Avalon and Peninsula Schools Get Top Honors : Education: Palos Verdes district wins more state awards than any other district, and Catalina school is rewarded for academic improvement.

Distinguished school flags will be flying on both sides of the Catalina Channel this year.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula district won more of the state education awards this year than any other school district in the state, and Avalon Junior and Senior High School on Santa Catalina Island became one of the smaller schools in California to take home a medal.

The schools were among 141 in the state, including 18 in Los Angeles County, honored by the state Department of Education for outstanding student academic performance or significant educational improvement.

The award-winning schools in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District were Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes and Miraleste high schools and Ridgecrest Intermediate School. In addition, Malaga Cove Intermediate School was one of 33 schools statewide named “sustained achievement schools” for winning the award in 1988, the last time intermediate and high schools were honored, and keeping test scores high.

On Catalina Island, Avalon Junior and Senior High School, with a combined enrollment of about 460 and a graduating class of 26, won for its academic improvement.

State evaluators found that the number of students taking advanced courses, such as mathematics and chemistry, has increased significantly the last four years, that the requirements for graduation have been toughened, and that student scores on California Assessment Program tests have improved.

“It was very impressive,” said Carol Kennedy, a member of the state evaluation team that visited Avalon. “There was lots of personal attention given to the students.”

The average CAP reading score for seniors at Avalon, part of the Long Beach Unified School District, increased to 260 in the last school year from 222 in the 1987-88 school year. The average math score rose to 235 from 195 in the same period. About 90% of the school’s 26 seniors plan to attend college next year. Nine of them plan to enroll in four-year colleges.

Nearly 40% of Avalon’s students are Latino, and most are from low-income families. Nearly 15% speak only limited English. Many of the students are from families that work in the island’s hotels and restaurants.

Avalon Principal Jon Meyer said the district has loyal students and a supportive community. “Our parents are involved,” he added. “To pull a group of parent supporters together, all I need to do is make a phone call.”

Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes and Miraleste high schools were repeat winners, having been named distinguished schools in 1986.

Palos Verdes was the only district in the state this year to have all high schools win the award. School officials praised cooperation between the district and the parents.

Interim Supt. Wayne Butterbaugh said he’s surprised by the long list of donations and gifts from community members at board meetings.

“I give the parents a lot of credit,” he said. “This is the result of the schools setting goals for themselves and then sacrificing to meet those goals--just like a championship athlete.”

Kennedy, the state education official, praised the strong “home-support system” she found at the peninsula’s schools.

“They have pressure on them to go to good colleges,” she said. “They don’t have the pressures of gangs, drugs, poverty and no place to study at home that some districts face.”

State schools Supt. Bill Honig will honor the schools at a ceremony May 24 at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers Hotel. Some of the state’s distinguished schools will be recommended for the National School Recognition Program.