BUENA PARK : Year-Round School Plans Discussed

The principal believes it’s a good idea. So do most of the teachers.

But some parents are against a proposal to turn James A. Whitaker Elementary into a year-round school.

Buena Park School District Board of Trustees this week held a public hearing on changing to a year-round calendar at the school, which has 650 students.

Whitaker teachers addressed the board on the benefits and several parents voiced their opposition. No parents spoke in support.

Teacher Terry Hay said that 85% of those parents who returned a school survey about the change favored a year-round curriculum.

Hay also said that nearly all of the school’s 25 teachers support a year-round program, in which children would attend school for 12 weeks, then be off for about four weeks.

“Staff would like to have a continuous learning plan,” she said. “It provides the opportunity for learning and practice on a routine basis.

“For our population, it’s an advantage, a chance for them to be in the school and learn continuously.”

The Board of Trustees is expected to decide in March whether to make the switch from a traditional school calendar--where students go to school nine months and are off three months in the summer--to a year-round program starting in August.

A second public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14.

Parent Juanita Ayers, who works at a telephone company and has a fifth-grade son attending the school, said that one of her concerns is arranging day-care for her child. She also said that a year-round program will interrupt family summer vacations and valuable time she spends with her son during those summer months.

Ayers also said that both she and her husband work and that scheduling time off is difficult. “I work for a large corporation, and time off is scheduled a year in advance,” she said.

Advocates of a year-round program say it improves students’ learning.

“Students learn more--it’s less forgetting and less review,” said Principal Dick Martin.

Board of Trustees President Lloyd G. Davis said he also supports the philosophy of a year-round program because of the enhanced learning, especially for limited English-speaking students.

Davis said about 50% of Whitaker’s students have language needs.

Hay said during the four-week break of a year-round program, courses will be offered for students who need extra help in certain subjects.

Hay also said students would get about six weeks off during the summer so they can attend summer school or vacation with their family.