Despite parent pushback, Glendale schools’ 2016 start remains

Despite complaints by parents that Glendale schools start too early, the school board declined to move the date for the 2016-17 from its established Aug. 8 date, though it said it will consider moving the date back for future academic terms.

The current year began Aug. 10, the earliest of several neighboring districts. This led to an online petition that collected more than 2,000 signatures supporting a later start date.

However, the 2016-17 calendar had been already agreed to by the Glendale teachers’ union, and a change would require the school board to reopen negotiations — talks that had been marked with no small degree of tension.

Three school board members — President Christine Walters and Nayiri Nahabedian and Jennifer Freemon — opposed the idea, opting instead to examine the 2017-18 calendar year and years after that — ones that have not yet been set with employee associations.

Walters said she did not want to rush into creating a new calendar for the start of the 2016 school year, particularly when school officials are currently working to hire a new superintendent, plot new voting districts as a result of a lawsuit, and decide on whether or not to allow a charter school to open in Glendale.

“These are all big things — not normal things that require a lot of attention, a lot of staff time. I don’t want to minimize the frustration with the early start. I am certain that when we have a new calendar it will be later,” she said, adding that she does not prefer to work quickly on the item when school officials can spend more time looking ahead to 2017 and beyond.

Meanwhile, board members Armina Gharpetian and Greg Krikorian favored opening up negotiations again to change the 2016-17 calendar.

“It is a key week for camping and vacations,” Krikorian said of the week beginning on Aug. 8.

Gharpetian recalled when the school board approved the 2014-15 academic calendar in April 2014, four months in advance of the start date.

“Right now, we’re way ahead of the game if we want to use that argument,” she said. “We have plenty of time to make any changes we want to do.”

After the meeting, parent Carolyn Klas said she was disappointed in the outcome.

“The elected officials of the board who chose not to act on this should be held accountable and they should also be held to their word that the 2017-18 calendars and beyond would be changed to a later start date,” she said.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan