ANAHEIM : More Year-Round Schools Proposed

Because of overcrowding, Anaheim City School District officials want to put all of the district’s schools on a year-round schedule, add more portable classrooms, drastically increase class size and build five new schools by 1999.

The district now has 13 schools on a year-round schedule and it is proposing to add the remaining eight schools to the list.

But the plan, announced by Supt. Meliton Lopez on Tuesday, was immediately criticized by parents who don’t want their children in year-round schools. Some Board of Education members also questioned the proposal, saying they want to increase class size and convert the seven schools that are not on a year-round schedule only as a last resort.

“But anybody who looks at this (problem) knows there is not any good solution,” Board Member Christopher B. Whorton said.

The board will meet at 7:30 tonight at district headquarters, 890 S. Olive St., to discuss the enrollment growth with a demographer. The board plans to vote on the proposal Dec. 7.

The 21-school elementary district has 17,030 students with room for only 17,250, a number it will exceed next year. By 1995, enrollment is expected to reach 19,000, 21,000 by 1997, and 31,000 students by 2008, officials said.

Enrollment is predicted to peak at 35,000 by 2013, officials said.

Eight years ago, enrollment was 11,000 in the district, which encompasses the central city between roughly Brookhurst Street and the Orange Freeway.

“We have been forced to stretch our resources . . . to meet the needs of our children,” Board President Celia Dougherty said.

The skyrocketing enrollment is caused by multiple families moving into housing designed for one, officials said.

“We have double and triple the number of people living in homes than we used to,” Jack Sarnicky, assistant superintendent, said. “We have people renting out their bedrooms, their garages.”

Under the year-round plan, some schools would be converted next year, and all would be converted by 1996.

In year-round schools, students are divided into four groups. Three of the groups attend school at a time, while the fourth is on a one-month vacation. This increases a school’s capacity by 25%.

The plan to convert the eight schools to a year-round calendar drew heavy fire from about 150 parents from Sunkist School, who packed the board’s meeting Tuesday. The parents argued that the year-round calendar would interfere with family vacations, cause child-care problems and result in lower academic achievement.

“Year-round education is detrimental to the family,” said Eric Hodges. His wife is a Sunkist teacher and they have a child who is a student there. School officials said studies show year-round education increases classroom performance.

The plan’s other key provisions:

* Acquire loans to build up to five new schools at a cost of $15 million apiece. The first would open by 1999.

* Increase the district’s classroom size from 28 to the state’s legal maximum, which is 32 for first-, second- and third-graders and 36 for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.