Parents Angry About Year-Round Classes

Immediately after receiving a report recommending solutions to school overcrowding, the Glendale Board of Education on Tuesday was admonished by a handful of angry parents to reject the leading option: year-round education.

But despite receiving a petition and threats of student boycotts against the year-round option, board members said opposition at their bimonthly meeting was far more modest than had been expected. And although a solution to overcrowding has not yet been chosen, they said, they are confident parents would support a decision to put some Glendale schools on a year-round schedule.

The showdown came one day after the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to gradually implement year-round education in more than 500 of its schools, despite a similar but larger-scale attempt by parents to thwart the move.

“Parents don’t have the capacity to stop it, basically, other than pressure brought to bear on the board. But we still have our minds open,� Jane Whitaker, the board’s president, said Tuesday.

In its report, a board-appointed task force recommended several short-term options for relieving crowded classrooms, such as installing portable trailers on campuses and busing new students to less-crowded schools.

It also recommended four long-term measures, including boundary changes, construction of classrooms or schools and moving ninth-graders to high school campuses.

But district officials have acknowledged that the leading contender is year-round education, which can increase a school’s capacity as much as 30% by dividing students into groups with one group on vacation at all times. Several district administrators, including Supt. Robert Sanchis, will attend a San Diego conference this weekend to find out how year-round schools have performed in districts statewide.

Still, board members said the options will be given equal weight in discussions during public board meetings on Feb. 20 and March 6.

“I’m sure we’re going to give everybody, parents and staff, the opportunity to interact with us,� Whitaker said after Tuesday’s meeting. “There’s nothing carved in stone yet.�

The board will decide by March 20 which short-term and long-term solutions to pursue. District staff will draw up specific plans to implement the measures. A long-term measure most likely will not be put in place before September, 1991, but short-term solutions should be in place by this fall, Whitaker said.

Glendale schools have grown from 19,800 students in 1985 to more than 24,200 today, with a nearly 40% jump in elementary school enrollment. Although the district has implemented some stopgap measures, such as busing and portable trailers, ongoing growth in the classrooms--largely attributable to an influx of immigrants into the area--has demanded a more radical change, officials have said.

The apparent leaning toward year-round education angered parents such as Jim Ranshaw, who on Tuesday read members a lengthy prepared statement and submitted a list of 600 parents opposed to the year-round option.

“Anyone monitoring the task force’s activities can see that their purpose was from the outset to convince everyone that the only solution is to go to year-round schools,� Ranshaw said. “I am absolutely opposed to year-round schools. They might be financially good for the district, they might be good for the teachers, but I see nothing but harm for the children.�

Ranshaw, who after the meeting threatened to organize a one-day student boycott to protest the option, said he believes Glendale politicians should provide funds to build new schools.

Another parent, Daniel Grant, warned board members Tuesday that year-round education was a “hornets’ nest� and threatened legal action if it is implemented.

Those sentiments echoed comments made two weeks ago at a public hearing sponsored by the task force. At that time, many parents lashed out at the district for allowing enrollment to boom out of control and angrily voiced their opposition to the year-round concept.

But on Tuesday, several parents cautiously pledged to back the option as long as the quality of education in the district went unharmed.

“I do not have any great emotional fears that year-round schools are going to be the detriment of Glendale,� Edwin Croft told board members. “I suggest to you that the key thing is the quality of education.�

Mark Desetti, president of the Glendale Teachers Assn., told the board that his organization had not yet taken a stand on the overcrowding issue. But he urged them to involve teachers and staff in their deliberations.