School Board Agrees to Reopen Parthenia Street Elementary

By a 5-1 vote, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday agreed to reopen Parthenia Street Elementary School in Northridge this fall.

Closed since 1984 because of low enrollment, Parthenia will serve students from overcrowded schools in the San Fernando Valley. Among the schools that will be able to send students there are Hazeltine, Langdon, Noble, Plummer and Valerio, which together bus close to 800 students to other, less crowded campuses.

The reopening of Parthenia will enable some students to travel shorter distances to school, district officials said.

Parthenia was closed when its enrollment dropped to fewer than 200 students. It will accept 324 students this fall, but could potentially accommodate as many as 1,000 if the district decides to place portable classrooms on its playgrounds. Parthenia has 12 permanent classrooms on 6.3 acres.

The cost of reopening Parthenia will be $818,423 over two years, for furniture, equipment, cleaning and repairs, according to a school district staff report. Transporting students to the campus will cost an additional $397,120 per year.

Voting in favor of the reopening were board members Roberta Weintraub, Alan Gershman, Julie Korenstein, Warren Furutani and Jackie Goldberg. Leticia Quezada opposed it, and Rita Walters was absent.

The study that recommended reopening the school was conducted at the request of Korenstein, who represents the West Valley.

Parthenia was one of 22 under-enrolled schools the district closed between 1982 and 1984.