Learning to Adjust

Summer vacation isn’t what it used to be.

Just ask Erica Ortiz.

Instead of a three-month summer break, Erica and most of her friends at San Fernando High School got just a week off between finals and the new school year.

“It was really hectic,” said Erica, a 16-year-old junior. She is one of several thousand San Fernando Valley teenagers who lost their summer vacations this year.

Three Valley high schools--San Fernando, Monroe and John H. Francis Polytechnic--have started year-round classes, a change imposed to accommodate a flood of new ninth-grade students as the schools expand from three grade levels to four.

The three campuses join 14 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District that have a year-round schedule.

At San Fernando High, Anna Solorio, a 15-year-old junior, said: “I’ve never been on a year-round schedule like this before, so it feels weird.”

Erica said going to school when temperatures are soaring--and most other teens are relaxing--makes her campus, from the hallways to the cafeteria, seem more crowded. She also said that all school activities have to be held twice because the students are on different schedules.

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Those seniors who begin their semester in July--and finish in April--will have to return to school in June to attend the prom, graduation and senior picnic.

“It’s going to be awkward having to come back for your own activities,” said Anthony Balladarez, a 17-year-old San Fernando senior.

Still, if the students at these Valley schools could listen to some students who have been in so-called multitrack schools, their concerns would probably be eased, some principals said.

“The students love it,” said Jeanne Hon, principal of Hollywood High School, which is starting its third year as a year-round school.

Yet, some administrators say, it is difficult for many students to have to begin attending classes in July and August.

“It is an adjustment, especially if you are coming from a traditional-track junior high to a multitrack high school,” said Wendell Greer, principal of Manual Arts, which is also starting its third year of year-round classes. “I think our students have done a real good job adapting to it.”

One of the most-liked aspects of the new school year is that students actually get more vacation days. Instead of having classes 180 days a year, the year-round track has a 163-day schedule. The catch is the school day is about 50 minutes longer. Still, according to the principals, most students will gladly take the extra time off.

The year-round calendar is old hat in a number of district schools. The program dates to 1981-82 when Bell, Huntington Park, South Gate and Belmont high schools went year-round.

In addition to the three new Valley schools and the four veterans of the program, Fremont, Jefferson, Franklin, Garfield, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Manual Arts, Marshall, Roosevelt and Washington Prep also are holding classes 12 months a year.

The change in schedule at the three Valley schools is part of a reorganization in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Elementary schools over the last few years have been losing sixth-graders who have been moved to middle schools, bumping ninth-graders into high schools.

The reorganization, just taking effect at the three Valley schools, created large freshman classes at San Fernando, Monroe and John H. Francis Polytechnic. The year-round calendar allows school administrators to squeeze those students onto campus.

When high schools started adding ninth-graders districtwide, there was not enough room on campus for all the students at one time. Roosevelt now has over 5,200 students, the most in the city. Garfield has over 4,600. All of the 49 Los Angeles district high schools now have ninth-grade students.

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Year-round classes typically divide the student body into three groups, two of which are in class at any one time while the other is on vacation. At San Fernando, for example, about 3,000 students are in class and another 1,500 students--currently on vacation--will start their school year at the end of August.

As a result, students who begin classes now will take their long vacation in the winter.

San Fernando Principal Philip Saldivar said fewer ninth-graders have enrolled, about half of the 1,200 to 1,400 ninth-graders who were anticipated. Another 300 students are scheduled to begin classes at the end of August.

The student shortfall means the school ends up with fewer teachers, which has caused crowding in some ninth-grade classes, Saldivar said.

At Hollywood High, Hon said that “like the students, the teachers love it, too. The only ones not sure are the administrators. They have to work all year now. They get paid more, but some miss their long vacations. As for me, I have only had three days off all year.”