Return to Traditional Class Groupings Is Suggested to Ease Crowding in Schools

In an unexpected move, Los Angeles school board member Jackie Goldberg on Thursday asked the district’s staff to look into the possibility of removing ninth-grade classes from some West San Fernando Valley high schools and returning them to junior high schools.

Goldberg said a return to the original 6-3-3 grouping of grades in elementary, junior and senior high schools, from the current 5-3-4 grouping, might make more room for students from crowded high schools.

Goldberg made her request during a Board of Education meeting on a 10-point proposal to alleviate crowding in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The most controversial part of the plan is the proposal to convert all schools to a year-round schedule.

Goldberg said she asked for the investigation because she believes that classroom space now used by ninth-graders could be used to accommodate more students from crowded high schools.

“All the figures we have seen show that we are running out of high school space but have plenty of space at the junior highs,” she said. “By moving the ninth-graders back to the junior highs, we might be able to find enough space to house high school students from overcrowded schools, and possibly take the four high schools now on a year-round calendar off of that schedule.”

It was just a year ago that the grade levels at the 49 West Valley schools were shuffled so that elementary schools had kindergarten through fifth grades, junior highs had sixth through eighth grades and high schools had ninth through 12th grades.

Reconfiguration, as the district calls the regrouping, was initiated to increase sagging enrollment at seven West Valley high schools. The addition of ninth-graders to the high schools provided enough students for the schools to continue providing a comprehensive curriculum, with classes such as art and music and advanced math and science.

But, in the fall of 1984, when the ninth-graders arrived, they were joined by hundreds of private-school students who unexpectedly returned to public schools. The result was that the once underenrolled high schools quickly reached capacity.

For example, in 1983, Birmingham High in Van Nuys had 1,978 students, according to school district records. After it was reconfigured in 1984, Birmingham had an enrollment of 2,810. This year, Birmingham has 3,013.

The situation is similar at El Camino High in Woodland Hills. Enrollment records show that 1,999 students attended the school in 1983. After reconfiguration, enrollment grew to 2,806. This fall, 3,076 students enrolled.

Barry Mostovoy, who developed many of the enrollment projections for the committee investigating the year-round proposals, said it may be more difficult than many people expect to return to the 6-3-3 grouping.

“First, we have to see if we can bump the ninth grade back to the junior highs and the sixth grades back to the elementary schools. There may not be room at those schools,” Mostovoy said.

Ethnic Ratios

“Then we have to look at the space using the 60%-40% ratios,” he continued, citing the court-approved ethnic ratios the district tries to maintain at all integrated and predominantly white schools.

“It may turn out that, without the ninth-graders, you would have less space for minority youngsters,” Mostovoy said, because, if a large number of white ninth-graders leave a school, there might not be a sufficient number of white students in the upper grades to maintain the ratio.

Goldberg said Thursday that she would like to get students who are on a year-round calendar back to the traditional two-semester school year and avoid placing the entire district on a year-round calendar.

“I want to see one calendar for everyone,” Goldberg said. “If that means everybody is on a traditional calendar, fine. If it means everybody is on a year-round calendar, so be it.”