Officials Hope for Anti-Gang Effect : $500,000 Donated for After-School Enrichment Program

The Los Angeles school board has voted to accept a $500,000 donation that will be used to expand an experimental enrichment program to five more elementary schools, including one in Sepulveda.

The after-school program--which provides children with four extra hours a day of lessons, tutoring and recreation--began this winter at 10 Los Angeles elementary schools, including Canoga Park and Sylmar elementary schools.

The two-year program is being funded by the city of Los Angeles with $2 million of Community Redevelopment Agency money.

The board Monday accepted $500,000 from Kaiser Permanente to add five more schools to the program, called “L.A.’s Best.” The money will be used to fund the program at Langdon Avenue School in Sepulveda, as well as four schools in Los Angeles.

Hope for Improvement

School district and city officials say they hope the program will improve grades and reduce the number of children who join gangs and use drugs.

“We feel that we either pay now or pay later in terms of what happens to society,” said Leland Wong, director of government relations for Kaiser Permanente. “Problems such as gang violence occur with kids who have idle time and no supervision.”

Langdon Principal Daniel Balderrama said many of the school’s 1,000 students, ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade, have working parents who will welcome the four extra hours a day of supervision.

At Sylmar School, one of the original 10 selected to begin the program in November, enough money was provided to enroll only 200 of 1,000 students, Principal Yvonne Chan said. There is a long waiting list of children whose parents want them in the program, she said.

“The positive thing so far is that the kids are not out on the streets,” Chan said.

But Chan said the district has not compiled enough evidence to show that after-school classes have improved grades.