Tradition Ends as School Begins

During the sunny, lazy days of summer, Karyn Osorio, 15, believes she should be swimming with her cousins, traveling to Nicaragua on a family vacation and relaxing after a tiring school year that just ended about two weeks ago.

Instead, Karyn is among about 2,600 teenagers who reluctantly started the 2000-01 school year Wednesday at North Hollywood High School, where three months earlier students peacefully protested the Los Angeles Unified School District’s decision to place one of the preeminent high schools in the city on a multitrack, year-round calendar.

“I’m not ready to start classes again,” Karyn said as she waited for the first bell to ring. “I’m going to adjust to this schedule and try to make the best of it, but it’s weird for me.”

And for teachers and administrators.

“Frankly, this is a pioneering experience,” said John Hyland, principal of the high school known for its highly-gifted magnet and Advanced Placement scholars. “I have never had to start a school onto a year-round schedule.”

Hyland and his staff members, many of whom worked through the extended Fourth of July weekend, had about two weeks to recover from the last day of school and prepare for the first.

During that time, seven portable classrooms were installed and furnished, but staff members did not have enough time to produce new campus maps. Several students roamed aimlessly Wednesday, searching for their classrooms.

“Do you know where this building is?” a confused young man nervously asked Hyland.

Many students had not heard the school was operating on a special first-day schedule, which meant classes began just before 10:30 a.m.

“I’ve been here since 7:30 a.m., waiting patiently,” said Velvet Bell, a 16-year-old junior. “It’s hell because nobody knows what to expect from year-round. But I’m going to try to turn it into an opportunity.”

North Hollywood is the latest high school in the 711,000-student Los Angeles district to transition to a year-round calendar as officials grapple with an overcrowding crisis fueled not only by surging enrollment but also by previous administrations’ failure to build new schools.

Of the 49 Los Angeles Unified high schools, 18 operate year-round, including four in the San Fernando Valley. In a few years, all could be switched to a multitrack system if new schools are not built, officials said.

Under the year-round plan, North Hollywood students are divided into three tracks, two of which are in session at any given time. The school day has been extended by about 20 minutes and the school year reduced by 17 days. Each track is designed to accommodate 1,242 students.

Already, the campus is crowded.

“This is a concern,” said Hyland, explaining that it will take a while to determine final numbers.

Although the campus was not nearly as packed as last year, overcrowding was evident Wednesday as students scurried to class, cramming in hallways and through doorways and bumping into each other.

Not so visible, however, was the personal toll year-round schedules may take on students. Many complained that finding jobs would be difficult during one-month vacations. Others worried they would not be able to join activities, such as the school newspaper, if they are not on the same track as the advisor.

“It’s too new to tell how things will work out,” said Randy Rivera, an English and journalism teacher who oversees the school newspaper. Although he was substitute teaching Wednesday, he is assigned to the track that begins in late August.

Rivera said students in other tracks who are interested in working for the newspaper would probably have to do so on their own time.

“That’s not a popular choice,” Rivera said. “We could lose a few good people.”