‘Recruiting’ Letters Go Out : Las Virgenes Schools Seek Year-Round Volunteers

Las Virgenes Unified School District elementary-school children took home letters this week outlining a controversial plan to create a voluntary year-round educational program at Lupin Hill Elementary School in Calabasas.

The year-round schedule is one of several plans the district is testing as it wrestles with the problem of finding enough classrooms for its fast-growing student population. By operating classes on a 12-month schedule, with some students on vacation while others attend classes, the district can increase a school’s capacity.

The Lupin Hill year-round plan could start as early as August if it is approved by the Board of Education and enough students sign up, according to Assistant Supt. Leo Lowe.

For the program to start, about 180 students must enroll. Attached to the letters students took home was a preliminary registration form for the 12-month program.

“There must be enough students at every grade level to support the program or the board is not going to approve the plan,” Lowe said.

Program Open to All

Enrollment in the Lupin Hill year-round program would be open to all elementary students in the Las Virgenes district, Lowe said. Lupin Hill would still hold classes on the traditional September-June schedule for families who do not want to participate in the year-round program and who live within the school’s attendance boundaries.

There are no other plans for year-round programs in the 80-square-mile Las Virgenes district, which stretches from the west end of the San Fernando Valley to Thousand Oaks.

Last October, over the protests of some parents, Las Virgenes trustees approved two controversial plans to remedy crowded conditions at some elementary and middle-school campuses.

One proposal called for graduating Agoura Hills fifth-graders from Sumac Elementary School to be bused to A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas as a way to reduce the number of students at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills.

The board also approved creation of a voluntary year-round program if a district-sponsored survey found enough parents interested in the schedule.

Elementary Students

That poll was completed in March and and showed some support for year-round programs among parents of elementary school-age children. But parents of middle- and high-school students voiced little support.

Both the traditional September-June and the proposed year-round schedules provide 181 school days. However, in the year-round plan, students would have longer Thanksgiving and winter breaks than students on the traditional schedule.

Lowe said Lupin Hill was picked for the year-round experiment because support from teachers there is almost unanimous and there is space next to the campus for expansion.

Finally, Lowe said, since many parents in the area drive east toward the San Fernando Valley, year-round classes at Lupin Hill, which is in the eastern part of the district, might make the program more attractive to commuters.