School Board Adopts Traditional Calendar

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday approved a traditional September-to-June calendar that parents and employees at most schools can substitute for the current year-round schedule.

The board adopted a schedule with a starting date of Sept. 7--nearly a month later than the first day of school according to the year-round calendar that has prevailed throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District for the past two years.

The new option on school schedules is also subject to review by the teachers and administrators unions, which are contractually allowed to negotiate with the district over scheduling details.

School officials and parents at most of the district’s 650 schools can now begin discussing whether to vote to scrap the year-round schedule in favor of the traditional calendar, which eliminates the two long winter and summer breaks in favor of a two-week winter recess and a three-month summer vacation.

Under a policy adopted last week, most of the district’s 49 high school complexes--composed of each high school and its feeder campuses--can revert to the traditional calendar if a majority of parents, teachers and administrators approve the switch.

District officials met Monday with most of the school principals in the Valley--where opposition to the year-round calendar has been particularly strenuous--to explain the new local-choice policy and outline the voting process.

Meetings in other parts of the sprawling district should be held within the next few days, enabling schools to convene informational sessions with parents. Ballots will also be issued. They must be returned by May 25.

Results of the voting will be announced the following week.

The first day of school according to the traditional calendar adopted Monday will be Sept. 7, although board members Roberta Weintraub and Julie Korenstein requested a later date to avoid as many hot summer days as possible.

School will close for the winter holidays Dec. 17, with students returning to school Jan. 3, 1994.

Spring break will run from March 28 to April 1. The school year will end June 14.

About 200 multitrack schools, which implement the year-round schedule to relieve overcrowding, will not be allowed to change. The Board of Education last week approved the year-round calendar for those campuses--including about 45 in the Valley.