Major Expansion of Magnet School Program OKd in L.A.

Responding to pressure to provide more magnet schools, particularly in minority neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday approved a major expansion of the district’s prized network of specialized learning centers that many parents believe are superior to regular schools.

The board voted 6-0 to add 32 new magnet programs to the current 87 over the next two years, beginning with eight this fall. The largest single expansion of the magnet network since 1982, the new programs could provide space for an estimated 6,500 students. Currently, about 27,000 of the district’s 595,000 students attend magnet programs.

District officials said they recommended expanding the magnet programs because of the huge demand from parents and because of criticism that not enough of the specialized programs were located in predominantly minority neighborhoods. Magnet schools are heavily concentrated in middle-class, largely Anglo areas of the Westside, the West San Fernando Valley and the South Bay.

“The ethnic pattern of those seats (in magnet programs) tells a story of institutional racism,” said board member Leticia Quezada. If poor children “wanted access to an enriched curriculum, they had to travel to other neighborhoods, while other children were told that they could have that enriched curriculum in their own neighborhood.”

Magnet schools focus on specific academic areas--such as science or the arts--or on special teaching methods. There are also magnet schools that are only for gifted students. Students in most magnet programs score higher on state and district standardized tests than students in regular schools, but there are long waiting lists to get into the classes.

Response to Desegregation Suit

The magnet programs originated as a response to a desegregation lawsuit against the district, with the first schools established in the early 1970s to encourage voluntary integration. Any district student may apply, but priority for admission is determined on the basis of several factors, including ethnicity and whether a student’s neighborhood school is crowded or racially unbalanced.

The programs have been controversial, however, with some critics contending that they are elitist and deprive other schools of badly needed resources. In addition, as an integration tool the programs have achieved only moderate success, with most inner-city magnets enrolling 10% or less Anglo students.

Enrollment at most district magnet programs is based on a 60/40 ethnic ratio guideline in which neither Anglos nor minorities should hold more than 60% of the places. However, the ethnic ratio at the 32 new programs will allow enrollment of up to 70% Anglos or minorities depending on the neighborhood.

The first phase of the expansion will provide spaces for 1,624 students this fall and as many as 4,900 additional openings in 1990. But the demand for magnet schools continues to exceed the supply, even with the expansion. The waiting list this year alone has ranged between 10,000 and 19,000 students, according to Richard Battaglia, an adviser in the district’s magnet office.

It will cost $4.7 million to open the first eight new magnet schools, according to district figures. About $3.4 million will be paid by the state under a program to reimburse districts for voluntary integration efforts. District funds will cover the remaining costs.

Among the eight new magnet programs scheduled to open this September are programs for gifted students at Euclid Elementary in East Los Angeles, at North Hollywood High School, and at Adams Junior High and Crenshaw High in South-Central Los Angeles. Programs emphasizing math and science will be established at Teresa Hughes Elementary in South-Central Los Angeles, South Gate Elementary in South Gate and Windsor Hills Elementary in South Los Angeles.

At Allesandro Elementary in Northeast Los Angeles, the district plans a program based on a teaching method called cooperative learning, in which students work in teams to solve problems and master basic concepts. An increasingly popular teaching technique nationally, cooperative learning already is practiced by many Los Angeles teachers, an official said. Proponents of the approach say it helps build students’ confidence and self-esteem and reduce conflicts because it teaches students to work together.

NEW MAGNET SCHOOLS

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday approved a two-stage expansion of the district’s magnet school program. Eight new magnets will open in September and 24 others in September, 1990, according to the plan. Below are the schools and their locations. Stage I programs include the school’s specialized curriculum. Areas of emphasis for Stage II programs will be determined later. STAGE I Allesandro Elementary--Cooperative Learning--Northeast Los Angeles Euclid Elementary--Gifted/High Ability/Bilingual--East Los Angeles Teresa Hughes Elementary--Math/Science--South-Central Los Angeles South Gate 1 Elementary--Math/Science Windsor Hills Elementary--Math/Science/Aerospace--South Los Angeles Adams Junior High--High Ability/Foreign Language--South-Central Los Angeles Crenshaw High--Highly Gifted, Gifted/High Ability--South Los Angeles North Hollywood High--Highly Gifted STAGE II Brainard Elementary--East San Fernando Valley Buchanan Elementary--Northeast Los Angeles Castelar Elementary--Central Los Angeles Graham Elementary--Southeast Los Angeles Hillside Elementary--Northeast Los Angeles Miramonte Elementary--Southeast Los Angeles Plasencia Elementary--Northeast Los Angeles Pio Pico Elementary--Central Los Angeles San Jose Elementary--East San Fernando Valley 24th Street Elementary--South-Central Los Angeles Utah Elementary--East Los Angeles Edison Junior High--Southeast Los Angeles LeConte Junior High--Hollywood Madison Junior High--East San Fernando Valley Muir Junior High--South-Central Los Angeles Nightingale Junior High--Northeast Los Angeles Reed Junior High--East San Fernando Valley Van Nuys Junior High--East San Fernando Valley Gardena High Lincoln Medical High--East Los Angeles Monroe High--West San Fernando Valley Sylmar High Westchester High Wilson High--East Los Angeles