Year-Round Classes Opposed at Meeting

A plan to move overcrowded Rosemead schools onto a year-round schedule was overwhelmingly opposed by a group of more than 400 people last week.

Two dozen teachers and parents who addressed the Board of Education all opposed the plan. Some said a year-round program would disrupt family vacations and child-care arrangements.

Supt. Robert Hansen said that the meeting was a healthy interaction with parents, and that he was not surprised supporters of year-round schooling did not step forward.

Details of the plan have not been worked out, but Hansen said students would spend shorter periods of time in school, followed by more frequent and shorter vacations.

The board is scheduled to vote on the proposal June 3. The board could kill the idea, approve it or send it back to committee for revision. If approved, year-round schooling would begin July 1, 1994.

The 3,080-student district, including four elementary schools and one junior high, has grown by 3% to 5% in each of the last four years, Hanson said.

District officials are considering placing Janson Elementary on a “multi-track” system in which three-fourths of the students and staff would be on site at a time. Janson is the district’s most crowded school.

The Azusa Board of Education voted last month to put two district schools on a year-round schedule beginning in August. El Monte City, Hacienda La Puente and Garvey school districts all have some year-round schools. Pasadena and Arcadia have postponed plans for year-round schools.