Year-Round Schools in L.A.
I have been a year-round teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District for the past seven years. Before accepting the current plan to implement a year-round schedule throughout the district, the board and parents should consider what happened to me this morning.
After beginning instruction in my first period class, a painter entered the room and began painting. The smell of paint fumes quickly permeated the air. I immediately complained to the principal and informed him that I refused to work in a potentially unhealthy environment, nor would I be responsible for keeping children in such an environment. I was told to go home. The kids, of course, remained.
This situation is not uncommon. The year-round schedule often requires that maintenance, repairs and construction activities be performed during school hours with students in attendance. Besides enduring annoying and potentially unhealthful paint fumes, students and teachers must often avoid workmen’s tools and heavy equipment strewn throughout the hallways and yard areas.
If year-round schooling is to become a reality for the entire district, a safer and less intrusive maintenance program should be developed.
WARREN B. MERRIMAN
Los Angeles
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