ANAHEIM : District to Forgo 3rd Year-Round School

The Magnolia School District will not place a third elementary school campus on a year-round calendar next fall. It will instead add more portable classrooms and continue to bus students to relieve crowding.

Supt. Arch J. Haskins told the district trustees Monday night that if the district adds three more portable classrooms and continues to transfer students from crowded schools to the two existing year-round schools, it can avoid converting a third school to year-round status for at least a year.

The 5,200-student elementary school district currently buses about 140 students to the year-round schools because of crowding and has 16 portable classrooms on its eight campuses.

“It costs about $160,000 to $170,000 to place a school on year-round, and on a tight budget it was decided it was not something we wanted to do,” Haskins said.

The district placed Robert M. Pyles and Mattie Lou Maxwell elementary schools on a year-round calendar in July because of crowding. The district’s enrollment continues to grow, increasing 3% since June, and officials said last month that a third campus might have to go year-round.

Haskins said the portable classrooms will be purchased with the $120,000 annual rental fee received from the Los Angeles Rams, which use a former school as a practice site.

The students who are bused are usually newcomers, Haskins said.