CAL CITY PARENTS SUPPORT SCHEDULE; YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL FAVORED, POLL FINDS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

A majority of California City parents who answered a Mojave Unified School District survey favor staying with a single-track year-round school schedule.

Of the district's six schools, only California City Middle School and Robert P. Ulrich Elementary School in California City are on the year-round schedule.

Some parents asked to return to the traditional calendar because their children are involved in Boy Scouts or other groups that schedule events in July and August.

Of the 1,300 survey forms sent to parents of children at the two California City schools, 292 responded, a district report said.

A total of 158 said they favored the existing year-round schedule, 126 supported a traditional school calendar, while eight did not pick either of those two options, the report said.

At Robert P. Ulrich, 59 parents favored the existing schedule, and 52 wanted the traditional calendar. At California City Middle School, 39 wanted the existing schedule, and nine wanted the traditional, the report said.

Of the parents who had children at both schools, 40 supported staying year-round, while 27 opted for the traditional calendar.

However, of parents who had children at one or both California City schools plus a child at Mojave High School, 48 favored returning to a traditional schedule, while 20 opted for the existing calendar, the report said.

A survey of teachers and other district employees showed 59 were in favor of the year-round calendar, and 23 supported a traditional school calendar, the report said.

The school board discussed the survey results at its meeting Tuesday. Superintendent Wallace McCormick said he will come back at the next board meeting with some proposed schedules that trustees can consider adopting for the 1999-2000 school year.

Some teachers at California City schools say they prefer staying with the year-round schedule because of the breaks it offers and because they see it providing academic benefits for the students.

Also, if year-round teachers go back to traditional, they would have to go one or two months without a paycheck.

The schools in Mojave that had been on year-round schedules reverted to traditional calendars because of enrollment declines, while the California City schools kept the year-round schedule, officials said.

McCormick has said in the past that the year-round schedule poses difficulties for district maintenance crews and increases utility bills for operating air conditioning during the summer.

In addition, on a traditional schedule, teachers are able to work other jobs during the summer break, McCormick said.