L.A. High School for Gifted Pupils May Open in 1987

By fall 1987, Los Angeles County may have its first public high school for mentally gifted students.

The proposed School for Advanced Studies, as it would be called, is unprecedented in the state. Only two other such schools exist in the nation: the 48-year-old Bronx School of Science in New York City and the 4-year-old North Carolina School of Sciences and Mathematics in Durham.

The school, which would draw students from districts throughout the Los Angeles area, is the brainchild of Stanford student Ron Unz--a gifted graduate of Los Angeles schools who had exhausted district resources by the 10th grade--and two of his favorite teachers from a local junior high.

‘Idea Whose Time Has Come’

“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said Linda Forsyth, state Department of Education director of gifted programs. “Can you imagine the remarkable things we could do at a school like that, the research we could do on children? I’ve a feeling their intellectual ceiling is a heck of a lot higher than we’ve ever realized.”

Almost 27,000 of the approximately 600,000 Los Angeles-area students are identified as gifted, meaning their IQs measure 145 or above. There are six elementary and three junior high programs for the gifted in the district, as well as magnet schools where gifted children may enroll--but no high schools.

The high-school project boasts an advisory board of Nobel science laureates, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, an assortment of acclaimed university professors and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Harry Volk, chairman of the wealthy Weingart Foundation, pledged that the project “will not fail for lack of funding.” It’s estimated to cost $5 million the first five years but has corporate sponsorship from such companies as Lockheed, TRW and Northrop.

However, it still awaits formal approval of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which is to run the school, as well as the Pasadena school district, whose facilities would be used.

It has gained the support of Los Angeles school board members Alan Gershman and Roberta Weintraub, who introduced a joint proposal asking that the district support it on grounds that exceptionally intelligent students are “entitled to an appropriate education.” The proposal was referred to committee.

Guaranteed Quota

But school board member Jackie Goldberg insisted that the school also have a guaranteed quota of minority students.

“I want guarantees, not ‘we hope’ or ‘we’ll try to,’ ” said Goldberg. “If they don’t give me assurances in writing, I’ll oppose this. If they don’t want quotas, they don’t want a public school.”

The site under negotiation is the now-closed McKinley Junior High in Pasadena, less than a mile from California Institute of Technology, whose professors have expressed an interest in teaching at the school, Unz said.

Unz is a graduate of North Hollywood High and before that of the highly publicized gifted program at Walter Reed Junior High in North Hollywood. He went on to graduate from Harvard with a degree in physics and is working on his doctorate in physics at Stanford.

He said the idea for the school dates back to his high school days when he and fellow Reed graduates complained about the lack of academic challenge afforded them after Reed.

Funds for School

About two years ago, Unz and teachers William Fitz-Gibbon and Paul Mertens at Reed formed the Advanced Studies Foundation to raise money for a school that could expand the Reed program to grades 10 to 12.

As proposed, the county school for the intellectually gifted would serve 500 students in grades seven through 10 the first year, with grades 11 and 12 added in the next two years. Entrance at first would be based on SAT and achievement scores and teacher recommendations, with a special entrance exam to be created down the road.

“This would be an alternative for students who would otherwise enter college at 15 and face all the accompanying social and psychological dilemmas,” Unz said.

Class Weirdo

“Some of these kids are so bright they have no one to talk to. They need to cluster with their own kind, or they end up outcast and withdrawn--the class weirdo,” said Allyn Arnold, director of the district’s gifted programs.

He noted that “people assume gifted kids will get it on their own, and it’s not true. All students falter if they’re not in the right setting.”

“We’re talking about youngsters who simply can’t be served in a regular school,” said Beverly Hills school Supt. Dr. Leon Lessinger. “The school is needed and long overdue. People have a hang-up about programs for smart kids. We’ll do it in athletics and art, but not academics.”