernando Valley operated on double sessions, allowing the campus to serve twice as many students as on a regular schedule. The current plan is less drastic, although some students would begin school as early as 7 a.m. and others would stay as late as 5:30 p.m.

In 1981, Huntington Park High School operated on a staggered-day schedule, and Principal Marjorie O’Hanlon said, “It was an experience I’d like to forget.”

“Educationally, it was a disaster. Attendance was bad in the early morning and in the late afternoon. During the middle of the day, the school was so crowded you could hardly move up and down the halls,” O’Hanlon said Thursday. “Our teachers are horrified that the district is seriously considering this.”

On Year-Round Schedule

In 1982, she noted, her school moved to a year-round schedule.

“We are pleased with it. I think it’s the most appropriate solution to the crowding problem,” she said.

Several board members--and probably still a majority--say the same for the district as a whole.

Within two or three years, the district will have to begin putting more schools on an all-year operation to accommodate the overflow, board members say.

“I think that’s the way we’ll go in the end,” Harbor area board member John Greenwood said. “I don’t think we have any other choice.”