Bellflower : Schools Refute Low Rating

The Bellflower Unified School District has launched a public relations campaign aimed at refuting the claim in a just-released book on public schools that gives the school system one of the poorest ratings in the country.

In the 366-page “Public Schools USA,” in which author Charles Harrison offers a comparative guide to 500 school systems in the nation, the Bellflower district was rated one of the 24 poorest, along with Los Angeles, Pasadena, Fontana and Oakland.

School officials responded by issuing a four-page extra edition of the monthly “Communicator.” Under a banner headline “Setting the Record Straight,” the governing board claimed that “when all aspects of the district’s program are reviewed, we feel confident that a quality program is being provided to district students.”