On the Move : Parents in Search of Better Schools Look Outside L.A. District

Ira and Sandy Levine are leaving the San Fernando Valley--just barely--to pull their fourth-grade son, Matthew, out of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

And they’re not alone. Real estate agents, parents and school district officials say more and more Valley parents are choosing to move to the nearest suburbs that offer the quality of education and the safe community setting they’re seeking for their kids.

Motivated by the promise of surrounding school districts that haven’t moved to year-round school schedules, that have significantly better standardized test scores and that offer kids a ‘50s-style neighborhood school atmosphere, parents are moving out.

“I’ve been very happy with the school Matthew was at,” said Ira Levine, 39, “but I was concerned about the future. I didn’t like year-round, I felt intimidated by the school system bureaucracy, I didn’t like the junior high academic standards and the safety issues that were coming up, and I can’t afford private school.”

Ira Levine, a bank examiner, said his wife, Sandy, was especially disgruntled with the promise of year-round schools. Both Levines work, and Sandy felt the child-care alternatives would be inadequate on a year-round system.

So the Levines have opted for a smaller public school system just across the border in Ventura County. They just listed their two-bedroom Studio City home and bought a house that is being built in Oak Park, an unincorporated area of Agoura, which has a 1,580-student school district with high test scores, optional summer school, after-school programs and strong parent involvement in the schools.

The decision to move was tough for the Levines, who are active in their neighborhood synagogue, the parent association at their son’s magnet school and the Studio City Residents Assn. They also enjoy the convenience of living near the restaurants and entertainment along Ventura Boulevard and their proximity to the Westside.

“We still have moments when we’ll have second thoughts,” said Levine, who will face a longer commute to banks all over Los Angeles, “but it’s a trend. We know other people moving to Conejo, Las Virgenes and Simi Valley school districts, people who can’t afford private schools.”

Those school districts are feeling the impact of the increased interest. Stanley Mantooth, director of facilities and business operations for the Oak Park Unified School District, said the district office and the district’s two elementary schools and middle school often get phone calls from parents interested in learning more about the schools before they move. He said the school principals have told him they frequently meet with parents from Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and the San Fernando Valley who are looking for better school environments.

Mantooth said the district has projected an increase in school enrollment of 10% to 15% for next year due to new housing developments in Oak Park.

“People are calling wanting small schools, and they want to know not just about the test scores but also about where the schools are going,” Mantooth said.

Sales agents at the new housing developments ask the district for information on the schools because so many of their prospective buyers request details about the school district. Most of the new developments are making the school district a major feature in their advertising campaigns.

Silver Valley in Thousand Oaks runs an ad that lists the schools as one of the seven key features of the development: “It’s nice to know your family will be together in the summer, thanks to the Las Virgenes School District’s nine-month system.”

Bellagio, an A-M Homes development of $500,000 to $650,000 gated-community homes in Calabasas, puts the words “Las Virgenes School District” in large reverse type on its regular full-page ad in two Los Angeles newspapers.

Bobbi West, sales representative at Bellagio, said that 70% of their buyers have school-age children, and most are disgruntled with the year-round situation and the quality of the Los Angeles school district.

“It’s definitely a huge carrot to entice buyers to go that extra mile, paying a higher price or to drive a few more miles to get one of the best school districts in the state,” she said. “For the vast majority of our buyers, schools are their main concern.”

Mary Carroll, a sales representative at the Hillcrest development in Oak Park, agrees. “Home buyers walk in the sales office and they say, ‘Are you on year-round schools?’ ” she said. “They’re looking for high academic scores, summer vacations, and they want their kids to be able to walk to school in a safe neighborhood.”

For Chuck Byler, whose 14-year-old was attending El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, the overall environment at the school was his motivation to move. He said the teachers at El Camino were good, but the intimidation of what he calls a “gang atmosphere” on the campus was difficult for his son--and him--to bear. Six months ago, Byler and his son moved to a condominium in Agoura Hills, and they’re pleased with the change.

“It’s a totally different, more relaxed atmosphere,” he said. “I think also at El Camino my son was getting a jaded view, developing prejudice because of his exposure to the environment there, and I didn’t like that either.”

So Byler, a sales manager at Lone Oak, a Calabasas development of three- to five-bedroom detached homes, understands the urgency prospective buyers bring to his sales office. Most of his sales, he said, are to people living in Sherman Oaks, Encino, Canoga Park, West Hills and Woodland Hills.

He said buyers “all come in and ask about the schools,” adding that sales seem to go up immediately after the newspapers print stories about a Los Angeles school board decision that looks like it will negatively affect the students, such as the move to year-round schools or the serious budget crunch the district faces.

But the push for smaller, more successful school districts doesn’t seem to be affecting all the districts west of the Los Angeles system. Chet Howe, assistant to the superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District, says his district is expecting a decrease of eight students (out of a total enrollment of 18,000) by the end of the first school month in October. According to Howe, the Simi Valley district is seeing a small but steady decrease in total enrollment, although the elementary schools are beginning to grow a little.

And the demand for schools in the Valencia area seems, according to Pam Deines, a sales representative at Stevenson Ranch--and a former teacher--just one of the reasons prospective home buyers are shopping in her area.

“Buyers generally ask just what school their children would be going to, although they also want to know how the district’s schools rank in CAP scores,” she said.

Some disgruntled Los Angeles school district parents are making major moves--outside the state--to get the public education they want for their children. Ellen and Lynn Seibel plan to move to Minneapolis as soon as they sell their Van Nuys home.

“The No. 1 reason we’re moving is that Minneapolis has the No. 1 school system in the state, and Minnesota has the best school system in the country,” said Ellen Seibel, who has researched Midwestern schools.

The Seibels’ son, Phillip, is a second-grader in a Los Angeles district magnet school, and while the Seibels say he has found his classes interesting, they haven’t always been sure of exactly what he was learning, and they have felt the system is disorganized.

The biggest frustration, Ellen Seibel said, has been that Phillip is bused to the magnet school in Brentwood. He is often delayed by traffic and has been involved in several minor but stressful bus accidents.

“It’s not a system I care to stay involved with,” said Ellen Seibel. “I don’t think it cares about the kids, and I don’t know how you fight that. That’s why we’re getting out. We never thought we’d leave L.A.”

For those who are transferred to Los Angeles from out of town, the choice of school system can be critical to the move. Howard Schechtman, 39, a vice president of Citicorp in New York, has been transferred to Santa Monica--and he’s doing his homework. After talking to a family friend who lives in Encino and is an independent special-education expert, Schechtman said he is committed to moving west of the Los Angeles school district.

“She encouraged us not to consider the L.A. Unified,” he said, so he has been talking to the California Board of Education and getting information from the Las Virgenes Unified School District. He said his two children, ages 7 and 10, are now in excellent schools in Nassau County, Long Island, and he is determined to assure his children a strong academic program in Southern California.

“I was told that, if I move into Tarzana, more than likely I’d find myself very quickly wanting to put my kids in private schools,” Schechtman said, adding that a private-school atmosphere isn’t what he wants for his children.

“I’m looking for a strong academic environment, preparing kids not just to get out of high school but to get into the best colleges and be with a mix of kids who have good moral values,” he said.

Several local real estate agents said that parents who can afford private school and need the convenience of a San Fernando Valley address usually opt for a close-in community rather than moving farther out. But for those without that option, or those who prefer a public-school environment, the choice is often to move away from the Los Angeles school district.

Ellie Lacy, a real estate agent with Fred Sands in Sherman Oaks, says she has lost clients to areas beyond the Los Angeles district because they have perceived the schools to be unsatisfactory.

“One client I lost,” Lacy said, “moved to La Canada because of the schools, even though the smog is worse there.”

Agents say that clients who do buy within the Los Angeles district research the neighborhood schools carefully, check out the test scores and talk with parents in the area to make sure that the nearby schools are successful.

No matter where they settle, L.A. boomers are buying with an eye to getting good schools. As Schechtman said, “If we couldn’t find a school system, we wouldn’t move to Los Angeles.”