VENTURA : 2 Schools to Go to Year-Round Tracks

The Ventura Unified School District will switch two of its elementary schools to a year-round schedule but will refrain for the time being from converting one of its middle schools to that calendar.

One of the district’s 24 schools is already on a year-round calendar. Unlike traditional nine-month schools, year-round schools have three nine-week sessions, separated by three-week vacations. Students are off for six weeks during the summer.

In contrast to Oxnard and Los Angeles, where the motive for going year-round is crowding, “the main benefit in Ventura is you don’t have the large amount of learning loss you encounter with the long summer vacations of the traditional calendar,” said Mike Sellwood, administrative services director.

Sellwood said the district surveyed 487 parents at DeAnza Middle School to determine how they felt about converting to the year-round calendar. About 90% of the surveys were returned, with 51% of the families in favor of making the change this year. Nineteen percent were in favor of waiting until 1991.

Sellwood said the district will wait until there is stronger support before changing DeAnza’s calendar.

But at Sheridan Way and E.P. Foster elementary schools, where 70% of parents surveyed said they support the concept, the year-round calendar will be implemented this fall.