DISTRICT DEBATES SCHOOL CALENDAR; SURVEY SET FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS ON SCHEDULE CHOICES.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Parents and teachers in the Mojave Unified School District will be surveyed to see if all schools in the district should be on the same schedule for the 1999-2000 school year.

Right now all the schools in the district are on traditional schedules except for the two schools in California City - Robert P. Ulrich Elementary School and California City Middle School - which are on a single-track year-round schedule.

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

But some teachers at the California City schools prefer staying with the year-round schedule because of the breaks it offers and its academic benefits for the students.

``Some parents say, Is there any chance to get aligned? Some like it the way they are. There's enough interest for it to be considered,'' Superintendent Wallace McCormick said.

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, trustee Connie Biehl said.

``Some parents like it that way,'' Biehl said of year-round schedules.

The topic came up at the Aug. 25 board meeting, where McCormick mentioned that he has heard from some California City parents who want to return to the traditional calendar, according to minutes of the meeting.

At least two teachers spoke in favor of retaining the year-round format. One of them was Patti Baer, a teacher at Robert P. Ulrich, who said the periodic breaks give them time to ``rejuvenate,'' and the students aren't off on summer vacation for as long, so they don't forget as much.

``We don't spend as much time in reviews. We can get into things right away,'' Baer said. ``Academically, that is beneficial.''

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

``In my opinion, I would like to see it go back to traditional for the whole district. That way everybody is on the same schedule at the same time,'' trustee Annette Edblad said.

McCormick mentioned at the Aug. 25 meeting that year-round schedule problems include difficulties for district maintenance crews, and increased utility bills for operating air conditioning during the summer.

Also, on a traditional schedule, teachers are able to work other jobs during the summer break.

``There are no simple answers,'' he said.