Unhappy Parents

More than 30 parents, left, carried signs and chanted their displeasure Thursday over conditions at Wiggins School near Whittier. The school is the temporary site of Dexter Intermediate and its 720 students. Dexter is closed while the Whittier City School District completes a $1.9-million renovation of the 39-year-old campus.

The parents complained that Wiggins has no showers, no changing rooms for physical education classes and no lockers. Most of all, the parents are unhappy about the much longer walk to school, which includes crossing busy Whittier Boulevard. March organizer Lori Derry said that parents want a bus to take their children from Dexter to Wiggins, and want more crossing guards in the meantime. Some parents, including Rosalinda Lopez, right, said that the neighborhood around Wiggins is gang-infested and dangerous for children to walk through.

Supt. Neal Avery said the district already was adding crossing guards, but that he could do nothing about the lack of lockers, showers and changing rooms at Wiggins, an empty school the district rents from a neighboring school system. Avery added that many students have to walk farther because of budget cuts to district transportation services. To save money in a tight budget year, the school board voted to raise walking distances from 2 to 2 1/2 miles.

Principal Donald Hoagland said most parents, students and teachers were adjusting to the inconveniences without complaint. “The light at the end of the tunnel is that next year, we go back to a new school,” he said.