OXNARD : Parents Divided Over Year-Round Schedule

A proposal to put Oxnard High School on a year-round schedule in the fall has become the center of a heated debate among parents, who are becoming increasingly divided over the issue.

Nearly 100 parents attended the school board’s meeting Wednesday night to support and oppose the proposal, which would put the 1,700-student school on the new schedule as part of a two-year pilot program.

For the past month, the two camps have argued their positions before the board, which could decide the issue later this month.

Diana Tafolla, whose daughter is a student at the school, told the board Wednesday that switching to a year-round schedule would not only disrupt her personal schedule, but hinder the school’s athletic programs and make it more difficult for students to seek employment.

“Why do they want to do this?” she said afterward. “There’s no proof that this is better for students.”

But supporters, including several teachers, argued that students would retain information easier under the year-round schedule because they would no longer have a three-month summer break between grades.

Under the year-round schedule, students would generally be in class nine weeks and off three weeks throughout the year.

The board has scheduled two public hearings on the year-round issue April 19 and 20.