School Board Delays Setting Year-Round Class Schedule : Education: About 200 angry parents confront Hawthorne trustees, saying they were not given enough notice. Board sets new date of Feb. 14 to adopt calendar.

During an emotionally charged and often-heated public meeting, the Hawthorne School District Board of Trustees delayed adoption of a year-round school calendar until Feb. 14.

District officials say year-round schooling, which was approved in July, 1989, and is scheduled to begin this July, is the only way to deal with an enrollment surge that has forced them to place 39 portable classrooms at playgrounds throughout the district.

However, when the board met Monday night to decide on a calendar for year-round schooling, it was confronted by about 200 angry parents, who complained that the district had not given them enough notification about the schedule change.

Kathy Amato, vice president of the Ramona Elementary School PTA, said she and 14 other parents have collected about 600 signatures on a petition requesting that the district delay the change for one year.

During the meeting, which was occasionally interrupted by applause when parents spoke and jeers when administrators spoke, Amato accused the board of intentionally keeping information from parents.

“We as parents feel that this decision was made without the awareness or approval of the community,” she said.

Several parents who spoke said they did not learn until last week that the district had approved the concept of year-round schooling.

District officials said they notified parents through a newsletter mailed in July to every household in Hawthorne. They also said the district has published other newsletters and has held several meetings with PTA representatives.

However, the parents were not mollified.

Amato said that if a year-round calendar is adopted, she and her committee will seek an injunction to stop it. Some parents threatened to pull their children out of Hawthorne schools, and others said they would work to recall the board.

“We don’t have to wait for the next election for something to occur,” said one parent, whose recall suggestion was met with applause and shouts of approval.

Some parents asked whether the district would provide all-day child care for children whose year-round schedules conflict with those of their parents. Such child care is already offered at Ramona and Zela Davis schools, and district officials said they would provide it at other schools if needed.

However, some parents said all-day child care would defeat the purpose of year-round schooling because it would bring children back to the campus. In an interview Tuesday, board member John Anderson said he does not expect every child to return to a campus if the district provides all-day child care.

He also said that, if needed, the district can lease other facilities for child care.

The concept of year-round schooling in Hawthorne was unanimously approved in July, but the board did not decide how the school calendar would be structured. On Monday, administrators recommended a plan in which students are in school for 60 days and on vacation for 20 days.

The 60/20 calendar would reduce by 25% the number of students in attendance at any one time, according to school administrators. The calendar has the same number of school days, 180, and would not disrupt regular holiday vacations, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Enrollment in the district began rising significantly two years ago, according to school officials. In September, 1988, enrollment jumped 6% to 5,280, and grew an additional 8% the following September to 5,700, school officials said. By this month, enrollment was up an additional 10% to 6,270.

School officials said that if enrollment increases by an additional 8%, the district will need 17 more portable classrooms by next year at a cost of $40,000 each. They said the state will not pay for such purchases, and the district has already borrowed $1.6 million to buy the 39 portable classrooms it now has.

After nearly two hours of testimony, the board unanimously delayed a decision to give board members time to meet with more parents.

Administrators had already planned public meetings at each of the district’s nine schools to discuss year-round schooling. Teachers and principals have already met with parents at two schools, York and Eucalyptus, and have scheduled meetings at the other schools during the next two weeks.

Board member Buddy Takata said he believes that the parents at Monday’s meeting were not representative of all parents in the district. He said he would like to talk to parents from every school before making a decision on a year-round calendar.

“All the parents are not here,” he said.

During the meeting, school administrators said that because the year-round calendars provide a vacation at least every 60 days, it has several advantages over traditional schedules, including:

* Better student retention of lessons.

* Less teacher burn-out.

* Improved attendance by teachers and students.

* Fewer disciplinary problems.

Pam Fees, director of business services, said the state also provides more money to districts that adopt a year-round schedule to tackle overcrowding.

In an interview Tuesday, she said the state pays the district about $2,700 per student, per year. If the district adopts a year-round calendar, the state will increase that amount by at least $25 per student, she said.