Year-Round Classes for Long Beach District Approved : Schools: Some teachers, parents protest suddenness of move, prompted by a dramatic surge in enrollment.

Responding to a dramatic surge in enrollment, the Long Beach Unified School District this week approved districtwide year-round school schedules, triggering protests by some teachers and parents over the suddenness of the action.

The district will begin year-round schedules in about 65 middle and elementary schools on July 1, 1994. Seven schools already have shifted to year-round schedules, and the board gave the go-ahead to two others, Alvarado Elementary in Signal Hill and College Intermediate in Long Beach, to convert in July.

Long Beach is among a growing number of overcrowded area districts going year-round. Others, according to Ann Bradley of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, include Montebello, Norwalk-La Mirada, Compton and Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest unified school district.

Enrollment in Long Beach had been growing in recent years by about 1,000 students annually until this fall, when it increased by about 3,000, said Lewis Prilliman, district director of research. The district serves about 71,500 students from Long Beach, Signal Hill, Lakewood and Santa Catalina Island.

PTA and teacher union leaders said they were surprised at how quickly the board acted, and questioned whether there were not other alternatives.

“I think parents should have had an opportunity to at least state their viewpoints,” said Sheila Spivey, the Long Beach PTA Council president.

Parent Eve Johnson, who has three children in the district, objected to changing family vacation plans.

Other parents said they worried about arranging day care and about their children’s participation in summer camp and summer sports leagues.

The board should have waited to look into such considerations, said Felice Strauss, president of the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach. “It would have been helpful to hear if the city was willing to cooperate and start working to try to get recreational programs more on a year-round schedule,” Strauss said.

Teachers would have problems adjusting, she added: “I’ve already had phone calls from teachers about leaving the district.”

Board member Jenny Oropeza conceded that the district and Long Beach have little in place to help parents and teachers adjust. “Announcing the plan ahead of time gives all of us a chance to do planning, so these support services will be there. We’ve already begun to build these bridges, now they just need to be extended,” she said.

Oropeza’s support for the change goes beyond overcrowding. “There are sound academic reasons for converting to year-round,” she said. “The two schools going to year-round next year made that decision based on academics.”

Research is not conclusive, but students may remember more after a brief vacation than after a three-month hiatus, Deputy Supt. Charles Carpenter said. The shorter breaks are particularly helpful for students whose first language is not English, he said.

In addition, teachers on vacation provide a ready pool of qualified substitutes and “some teachers report there’s less burnout with three breaks during the year,” he said.

Students will attend classes on one of four overlapping schedules. Three of the four groups will be in school at any given time. Each group attends a 12-week session followed by a four-week vacation. The district will attempt to synchronize schedules for pupils from the same family.

To make the plan work, about one-fourth of the district’s teachers will be “rovers,” without a permanent classroom.

Supt. Tom Giugni called the board’s decision inevitable. “We’ve known this was coming for the last two years.”

Schools could reach capacity even before mandatory year-round schooling is supposed to begin, forcing the board to make the change sooner, he said.

Most overcrowded schools are in the downtown area and west Long Beach, home to the city’s rapidly growing minority and immigrant communities. Seven schools in those areas elected to go year-round, so more children could attend class closer to home. Even so, the district already buses nearly 2,000 students from neighborhoods on year-round schedules to schools in east Long Beach and Lakewood.

Ultimately, the board’s decision had much to do with fairness, Oropeza said. “My concern all along has been that we not create a dual system of education in Long Beach,” she said. “That we not polarize the poor against the wealthy and the minorities against the Anglos. This decision is clearly an action to prevent that.”

YEAR-ROUND SCHOOLS IN LONG BEACH

WHEN: Takes effect in July, 1994. Sooner if needed.

WHERE: All Long Beach elementary and middle schools. No decision has been made regarding high schools.

WHY: To ease overcrowding.

HOW IT WORKS: Students are assigned to one of four staggered attendance schedules. Three of the four groups attend school at any given time throughout the year. For a particular group, the schedule is 12 weeks of school followed by a four-week break. The district will try to synchronize the schedules of students from the same family. To make the plan work, about one-fourth of the teachers will be “rovers,” without a permanent classroom.