A Titanic School District Rearranges the Desks

Re “L.A. Elementary Schools May Get Sixth Grade Back,” Dec. 20: I am amazed that the Los Angeles Unified School District is considering such a massive change with little or no input from parents and teachers. If I recall correctly, this is the same district that just a few years ago gave the public a whole litany of reasons for moving the sixth-graders to the middle school; now it wants to move them back?

Not long ago the district said that year-round schools put kids at a disadvantage; now it wants to spin the year-round schools into a new format. To make matters worse, the proposed calendars will negatively affect the elementary schools. Track A is most like the traditional school calendar year, but Tracks B, C and D leave much to be desired. Track B has a big chunk of vacation time midyear; students will miss most holiday activities in their elementary schools, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah. Students on Track C will take a long break just before state testing. The 60-day break means 60 school days, which equates to three entire months off. How many students fare well on tests after taking three months off?

Students on Track D will be in school from July of this new school year until April of next year, with little or no real break. If you want to burn out a kid, that’s one way to do it. I can see everyone running for Track A and heaven help those stuck on Tracks B, C and D. I hope the school board takes a careful look at the consequences of its actions.

Rey Ramirez

South Pasadena

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Re “Chartering New Course for Schools,” by Richard Lee Colvin, Commentary, Dec. 23: There are two glaring flaws in this latest concept to save our floundering education system by opening 100 new charter schools.

First, with one parenthetical comment, Colvin dismisses athletics as a frivolous distraction that gets in the way of education (“and no football team”). Athletics plays a vibrant role in the development of young people. All students, not just participants, benefit from a good athletic program. Participants learn life lessons in teamwork, cooperation and hard work over and above the joy of playing their particular sport. Students in general have a better attitude about their school when a good athletic program is in place. Creating a lot of little schools with no sports teams would diminish the richness of the overall education process.

Second, if you create 100 new schools, who is going to teach there? Or will they just pick from the thousands of qualified applicants lined up to join the LAUSD?

Ken Jaffe

Los Angeles