Long Beach : 2 Elementary Schools to Go Year-Round a Year Early

Two Long Beach elementary schools will begin year-round instruction in the summer of 1993, a full year before the entire district converts to an all-year calendar.

Lafayette Elementary and Thomas Starr King Elementary will make the transition early because they are already at capacity and administrators said they want to get a head start over other schools in making the changeover. The change would increase the schools’ capacity by 200 students each.

The board of the Long Beach Unified School District approved the new schedule this month at the request of administrators and faculty after parents narrowly voted to support the idea. The vote at Starr King was 167 to 138; the vote at Lafayette was 175 to 165.

The main argument against year-round schools came from parents who were concerned about the availability of child care during non-traditional vacation times, said Jackie Dixon, PTA president at King. “Most community centers are closed, baby-sitters are in school, and the YWCA can be too expensive to send your kids,” she said.

The two schools will join nine other district elementary schools that already operate year-round. The entire district will go year-round on July 1, 1994.