On Thursday, Dec. 8, the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District school board voted 4-1 to begin school three weeks earlier. It is the first district in the San Gabriel Valley to implement the early school year calendar.

School will start Aug. 7, 2012 and end May 21, 2013.

The early start means a shorter summer vacation for this year. There will still be 180 teaching days.

The board said the alignment with college semesters means no homework will be carried over from Christmas break. Also, teachers in May will be able to focus more on helping high school students prepare for AP (college entrace) exams. Now, they were given near the same time as statewide aptitude tests.

Rudy Chavarria voted against the proposal.