Enrollment Limit for Minorities Raised to 70% at 9 Valley Schools

The Los Angeles school board voted Monday to ease integration guidelines at 13 elementary schools, including nine in the San Fernando Valley, making about 400 more classroom seats available for students bused from more crowded areas of the city.

The change allows for up to 70% of the enrollment at the affected schools to be from minority groups. Previously, those schools were under guidelines that limited minority enrollment to 60% for racial balance.

“This reflects the changing demographics of the district,” said Theodore Alexander, the district official in charge of student integration.

About 85% of the 610,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are black, Latino, Asian or from other minority groups, Alexander said.

The measure passed on a 5-to-2 vote, with San Fernando Valley board members Julie Korenstein and Roberta Weintraub opposed. Korenstein said she opposed the measure because the ratio change will make those schools more segregated.

The nine Valley schools affected are:

Fullbright Avenue Elementary, Reseda Elementary, Shirley Avenue Elementary, Winnetka Avenue Elementary, Gledhill Street Elementary, Herrick Avenue Elementary, Mayall Street Elementary, Plainview Avenue Elementary and Tulsa Street Elementary.

District officials said it was not known how many of the 400 seats made available at all 13 schools under the change will be in the nine Valley schools.