3 Plans Presented : Year-Round Schedules Studied for 149 Schools

Three proposals unveiled Monday for reducing the number of crowded schools in the Los Angeles school district could lead to a year-round schedule for nearly 150 San Fernando Valley public schools.

The most wide-ranging proposal calls for converting most of the 149 Valley schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District to a single-track, year-round calendar, in which all students start school at the same time and take the same vacation breaks. The district is proposing changing to a 12-month calendar from the traditional September-to-June school year so that most elementary schools would be on the same schedule.

In addition, the proposal calls for 12 of these Valley schools to convert to a so-called multitrack system, a year-round schedule in which students are divided into several groups with at least one group on vacation at any time. Such a calendar can increase a school’s capacity between 28% and 50%, school officials said, by having at least one group of students on vacation at all times, allowing extra classroom space.

Valley schools recommended for the multitrack year-round schedule are: Arminta Street Elementary and Hazeltine Avenue Elementary, both in North Hollywood; Valerio Street Elementary in Van Nuys; Broadous Elementary in Pacoima; Castlebay Lane Elementary in Northridge; Dyer Street Elementary and Sharp Avenue Elementary, both in Sylmar; Germain Street Elementary in Chatsworth; Gridley Street Elementary in San Fernando; and Langdon Avenue Elementary, Noble Avenue Elementary and Plummer Elementary, all in Sepulveda.

A second plan focuses on converting a handful of schools in a geographic region to a year-round schedule. In the Valley, the schools proposed for single-track conversion under this plan are: Nobel Junior High in Northridge; and Beckford Avenue, Calahan Street, Darby Avenue, Superior Street and Topeka Drive elementary schools, all in Northridge. Germain Elementary School in Chatsworth and Castlebay Lane Elementary School in Northridge would be converted to a multitrack schedule.

The final proposal calls for converting selected magnet schools to a single-track, year-round schedule. The only Valley school involved in this plan is the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies.

If any of the plans are adopted, the year-round schedule would begin on July 5, 1988.

There are 93 year-round schools in the Los Angeles district. By converting more schools to a year-round schedule, the district hopes to find classroom space for the 635,000 students expected to be enrolled by 1990. District officials estimate that 600,000 youngsters will attend schools this year.

District staff members said that in the upcoming weeks they will suggest reopening some Valley schools closed in the early 1980s. These schools were closed because of low enrollment and because of changing ethnic ratios at historically white campuses.