Pomona Approves 2 Year-Round Schools

Roosevelt and Washington elementary schools will go on year-round schedules starting in July, 1991, under a proposal approved Tuesday by the Pomona Unified School District board.

Jo Roberts, who heads the district’s task force on year-round schools, said the school calendar has not yet been determined.

Under a year-round plan, students often attend classes for 90 days and then take 30 days off, but there are alternative schedules. Classes take vacations at different times so that schools are in use year-round, accommodating more students without increasing the number of classrooms.

Such proposals have sparked controversies in other cities, but not in Pomona.

A hearing conducted on the year-round proposal by the school board Tuesday night drew only a handful of parents. Roberts said the low turnout reflected the fact that the year-round plan had been well-explained at community meetings before the hearing.

School officials have been studying year-round schools for three years.

Pomona will become the third district in the San Gabriel Valley to put some of its schools on a year-round schedule. The others are El Monte City and Garvey elementary school districts.

As of last week, Roosevelt had an enrollment of 1,088 students and Washington had 824. The district is adding nearly 1,000 students each year and is approaching 27,000 in total enrollment.