LAUSD REDUCES CALENDARS.

Byline: David R. Baker and Erik Nelson Staff Writers

Despite vocal opposition from some parents, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday voted to cut the number of calendars used by local schools.

The board voted 5-1 to eliminate three of the six calendars currently used, forcing 61 schools to switch. About 20 schools in the San Fernando Valley will affected.

The move drew a large and rowdy crowd to Tuesday's board meeting, with parents and teachers complaining the change would disrupt their families' lives.

``We think that a two-month break from school will be too long of a hiatus for our English-language learners,'' said Jane M. Stavish, a teacher at Commonwealth Avenue School, which now has monthlong breaks.

But Interim Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said the district needed fewer calendars in order to coordinate teacher training and summer-school programs for students.

``We could not do the kind of intervention that needs to be done with children with the conflicting calendars,'' Cortines said.

Cortines said the district simply had too many calendars.

Some students attend school on a traditional schedule, complete with summer vacation.

Others, mostly in neighborhoods with many children, go to class under more complex, multitrack schedules designed to wedge more students onto a campus.

Most of the schools that will now have to switch schedules already operate on one kind of multitrack calendar called Modified Concept 6.

That schedule includes about 160 days of instruction per school year broken up by four breaks. Those schools will now have to adopt another calendar that has the same number of teaching days separated by just two breaks.

``Four months of continuous schooling causes a lot of burnout for both teachers and students,'' said Arcelina Lopez, a parent at Ranchito Avenue School in Panorama City.

Board member Victoria Castro also complained that if the district carries out a dramatic reorganization proposed by Cortines, one which would split Los Angeles Unified into 11 minidistricts, a decision on the calendars could later be reversed. She voted against the switch.