More Schools May Go to Year-Round Schedule

Pressed to reduce class sizes for a growing student body, the Orange Unified School District may put perhaps six more elementary schools on year-round, multitrack schedules next summer.

The district already has five elementary schools on year-round schedules, where students take short vacations throughout the year instead of having one long summer break.

Multitrack schools follow the same concept, but the year is divided into trimesters. At any given time, one-third of the students are on vacation while the rest are in school.

“You can hold 800 students in a 600-student school,” said Supt. Robert L. French. “You have one-third growth.”

Consultants with the National Assn. for Year-Round Education in San Diego, which studied the district’s class size problem, recommended this week that six elementary schools start the new schedules next summer.

The six--Fairhaven, Lampson, La Veta, Sycamore, Taft and West Orange--are in need of more classroom space immediately, the study concluded.

District administrators are expected to endorse most of the study’s findings when they make their recommendations to the board Jan. 23. District trustees will take a final vote on the issue at their Feb. 11 meeting.

There are some start-up and long-running costs associated with the schedule conversion, the consultants said. But those costs are offset by avoiding the construction of more schools or the purchase of movable classrooms.

Going to multitrack schedules also makes the district eligible for state building aid and other grants, said Assistant Supt. Neil McKinnon.