Classrooms Needed to Ease Crowding : Parthenia School May Reopen in 1988

Parthenia Elementary School in Sepulveda, closed in 1984 because of low enrollment, may reopen in 1988 for students from crowded campuses in the East San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles school district officials said Thursday.

Parthenia was one of two schools named in a district report for possible reopening to increase classroom space, decrease student bus-ride times and reduce the need to place more schools on a year-round schedule.

Also named for probable reopening in 1988 was Osage Avenue Elementary School in Westchester, which is now used by the district for personnel offices and large staff meetings. These functions would be moved to another empty school, Bellagio Road Elementary in Bel-Air, according to the report.

The possibility of reopening two of the 22 schools the district closed in the early 1980s is a partial victory for parents who are battling any increase in the number of year-round schools as a way to accommodate the district’s fast-growing population.

Many parents have argued that it is foolish for the district to use a year-round schedule when there are empty classrooms at closed schools. A school’s capacity can increase with a year-round schedule, in which some students are on vacation while others attend classes.

Nine of the closed schools are still vacant. Eight others are being used by the district for offices, magnet schools and other educational programs. Four campuses have been leased to private schools, and one has been sold to a private developer.

About 520 students would be able to attend a reopened Parthenia, whereas Osage could accommodate 556. They would be used primarily for Latino and Asian youngsters, district officials said, because those students represent a majority of the student bodies in most crowded schools in the district.

Schools of Their Choice

Children from neighborhoods near the schools would have the choice of remaining in their current schools or returning to the neighborhood school, Assistant Supt. Sara Coughlin said. But neighborhood youngsters who enroll in kindergarten in 1988 would probably be assigned to the reopened schools, Coughlin said.

The cost of reopening Parthenia, including cleaning up the unused campus, was estimated at $1.5 million, and the cost for Osage at $1.2 million.

“We’re not reopening these schools to be neighborhood schools, we’re opening them to be receiver schools” for students from the crowded campuses, Coughlin said.

Because the reopened schools would primarily house ethnic students, there is a danger of legal challenges alleging that the district is intentionally creating segregated schools, district staff members conceded. But the district hopes to avoid such an allegation, Coughlin said, by giving students a choice before making assignments to a reopened school: students could attend an integrated school, which might be far away from their neighborhood, or the reopened school, which would be closer.

An attorney for the district is reviewing the proposal to see if it violates any desegregation orders under which the district operates, Coughlin said.

The proposal received some criticism Thursday from Board of Education members.

Jackie Goldberg, whose Central City district has more students bused out of it than any other district, said she is unhappy that only two schools would be reopened. She asked the district staff to investigate the possibility of a 1988 reopening of Prairie Street Elementary School in Northridge.

Roberta Weintraub, who represents the East Valley, said she would oppose a plan that would create segregated schools.

“I will not vote in favor of reopening these schools under these conditions,” she said.