Appeals Court Intervenes, Reopens All-Year Schools : Education: Officials hope confusion will subside now that classes have resumed. Only 15% to 20% of students showed up Thursday.

After a one-day, court-ordered shutdown, schools in the Lynwood Unified School District were back in session Thursday, and district officials said classes are likely to continue without interruption for the remainder of the summer semester.

The on-again, off-again semester has confused parents and students so much that Thursday, only between 15% and 20% of students made it to class.

“That makes our immediate course of action clear in terms of communicating with parents that schools are open and will remain open,” Supt. Audrey Clarke said. “The merry-go-round has not helped us.”

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Kenneth W. Gale issued a preliminary injunction to close the year-round schools because he said the district had failed to provide a legally required notice of the change from a traditional September-to-June calendar.

Schools began to shut down on Wednesday morning. That very afternoon, the 2nd District Court of Appeal stayed Gale’s order indefinitely, permitting schools to reopen Thursday.

The appeals court action directs the lower court to reverse its decision against the district or risk losing jurisdiction over the matter, Lynwood Unified attorney Warren Kinsler said.

A parents group had filed suit against the change to year-round schools. In addition to raising the issue of notification, the parents said they oppose year-round classes because their families would have trouble coordinating child care and family vacations.

The district says it has complied with state law, and that year-round schools are the best way to ease campus overcrowding in the district of 15,500 students. If parents continue the court battle, it will last months and possibly years, Kinsler said.

In the meantime, the schools are to remain open.

Parents attorney Lawrence Morse could not be reached for comment, but parent organizer Lucy Hernandez said her group will continue to oppose year-round schools. Hernandez’s group, Parents Interested in Education, has sold homemade food and cakes and held garage sales to raise legal fees.

The parents group and some students protested the appeals court decision Thursday in a rally that moved from district headquarters to Lynwood High to Lindbergh Elementary.

“I’m very disappointed with what the school district is doing,” Hernandez said. “I feel they are just playing with the students’ rights.”

The result of the back-and-forth court decisions has been pandemonium. Parents did not know whether to send their children to class Wednesday and Thursday, and teachers were uncertain when or how much they would be paid.

Even parents who supported year-round education, such as Brenda Key, kept their children out of school Thursday because they were uncertain about what to do.

“My daughter came home (Wednesday) to say they had canceled the year-round program,” Key said. “Then I found out it’s back on again. I don’t know what’s actually going on.”

By Thursday afternoon, district officials had prepared a letter to mail to the homes of all 5,000 students assigned to classes during the summer semester. Until Monday, however, no student will be penalized for missing class, Clarke said.

“We feel it’s important for parents to get the actual letter in hand so we can rectify some of the confusion that’s going on. Starting Monday, we’ll be looking at any absent students who don’t bring a written, valid excuse.”

The district has also established a hot line for parents to call: 886-1629.

The topsy-turvy atmosphere has made education almost a side issue, said Claudia Alfaro, senior class president at Lynwood High. “I’ve only had one book issued, for my English class,” she said. “The rest of my teachers didn’t issue books because they were afraid if they closed year-round, the students might just keep the books. We have learned practically nothing at all.”