Fitting Year-Round School Calendar to All Needs Difficult, Study Finds

It would be difficult to find one calendar to satisfy the diverse needs of the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to preliminary findings of a task force formed to help the school board decide whether year-round school should be expanded districtwide.

A three-month study confirmed the concerns of many, and offers, for the first time, some factual data about the emotionally charged issue of year-round school and how the policy would affect district parents, students, employers and youth-oriented service agencies.

Based on contacts with about 20,000 individuals, the findings indicate that public recreation agencies and youth employers, for instance, seem more able to adapt to a year-round calendar than do private camps, child-care providers and interscholastic sports programs.

According to task force chairman Charles E. Dickerson, the 17-member advisory group is trying to find one calendar that will serve all of the district’s 587,000 students. The majority currently attend school on the traditional September-to-June, two-semester calendar, but more than 25% of the district follows one of five different year-round calendars because their schools are too crowded and must operate during the summer.

A majority of about 40 child-care providers contacted said they would have difficulty adjusting to a school calendar that featured shorter vacation breaks, although the length was not specified.

Parents Rely on Child Care

Of the more than 3,000 parents surveyed, 50% said they hold jobs and rely on child-care services, primarily during after-school hours.

In addition, two-thirds of the parents said they take out-of-town family vacations together, primarily during the summer. Three-quarters of the parents said they need one to three weeks for family vacations. The year-round calendars currently used by the district feature several vacation periods each ranging from 15 to 30 days in length.

Of the 3,100 parents surveyed, 40% were single or divorced, 69% had children attending schools on the traditional calendar, and 31% had children in year-round schools.

Similarly, of 64 local private camp operators contacted, a majority indicated that a year-round schedule would pose a hardship, largely because they hire college students on summer break. Many also said the facilities they lease are available only during the summer.

The 231 public parks and public camp programs surveyed, however, said they are more flexible and could accommodate almost any school schedule, but might need additional money for additional staff.

No Negative Impact on Jobs

Businesses that employ youths reported that year-round schedules would have “virtually no negative impact” on a teen-ager’s ability to obtain a job. Of 456 businesses and government-subsidized youth jobs programs contacted, 88% said they would hire youths year-round, and of those, 83% said they were willing to accommodate the sporadic vacation pattern of a year-round schedule. In other words, the majority of employers surveyed said they could accommodate a student who, for instance, wanted to work for three weeks in April and then three weeks in July.

The task force also examined differences in how “single-track” and “multitrack” calendars would affect various segments of the district and the community. For instance, it found that the multitrack schedule--in which students would be broken into several groups that alternate vacation and class times--may pose insurmountable conflicts for students involved in interscholastic athletics and other extracurricular activities not regulated by the school district. Under the single-track system, all students attend school and go on vacation at the same time.

The task force will hold a public hearing Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Plasencia Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles. It will submit a final report to Supt. Leonard Britton on June 31.