School Squeeze Play

At most Ventura County elementary schools this summer, the chairs are stacked, the chalk dust has settled and the classrooms are vacant.

But at Kamala Elementary School in Oxnard recently, teachers were frantically moving boxes, books and blackboards in anticipation of classes starting last week.

And at Mound Elementary School in Ventura, kids buzzed with excitement about their new teachers and friends after finishing their first week of classes.

Rather than attending classes from September to June, elementary school students at both Kamala and Mound go year-round. They take short vacations throughout the year, instead of a three-month summer break.

In response to soaring enrollment and class-size reduction, year-round schools have sprouted up throughout California in recent years. There are 1,513 year-round schools today, up from 277 in 1985. Many administrators, facing a high demand for classroom space, have realized they could not afford to leave dozens of rooms empty during the summer. So they switched to a year-round calendar, which increases school capacity by up to one-third.

About 22% of the public school students in California, and 13% in Ventura County, currently attend year-round schools. And local and state education officials say that number will continue to grow over the next five years.

During that time, enrollment in California public schools is expected to increase by almost 270,000 students. That, combined with class-size reduction, will create a need for 307 additional schools and more than 10,000 classrooms throughout the state.

“Class-size reduction puts even a further strain on the available classrooms out there and makes it even more difficult to deal with overcrowding and housing students,” said Duwayne Brooks, who directs the state’s school facilities planning division. Year-round schooling “is certainly one option districts should consider.”

Enrollment Is on the Rise

In Ventura County, enrollment has increased from 78,600 students to 92,900 in the last 10 years. Estimates differ on future enrollment, but experts say that two new schools will have to be built each year of the next decade to meet the need of the increasing student population. Despite a $6.7-billion state bond passed last year to pay for school construction and modernization, many districts won’t have enough money to build those campuses.

That’s why the number of year-round schools will continue to grow, educators say. Districts can save millions of dollars by switching to the year-round calendar, but that doesn’t happen without some community uproar.

Although some parents praise year-round schools for helping students retain more of what they learn, others criticize them for disrupting family vacations and child-care. Among teachers and administrators, critics say moving from classroom to classroom cuts into instruction time, while advocates argue that frequent vacations prevent burnout.

“There’s no break longer than six weeks, so the students retain more,” said Mound Principal Rich Kirby. “It keeps the teachers and the students fresh.”

Ventura Unified School District opened its first year-round school in 1978. Now, five of the district’s 27 schools are year-round, housing about 17% of the students.

Ventura’s year-round campuses are on a single-track schedule, designed to increase knowledge retention rather than accommodate more students.

The school year, which usually starts in July and ends in June has short breaks in the middle.

Oxnard Elementary School District opened two year-round schools in 1984, and now all 17 campuses are on that calendar. Each school runs on a multitrack schedule, where students are divided into four groups with staggered vacations. The children go to school for three months, then have one month off. Because at least one group is on vacation at all times, the district can use the classrooms all the time and can house more students.

Several other districts face crowding issues and are brainstorming possible solutions, which may include switching to the year-round calendar.

Schedule Has Some Advantages

Year-round schools, which provide the same number of school days as traditional schools, have numerous advantages, parents and teachers say.

Without the long summer vacation, students forget less of what they learned and are more productive. On a traditional calendar, the first few weeks every September are spent reviewing basic skills. Educators also argue that the year-round schedule provides more continuity, which is critical for low-performing students and for those who speak limited English.

“As a teacher and an administrator, I like the fact that you don’t lose the learning that you did with summer vacation,” said Ginny Johnson, principal of Kamala Elementary School. “You can pick up right where you left off.”

While Oxnard’s students are on vacation, they can attend Elm Street Elementary School, which offers classes on basic skills or English language for students while they are on break.

Kamala Elementary student Ismael Hernandez, 11, said he reads books and writes stories during his breaks. “But I get jealous when I’m not off track and my friends are.”

Claire Morgan, a fifth-grader at Mound, said she likes having a lot of vacations. “You don’t have to remember things for a long time.”

Teachers say the frequent breaks prevent them from losing steam and allow more time during the school year to plan curriculum.

“It rejuvenates me and keeps me fresh,” said Jaime Moreno, a sixth-grade teacher at Kamala. “It enables me to regroup and refocus.”

And parents say the breaks in the middle of the year enable them to avoid crowds when they take their children to amusement parks and popular tourist spots.

But year-round schooling has its disadvantages--and its critics.

At one Los Angeles elementary school this summer, parents have been protesting the year-round schedule, arguing that the calendar gives students too much vacation time and detracts from learning.

Parents, Teachers See Flaws

Some parents say the year-round schedule makes it hard to find child care, which is needed in short spurts in October or February rather than for the whole summer. And there aren’t as many camps or recreation activities available during the traditional school year. The schedule can also be chaotic for parents with several children, who may be on different schedules.

Cathy Gintjee, whose children attend Rose Avenue Elementary School in Oxnard, anticipates scheduling conflicts when her eldest moves to junior high and a traditional calendar next year.

“You wish everybody would go one way or the other,” she said. “Having it all mixed up in the same school district is kind of messed up.”

Teachers complain about having to move classrooms every few months, and having to share a classroom with one or more teachers. Kamala teacher Catherine Bramball said she wastes a few days packing and unpacking every time she and her students change classrooms.

Johnson said having several teachers on vacation at any one time makes communication difficult. And because there are always students at school, there is no time to do construction, repair and maintenance.

“Logistically, it’s tough to get the classrooms cleaned and maintained when they are always in use,” she said. “It’s tough on teachers and tough on custodians. And it’s a madhouse trying to move from one classroom to another.”

Most of the year-round schools are at the elementary level, because sports and extracurricular activities make the nontraditional calendar too complicated, educators say. Only 95 of the 1,500 year-round schools in the state are high schools. None are in Ventura County.

Jeanne Walsh, senior administrator of the National Assn. for Year-Round Education, said she expects to see more high schools switch to the year-round calendar.

“The perception is that it is harder to do in high schools, because you’ve got band, your AP classes, your football team,” Walsh said.

“But it’s just a matter of changing people’s perceptions. And something is going to have to give to handle the burgeoning population of students.”

PLUSES AND MINUSES

The county’s shift to year-round schools meets growing enrollment needs, but critics say different problems are created. B1