Walnut : Year-Round Schools Study

Walnut Valley Unified School District officials have agreed to form a task force to study the feasibility of year-round schooling to alleviate overcrowding in the district, which includes Walnut and parts of Diamond Bar.

The group will spend about a year examining year-round schools in other school districts before making a recommendation to the board, Supt. David L. Brown said.

Brown said all seven of the district’s elementary schools are at or beyond capacity. He added that the district’s student population of 9,800 is expected to increase by 400 next year. To build the facilities needed by the 1990s--three new elementary schools, one middle school and additional classroom space in the district’s two high schools--would cost $25 million to $30 million, he said.

Brown said the year-round plan might provide more effective education by eliminating long breaks in instruction.