More Year-Round Schools Proposed for L.A. Unified

By AMY PYLE

Feb. 11, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES EDUCATION WRITER

Facing unprecedented enrollment growth, Los Angeles Unified School District administrators unveiled tentative plans Monday to make 26 more elementary schools year-round unless other options can be found.

Year-round scheduling allows campuses to double their enrollment, but is often opposed by parents because it places siblings attending different schools on different vacation schedules.

Yet it is among the simplest options for a district whose growth projections--hurriedly recalculated after an unexpected surge of 18,570 new students in September--indicate an increase of more than 1% each year for five years, increasing enrollment from 667,000 this year to nearly 718,000 in the fall of 2001.

Board members will not begin voting on how to cope with that increase until March. But they are worrying about the unpopular decisions they may be forced to make to accommodate more youngsters, especially with no assurance of state funding to build campuses.

“There is no simple solution,” said Supt. Sid Thompson. “If this state does not meet its responsibility, we’re going to be forced to do things we shouldn’t do with little kids.”

Even less popular than year-round scheduling is a proposal to schedule two shifts of students at some schools. That could leave small children walking home from school after dark in the winter, Thompson said.

In hopes of avoiding some of those tough choices, the district has placed a $2.4-billion bond measure on the April ballot, after a similar plan narrowly missed passage in November. But the larger-than-expected enrollment growth and a simultaneous drive to reduce class size in the primary grades make even that budget slim.

In all, 111 schools are full and an additional 121 are within 3% of capacity--the vast majority of them elementary schools.

Other options under consideration include building two-story additions on campuses that have space, then moving any portable classrooms at those sites to other campuses.

The district also has identified closed schools that could be reopened or quickly converted into elementary schools.

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Year-Round List

These are the 26 schools considered for year-round schedules because of rising enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District:

San Fernando Valley

Ligget Elementary

Hart Elementary

Erwin Elementary

Central L.A.

Elysian Heights Elementary

South-Central and

Southeast L.A.