LAUSD WILL KEEP 180-DAY SCHEDULE.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

Despite the ire of the powerful teachers union and some parents, a divided Los Angeles school board Tuesday reaffirmed an earlier decision to extend the number of school days at overcrowded elementary schools by shortening vacations.

With the support of board members Julie Korenstein, David Tokofsky and Genethia Hudley Hayes, United Teachers Los Angeles had sought to suspend the implementation of a 180-day calendar at 31 elementary schools, including nine in the San Fernando Valley.

The board voted 4-3 against suspending the new calendar.

Effective July 1, the schools would switch from a 163-day, three-track calendar to a 180-day, four track calendar, offering students an additional 17 days of schooling.

``It's not about an extra 17 days of work (for teachers), it's about an extra 17 days of school for children,'' said school board member Mike Lansing. ``That's the bottom line. We don't have to look at it any other way.''

Lansing attributed the UTLA's opposition to the 180-day calendar to its unwillingness to have its members work longer school years.

However, union officials contend the new calendar would cause a host of unintended consequences, including more combination classes, more overcrowded campuses and disruption of family life.

Under the 180-day calendar, dubbed 90/30, students would attend school for 90 days and get 30 days off. They would be spread out over four tracks, with three quarters of the students on campus at any given time. Under a Concept 6 calendar, only two tracks are on at any given time.

``What bothers me is impacting these campuses with 9 percent more youngsters without having the community in conversation to talk about this and get ready for this, when there are working, poor families whose lives will be totally interrupted,'' said Hayes.

Korenstein contended it would be particularly hard for parents to plan family vacations, find child care and arrange pickup and dropoff times if their children are all on different calendars.

Others, however, argued the educational value of keeping children in school for more days outweighs the potential inconveniences.

''The mitigating factor and the more important issue is those youngsters get an extra month of school,'' said local district C Superintendent Bob Collins, who oversees schools in the San Fernando Valley.

Collins believes the achievement gap between students of different ethnicities can be in part attributed to the Concept 6 calendar, which is widely used in poor, low-income communities, where schools are too overcrowded to accommodate all the students on a single track.

Helen Gao, [phone]

helen.gao(at)dailynews.com