Parent-Teacher Group Vows to Block Remap Plan : Education: The organization is prepared to file a suit. It says the redistricting would weaken the Valley’s voice on the school board.

Leaders of the San Fernando Valley’s major parent-teacher group said Wednesday they are prepared to sue to block a school board redistricting plan that won preliminary approval at City Hall this week.

The 31st District PTSA is ready to “challenge the validity” of the Los Angeles City Council-adopted plan in court because it would weaken the Valley’s voice on the Board of Education, said Cecelia Mansfield, a PTSA vice president from Van Nuys.

The organization, which represents about 150 school-based parent groups in the Valley, is spearheading opposition to the school redistricting plan, narrowly adopted Tuesday by the City Council on a 9-6 vote.

Under the plan proposed by a coalition of Latino civil-rights groups, two Latino-dominated school board seats would be created. The seven-member board would include only one all-Valley district, where two now exist. Three other districts would include portions of the Valley, but would have their primary constituencies in other areas of Los Angeles.

Supporters of the plan contend it will provide a historic opportunity for Latinos to increase their clout in a school district in which 65% of the students are Spanish-surnamed.

A final council vote on the plan is scheduled Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Parent-Teacher-Student Assn., with the help of City Councilwoman Joy Picus, has proposed a plan of its own that would have the Valley represented by two districts and small parts of a third district.

Janet Phillips, president of the 31st District board, said there is a “general consensus” on the 15-member body that a “court-ordered redistricting plan would be better than what the Latino coalition and the council have proposed” because the plan, as approved, is a creature of political considerations.

If the board does not sue, Phillips said, “our local school units would disavow us, throw us out. This is a very big issue with us.”

Although no specific vote was taken on the issue of litigation, the board met Wednesday and reaffirmed its strong desire “to go all out” to defeat the plan, Phillips said.

At its meeting, the PTSA board decided to target in its lobbying effort Councilmen Michael Woo, Zev Yaroslavsky and Ernani Bernardi. Picus, who is leading a council bloc to stop the plan, Tuesday urged PTSA members to set their sights on Woo because he has mayoral ambitions and might need to court Valley voters. Woo voted in favor of the plan.

Mansfield said Yaroslavsky, who represents a portion of the Valley, is being targeted because although he showed strong sympathy for the Valley, in the end he voted with the council majority on the plan. Bernardi, a PTSA supporter, is being targeted because he has said he does not intend to be present at Tuesday’s session.

In court, the PTSA would contend that the plan “unnecessarily fragments Latino communities in the East Valley,” Mansfield said.

In such civil rights-based litigation, Mansfield said the PTSA group would sue only in concert with minority-based allies, including Tony Alcala, a Latino member of a Valley-based bilingual advisory council, or the Valley chapters of the Black American Political Assn. of California or the National Council of Negro Women.

Alcala warned the City Council on Tuesday of a possible lawsuit if it adopted the plan, proposed by Latino civil rights groups, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Councilman Richard Alatorre.

Under the plan, the smallest part of the the heavily Latino East Valley would be represented by a district based in Hollywood with the largest portion--including Sylmar, Pacoima and San Fernando--represented by a district based in East Los Angeles.

Although the 15-member PTSA board of directors has no Latino members, the group has a “strong track record” of support for minority issues, Mansfield said in an interview Wednesday.

The organization urged its members in the 1970s to accept court-ordered integration and “we took a big hit from our membership because of that,” she said.

More recently, the 31st District leadership has backed bilingual education programs, year-round school programs and urged that the school board provide extra assistance to Latino children who are bused out of their crowded neighborhood schools to classrooms in white areas.

“In fact, we are constantly being criticized for erring on the side of minority children,” Mansfield said.