Corpus Christi School officials have plans to add 20 days to the school calendar, which means the Pacific Palisades private school will have one of the longest academic years in the nation, totaling 200 instructional days. Palisades public schools are currently on a 175-day calendar. Because of the state’s budget crisis, the Los Angeles Unified School District cut five instructional days from the historic 180-day calendar this school year. Cardinal Roger Mahony announced last Thursday during a press conference at the Nativity School in South Los Angeles that the 210 Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are expected to make the transition beginning this fall. On Monday, Corpus Christi Principal Catherine Carvalho told the Palisadian-Post that she could not provide specific dates at this point for how the school calendar will change. ’The Archdiocese is giving each local school the freedom to decide how and when to implement the changes to 200 days,’ Carvalho said. ‘We want to have a dialogue that is reflective and thoughtful, and a planning process that includes a lot of input from our families.’ She anticipates announcing a detailed schedule in March. The Archdiocese decided to extend the academic year because schools in the United States tend to have shorter school years than other industrialized nations, and research has shown that students in those other countries score higher in math, science and reading, Carvalho explained. ’The relationship between more substantive, effective time in an academic setting and increased student performance is clear,’ Mahony said, ‘and the elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are responding to this critical national issue in order that our students grow up to be successful leaders in the global workforce.’ At the press conference, Kevin Baxter, superintendent of elementary schools for the Archdiocese, said the increase in instructional time would result in a 10-percent increase in salaries for staff. However, the amount of tuition increase will vary from location to location. According to Carolina Guevara, spokesperson for the Archdiocese, the Catholic Education Foundation will provide scholarships to families in need to help them cover the additional tuition costs. At Corpus Christi, the cost for tuition is $9,100 annually ($7,800 for a parishioner’s child). ‘We want this to benefit students, not prevent them from attending Catholic school,’ Guevara told the Post.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
