Options to Year-Round Schedule Discussed at Van Nuys High

A day after Van Nuys High School leaders shelved plans to adopt a controversial year-round calendar to relieve overcrowding, teachers and administrators renewed talks Wednesday over where to put 600 freshmen expected to enroll next semester.

The school’s Shared Decision-Making Council late Tuesday reversed an earlier decision to eliminate the traditional summer vacation and hold classes on a staggered schedule throughout the year to accommodate the creation of a freshman class at Van Nuys.

But the expected disruption to campus life caused by the change drew widespread criticism from parents, teachers and students.

If the school remains on a traditional September-through-June school year, as appears likely, they have two options--none of them easy--to accommodate the new students, school officials said.

First, teachers could agree to require some of their colleagues to teach in different classrooms throughout the school day. Currently, most classrooms are used for five of the school day’s six periods, with teachers assigned to their own room.

The second choice would be to raise at least $200,000 for the installation of five temporary bungalows.

Whatever the choice, “We will make it work,” promised school Principal Robert G. Scharf. But each option will be difficult, acknowledged the campus teachers union representative, Charles Wilken. United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein said teachers at the campus would have to agree to move from class to class.

“If the teachers choose to want to travel, I suppose it’s their choice,” Bernstein said. “I wouldn’t interfere. . . . But traveling is a pain in the neck.”

The school expects to enroll 3,600 students next year, compared to about 3,000 now.

The increase is the result of a district-wide reconfiguration that will shift sixth-grade students from elementary schools to middle schools. That will, in turn, shift ninth-grade students from middle schools to high schools.

Four other Valley high schools--Francis Polytechnic, North Hollywood, Monroe and San Fernando--are converting to year-round schedules beginning in July.

The Los Angeles Unified board “has no desire to push people into a multitrack year-round school, but in some places, that’s a necessity,” said board President Mark Slavkin. “If Van Nuys has an option and they prefer to be single-track, . . . I have no problem with that.”

The school council, which comprises teachers, parents and administrators, is expected to make a final decision on Tuesday.

Union representative Wilken said he will meet with teachers today to gauge their willingness to travel from classroom to classroom.

Wilken estimates that about 30% of the school’s anticipated 140 teachers would be required to travel.

The leadership council estimates that leasing and installing five oversized bungalows would cost about $200,000 the first year and $50,000 each year thereafter. The cost of initial installation would be closer to $500,000, said Joyce Peyton, who heads the district’s office of school utilization.

And she added, 20 schools are ahead of Van Nuys on the priority list. Those schools, which are awaiting 42 bungalows, are already past capacity.

“If Van Nuys raises the money, they can have the bungalows,” Peyton said. “There have been cases where schools have been able to raise money and get bungalows.”

A group of students from the school’s medical magnet program has already received $7,800 worth of pledges from parents, students and businesses toward the installation and leasing of bungalows.

Until the council’s next meeting, the school still has the option of converting to a year-round schedule, in which some students would start their fall semester on July 1.

The prolonged decision-making at Van Nuys has left the students of nearby middle schools, including Van Nuys and Fulton, unsure when they will begin high school.

Students are asking “ ‘How does this affect me?’ ” said Van Nuys Middle School Principal Antonio Delgado.

“And our answer is, ‘We don’t know.’ We need Van Nuys High School to commit to a specific course of action.”