5 More Schools to Go Year-Round : Education: The change will mean 14 Palmdale district campuses will be on the schedule. Soaring enrollment is the reason.

Pressed with soaring enrollment at already crowded schools, the Palmdale School District will switch five schools to year-round class schedules this summer.

The five additions mean that 14 of the district’s 17 schools will operate on the year-round schedule. Palmdale became the first district in the Antelope Valley to adopt such a calendar when its Cactus Elementary School opened its doors in 1989.

Trustees voted 5 to 0 Tuesday to add Desert Rose, Mesa Intermediate, Mesquite, Palm Tree and Summerwind schools to year-round schedules beginning in August.

The elementary school district has 14,600 students and expects another 2,000 in the next two years.

On a year-round calendar, one group or “track” of students is on vacation while others are in class, allowing schools to serve growing enrollments without building new facilities.

“There’s no longer a reason to have three months off to work on the farm,” said Judy Fish, assistant superintendent of education services. With year-round schedules, she said, “teachers have confirmed that they don’t have to spend so much time reviewing the previous year’s work. Several studies have shown that students who have difficulty learning do better.”

Following the trend to year-round schools, authorities in the neighboring Santa Clarita Valley announced last month that two of the Newhall school district’s six elementary schools will go year-round next year to accommodate mushrooming enrollments.

Palmdale School District will, however, close the sixth-grade Sumac School next year as part of a plan to save approximately $900,000 spent annually on leases of 91 temporary buildings and land, said Nancy Smith, assistant superintendent of business services.

As part of the district’s expansion plans, the Mesquite, Palm Tree and Wildflower schools, now housed in temporary buildings, are moving into permanent quarters and expect to complete the moves by July.

Tamarisk Elementary and Juniper Intermediate schools are the only Palmdale School District schools that will not switch to year-round calendars this year because their air-conditioning systems are inadequate to handle the hot months of summer, school officials said.