Parents question early start in Hacienda La Puente Unified

More than 50 parents from the Hacienda La Puente
Unified School District on Monday night attended one of the last
informational meetings on a controversial proposal to move up the school
year to early August.

Some parents at Wilson High School spoke against the proposal,
saying it will interfere with summer school classes for their children
or it is simply too hot in August to attend school.

“We have older schools. Our infrastructure is not up to date.
To make a change now would be going backward,” said parent Manuel
Acosta.

The calendar change would send all children from the largest
district in the San Gabriel Valley back to school Aug. 6, three weeks
sooner than the current schedule. All schools would let out May 22, 2013, instead of in late June.

District officials say the change would give teachers several more weeks
to prepare high school students for Advanced Placement exams, which now
take place at the same time as state achievement testing.

Read more in Steve Scauzillo’s story August.