Laguna Beach parents and school board still divided over proposal to start school year earlier

Laguna Beach parents offered mixed reviews this week of school administrators’ latest pitch to start the 2019-20 school year a week earlier than usual and finish the first semester before winter break.

The proposal would start school Aug. 21, move up fall final exams to before the winter break and end the school year June 11. The most recent school year ended June 21.

A decision isn’t expected until next month, but a majority of school board members Tuesday appeared to support the reasoning behind the proposed changes. Proponents say the plan would provide valuable extra time for teaching and learning.

“I agree what’s best for instructional practice is what we need to think about,” trustee Ketta Brown said. “Ultimately, I have to listen to the professionals.”

The Laguna Beach Unified School District’s proposed calendar has faced stiff opposition from parents since an April 12 standing-room-only meeting at the Laguna Beach High School library. Since then, the board killed an idea to close schools for all of Thanksgiving week to address lower student attendance during that period.

A district survey in May found that 52% of the 905 parents who completed the survey didn’t support the proposed calendar changes. Meanwhile, the changes were supported by 54% of 966 students and 60% of 143 certificated staff members who participated.

Kevin Harrison, a father of three children enrolled in the district, is among parents against the proposed calendar, partly because it could disrupt families’ traditions of attending Laguna’s summer art festivals and visiting the beach the week before Labor Day.

“I feel like they keep chipping away at our kids’ summers for this perceived advantage for college,” he said. “Putting kids back in school when it’s the hottest it’s going to get, it just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Harrison is helping coordinate a change.org petition seeking to kill the proposed calendar.

Monica Silva, a parent of a high school student and a middle school student, said she supports the calendar changes because her son would prefer studying for first-semester exams before winter break.

“I have to oppose everybody who is against this calendar for reasons like vacations and beach and festivals, although I respect it very much,” Silva said. “I would like to see more opposition with facts that back up instruction and, instructionally, how is this not good for our children?”

Trustee Peggy Wolff offered a similar response to parents who were concerned that the proposal would damage the community.

“Our uniqueness does not mandate that we just stick with what we do because we like to go to the beach that week,” she said.

Ultimately, Wolf said, the school board needs to look at what’s best for students.

“We are not taking away your summer,” she said. “We’re scooting it around to meet the needs of our students — social, emotional and academic.”

Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.