IRVINE

Irvine’s teachers have ended months of protest and accepted a new contract.

Voting 653 to 322, the teachers on Friday ratified a compromise that union leaders and Irvine Unified School District officials had reached March 1. Both sides made concessions.

Under the contract, class sizes will still be limited, though larger, and teachers will keep transfer and reassignment rights.

But the 280-minute school day that all Irvine teachers work has been scrapped. All teachers will work longer, but those in grades four through six will be hit hardest--they’ll be teaching 28 minutes longer each day.

The district will have to cut its enriched arts, music and science programs, which have been taught by specialists, in these grades. Classroom teachers, who got preparation time during the periods those programs were taught, will have to make up the difference.

Trustees still hope to stave off most of these changes with a $95 parcel tax on the April 11 ballot.