OXNARD : Hearings Due on Plan for Year-Round High School Cycle

The board of the Oxnard Union High School District will hold two public hearings this week on a proposal to put Oxnard High School on a year-round schedule beginning this fall.

The board will hold hearings at 7 p.m. today and Tuesday in the Oxnard High School library. Spanish-language translators will be present at today’s hearing.

The proposal to put Oxnard High on a year-round schedule has become the center of a heated debate among parents.

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

Under the new calendar, students would generally be in class nine weeks and off three weeks throughout the year.

Opponents of the year-round schedule have argued that there is little evidence that it is academically better for students.

They say that switching to the new system would disrupt their schedules.

But supporters, including most teachers at the high school, maintain that students would retain information more easily under the year-round schedule because of the shorter vacation periods. They said it would also give slow students a chance to catch up or receive extra help during the three-week breaks.