Cure Needed for Crowded Classes : Board to Consider Reopening 3 Schools

Parents dropping off children at the crowded Langdon Avenue Elementary School Tuesday morning were surprised to learn that nearby Parthenia Street Elementary School might be reopened for neighborhood youngsters.

“If reopening schools is what it takes to reduce the number of children at this school, then that’s what should be done,” said Debra Welch, whose daughter attends Langdon.

Crowded conditions at Langdon and other East San Fernando Valley schools have forced the Los Angeles Board of Education to consider reopening three Valley schools in 1988--Parthenia in Sepulveda, Rinaldi Street Elementary in Granada Hills and Prairie Street Elementary in Northridge--according to a report to the school board Monday by school district planners.

A vote on the proposal is scheduled for Jan. 25.

Generally, school board members seemed to favor reopening the schools in discussion at Monday’s meeting. But proposals to reopen Parthenia as a magnet school angered several board members because Parthenia is in a predominantly white neighborhood.

“Reopening closed schools is terrific if it reduces traveling time and provides kids with an integrated education,” said Jackie Goldberg, who represents the Hollywood and Wilshire areas of Los Angeles. But she added that “I could only support more magnets if they were in minority neighborhoods.”

Year-Round School Rejected

The fate of the closed schools gained importance after parents at seven crowded Valley elementary schools voted overwhelmingly against changing the school year from the traditional September-to-June schedule to a 12-month calendar.

Parents at the schools--Langdon in Sepulveda, Hazeltine and Arminta in Van Nuys, Dyer and Noble in Sylmar and Broadous and Sharp in Pacoima--voted against the conversion. District officials said year-round classes, with groups of students rotating vacation periods, would allow more youngsters to attend schools in their neighborhoods.

Reopening closed schools could provide classrooms for students who cannot enroll in these and other crowded schools.

School district officials closed 19 West Valley campuses in the early 1980s because enrollment had dwindled, saying it had become too expensive to operate the schools. The closing irked many parents, and some school board members, because there were crowded schools near the closed schools.

For example, Langdon and Parthenia schools are less than two miles apart. Langdon has an enrollment of 983 students and must bus 133 pupils to less crowded West Valley campuses. Parthenia has been sitting empty since 1983. If reopened, it could hold at least 350 youngsters, some of whom now attend Langdon.

Preliminary plans, unveiled by the district staff at the school board meeting Monday, outlined several alternatives for each of the Valley campuses. At Parthenia, one plan calls for creation of an elementary school for youngsters from the surrounding neighborhood and from crowded East Valley and Los Angeles schools. The other plan called for turning Parthenia into a magnet school specializing in math, science and aerospace technology.

For Rinaldi, one plan calls for pairing the school with nearby Darby Avenue Elementary School in Northridge and dividing students between the two schools. One school would house kindergarten through third grade; fourth through sixth grade would be held at the other school.

An alternative calls for opening Rinaldi exclusively for pupils from overcrowded East Valley schools.

Proposals for Prairie call for opening the school for youngsters from the neighborhood, crowded schools and for deaf pupils. An alternative would pair Prairie with Dearborn Street Elementary School in Northridge, with younger pupils at one school, older pupils at the other and deaf pupils at both.