As soon as enrollment drops, Los Angeles schools tend to switch back immediately to the traditional year with a three-month summer vacation.
The higher fees drove out many struggling students, and were partly responsible for a combined enrollment drop of 16,000 in the two systems.
What the university had not anticipated was a sharp enrollment drop, which followed the adoption of open enrollment by the City University in 1967.
The enrollment drop made Kirk's job very difficult.
He said he believed that the enrollment drop reflected older students leaving school.
This year the school had state permission to enroll 350 students but enrolled only 297, and it has seen enrollment drop to 280 during the year.
Massive firings in New York City public high schools are common as the spring semester begins and enrollment drops.
Sister Callahan said she didn't attribute the enrollment drop to worries about pedophile priests.
More than 700 students in Roosevelt attend private schools, which contributed to a 200-student enrollment drop in the distict public school system last year.
"You're going to lose teachers" as enrollment drops and tax dollars dwindle, said James Bush, who is no relation to the Governor.