1st Day of School in L.A. Sees Doubling of Students Bused

As classes began Tuesday in the Los Angeles Unified School District, more than twice as many students were riding buses as during the height of the district’s mandatory desegregation program, school officials said.

The size of this year’s busing program--involving about 58,000 students--was primarily a result of crowded conditions in schools in the older parts of the district. On Tuesday, many students left their communities on the Eastside or in the Central City, southeastern Los Angeles County or the East San Fernando Valley to ride to campuses with extra space in other parts of the Valley and on the Westside.

In 1980, the peak of the district’s short-lived mandatory desegregation plan, 23,346 students were bused.

Mandatory busing to help integrate the schools was halted in April, 1981, although some students still voluntarily ride the buses for desegregation purposes.

The expansion of the busing is a direct result of growth in the nation’s second-largest school district; officials estimated that enrollment is up 15,000 students this fall.

The enrollment jump is the largest since 1964, and puts the number of district students in grades kindergarten through 12 at 594,000, officials said.

Among the 58,000 bused youngsters were about 1,300 high school students transported from their own crowded schools to attend classes on nearby campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college district, plagued by declining enrollment in recent years, is leasing out space for the younger students, who will be taught required subjects by school district faculty and, in some cases, will be able to take college courses as electives.

Enlarging the busing program was one of the methods the Board of Education last year chose in order to postpone the shift of more schools to a year-round calendar.

Despite 2,041 buses rolling between 374 schools Tuesday, officials said the first day of school went surprisingly smooth.

Administrators from the 220 “sending” schools arrived at their campuses at 6 a.m. to guide students to the correct bus. At many of the 154 “receiving” schools, welcoming committees made up of faculty and students met the new arrivals.

Only a handful of buses arrived late to their destinations, officials reported.

A potential first-day emergency, created when a delay on the part of the state held up approval of new portable classrooms, was averted when district officials decided to move bungalows and portables from adult education centers to regular school campuses.

When classes started Tuesday morning, there was ample classroom space at the receiving schools.

“The thing that really boggles the mind is how well things went,” said Sara Coughlin, an associate superintendent of schools who, along with other top district officials, visited 40 campuses on opening day.