900 Parents Protest Year-Round Classes : Education: Lynwood board proposes to begin program at three elementary schools in June as an experiment, but participation would be voluntary.

More than 900 parents filled the city’s civic auditorium last week to criticize a school board plan to experiment with year-round schools as a way of relieving overcrowded classrooms.

Angry parents shouted down board President Joe E. Battle when he offered to have officials explain the board’s plan. Leaders of the standing-room-only crowd said they preferred that the five-member board respond to parents’ questions and concerns.

“Why weren’t parents considered in the planning of the year-round schools?” Yrma Rodriguez asked.

Battle said the purpose of the meeting was to inform parents, but “no one wants to listen. We haven’t decided on anything.” He was the only official of the Lynwood Unified School District to speak during the Wednesday session, which lasted nearly two hours.

Parents said they object to the year-round system because it would be disruptive to families, especially those with children attending school at different times of the year.

Despite the protests, three of the five board members said they still favor the year-round experiment, although one of them appeared to be hedging.

The board postponed action on the proposal during a March 13 meeting, and scheduled last week’s public hearing after more than 200 parents showed up at board headquarters to protest the year-round school experiment.

The board is expected to resume its discussion Tuesday at its regular meeting, and parents said they would show up again to continue their protest.

The proposal calls for three elementary schools with the largest enrollments--Roosevelt, Will Rogers and Lindbergh--to be converted to year-round schedules in June. Participation would be voluntary, officials said.

Board members Willard Hawn Reed, Richard Armstrong and Rachel Chavez said in interviews that they continue to support the year-round experiment.

“I feel terrible about this, but I can’t see how we can’t implement the program,” Chavez said. “I have to consider every child.”

Chavez said year-round schools are necessary because of the troubles the district has experienced with crowded classrooms, which resulted in a fine by the state. The state Department of Education fined the district $360,000 for the 1988-89 school year for constantly violating the state’s average limit of 30 students per classroom in elementary grades.

Armstrong said he favors year-round schools, but added that he is concerned about parent opposition. “If the community is so violently opposed to it, I don’t know if it should be crammed down its throat,” Armstrong said.

Battle said he supports the concept, but would not vote for the year-round proposal now because he does not believe the district is prepared to start it in July. Board member Thelma Williams is opposed to the year-round plan.

Parents also said students from other districts attend Lynwood schools illegally, contributing to the overcrowding. Some of the students come to Lynwood to escape year-round schooling in nearby South Gate, parents said.

Matilde Zapien, one of the protest leaders, said parents believe that as many as 2,000 students are illegally registered in Lynwood. The parents said they have observed students riding public buses into the district, and know of students who continue attending classes after their parents move out of the district. They also said the district has dismissed students who attended Lynwood schools while living in other districts.

Lynwood school officials said some students do attend from neighboring areas, but insisted that parents’ estimates of 2,000 students are exaggerated. Board member Reed said the district dismisses about 10 to 20 students a month for illegally registering. Supt. Audrey Clarke said the district will step up its efforts to make sure illegal students are dismissed.

South Gate High School Principal Raul Moreno said he does not believe that large numbers of students are leaving South Gate to enroll in Lynwood. South Gate, which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is on a year-round schedule.

“Based on our information, Lynwood schools are not in as good of a condition as Los Angeles Unified, including class sizes,” Moreno said.

Moreno said a few students might transfer to Lynwood to avoid being bused to other schools. About 250 students are bused to various Los Angeles-area schools daily to relieve overcrowd conditions at the South Gate campus, which has 3,900 students, Moreno said.

Principal Jim Abbott of Liberty Elementary School in South Gate said he also does not believe a significant number of students had been transfered to the Lynwood district. “We have been on year-round for a number of years. Parents like it. The teachers love it,” Abbott said.

The Lynwood district has 13 schools and 15,000 students.