Walkouts Dwindle at L.A. Schools but Not Elsewhere

The number of students who left Los Angeles schools to protest an immigration bill slowed to a trickle Wednesday as officials enforced truancy laws more strictly after two days of widespread walkouts.

But the protests continued unabated in San Diego County, prompting at least one district to close some campuses for the rest of the week.

Oceanside Unified School District Supt. Ken Noonan announced Wednesday afternoon that middle and high schools would be closed today and Friday to prevent protests from escalating into violence between student groups after police were called following some name-calling and shoving.

Officers were called to Oceanside High after some students defied the lock-down and tried to leave. Several students were detained and their parents were called. Police used Mace to keep students from leaving over a fence.

“We have received information that violence and racial tension could escalate throughout the community,” Noonan said. “Student safety is my primary concern.”

Farther north in Kern County, about 3,000 students walked out in a peaceful protest of the controversial bill pending in the House of Representatives, which would make illegal immigration a felony.

Almost all the schools in the Kern High School District participated in the walkout. School officials did not endorse the action, but made no effort to stop the marchers.

“They were encouraged to stay and come up with more powerful means to voice their opinions -- letters to the Senate, for example. But if they wanted to leave, they were allowed to leave,” said Alan Paradise, a district spokesman.

About 1,800 students took to the streets in and around Bakersfield. An additional 1,000 at Arvin High School marched to Arvin City Hall and headed toward Lamont along a two-lane road lined with vineyards. The school has the largest Latino student population in the region.

One of the few walkouts in Los Angeles on Wednesday occurred at Westchester High School near Los Angeles International Airport. About 60 students left as classes began, only to be picked up by two buses after marching about two miles.

The students were led to the school auditorium, where police and school district officials issued truancy citations.

Westchester Principal Anita L. Barner said each student would face such penalties as loss of driving privileges or a $250 fine.

The students had been urged to stay in school and express their opinions on campus.

“I’m upset because our students knew what the consequences were and they decided to walk anyway, despite all the activities we’d provided for them to voice their concerns,” she said.

Also Wednesday, officials began to add up how much money was spent or could be lost because of the walkouts.

Larger districts, where thousands of students protested, stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money, which is calculated according to attendance. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, about 35,000 students walked out over the course of the protests, with many of them potentially listed as absentees.

Surviva Mendoza, assistant director of attendance and enrollment at L.A. Unified, estimated that the district could lose up to $1 million for the absences, based on a rate of $28 per student per day, depending on how many students actually skipped school for the entire day.

Santa Ana Unified, which recorded 4,277 absences for its middle and high schools Monday and Tuesday, could lose about $120,000.

The Long Beach Unified School District estimated that about 3,000 students were absent for all or a portion of the school day Monday and Tuesday, said spokesman Chris Eftychiou, who added that the district could lose as much as $85,000.

The effect was not only financial, he added: There was also the disruption to instruction.

“There are only so many days in the year.... Each day in class is precious,” he said.

The LAPD, on tactical alert for the protests, had to pay officers overtime and pull them off normal duties, which meant some calls went unanswered, Lt. Paul Vernon said.

“When we go on tactical alert, we stop answering nonemergency calls,” he said. “So when someone calls about, say, a suspicious man, we are not responding.”

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Times staff writers Tony Perry and J. Michael Kennedy contributed to this report.