Local News in Brief : District Plans Alternatives as 34 Schools Approach Capacity
School enrollment in the northeast San Fernando Valley grew faster than expected this fall, forcing district officials to make plans to close enrollment at 34 schools, according to a report made to the Los Angeles Board of Education Monday.
Seventeen East Valley schools have stopped taking new students. Another 17 are so crowded that district officials said enrollment may be closed this school year.
New students seeking to enroll at schools where enrollment has been closed will be bused to less crowded campuses in the Valley.
District officials anticipated that enrollment would reach capacity at 15 East Valley schools. But increases in the birth rate and immigration, coupled with large numbers of families moving into the Sylmar-Lake View Terrace area, led to even larger increases.
Overall, 103 of 618 district schools have closed enrollment.
The enrollment report prompted school board member Roberta Weintraub to suggest that the district investigate moving regional offices out of a closed Panorama City elementary school.
It is easier, Weintraub said, to find office space than to find classroom space.
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