LAUSD to Halt Use of Campus Fields, Gyms Starting Today : Youth sports: Budget cuts force officials to lock community groups out of athletic facilities until a payment plan is finalized.

Having exhausted nearly every avenue of appeal, local youth sports teams will today be locked out of athletic facilities at Los Angeles Unified School District campuses as a result of budget cuts approved last week by the Board of Education.

Despite some 11th-hour negotiations by at least one athletic organization, teams that show up at the district’s playing fields or gymnasiums today can expect to find the facilities padlocked below a sign explaining that previously issued use permits are no longer valid.

The Los Angeles school board last week sliced $1.4 million from the Student Auxiliary Services budget and eliminated funding for on-campus youth services coordinators, who are in charge of supervising athletic facilities. As a result, all use permits will be revoked effective today, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Teams from throughout the region have failed in attempts to have the closure put on hold. An attorney representing American Legion District 20 met with the school district’s legal representatives this week and asked for a delay, but the request was denied.

“They’re all bitter down there,” District 20 Commissioner Mel Swerdling said of school administrators. “I really feel like they’re just exploiting us to show how bad things are with the district.”

For at least the next month, district athletic facilities will remain closed while a user-fee plan is ironed out. The district has established a fee schedule, but it has not been finalized. Under the proposal, youth teams using district facilities would be charged and the money generated would be used to pay youth services coordinators at each site.

Don Wertz, recreation director for Student Auxiliary Services, said that the district hopes to have a fee schedule in place by Aug. 1. Wertz said feedback will be sought from representatives of “large” youth groups such as the Boy Scouts, the city Recreation and Parks Department, and the 6,000-member Valley Youth Conference.

Wertz said the district would like to begin seeking input from youth-group leaders beginning July 10. Until the fee structure is finalized, however, district facilities will remain closed.

“I’m sure we’ll have many, many more meetings regarding the setting of costs and the approval of costs,” Wertz said. “As far as any more progress at this point, I don’t think there’s been a heckuva lot.”

The only option for teams wishing to use the facilities in the interim is leasing the land from the district, which Wertz admits is an expensive endeavor.

Swerdling has instructed the 11 teams in District 20 that use district baseball fields to seek alternate sites for home games. Swerdling has made plans to move the District 20 All-Star Game and playoffs from Birmingham High--a district field--to Burroughs High, which is administered by the Burbank Unified School District. Playoffs also will be held at Pierce College.

Swerdling said he considered seeking a temporary restraining order that would have allowed District 20 teams to use district fields for the remainder of their permit period. Legion teams were granted field access until the end of the regular season, which finishes in late July.

But that option was eventually rejected because it would have taken several days to obtain the necessary permission from Legion headquarters.

Area coaches whose teams use district fields already have begun to relocate. Woodland Hills West Coach Don Hornback, whose team won a Legion World Series title in 1989 and a state title in 1990, removed all of his equipment from a storage shed at the team’s home field, El Camino Real High.

Hornback estimated that his team used the facility five or six days a week for games and practices, and is now without a field. Woodland Hills West was forced to move Tuesday’s inter-district home game against District 16 power Newbury Oaks to Newbury Park High.

“There’s already a sign up (at school) that permits have been revoked,” Hornback said. “But when I was out there picking up my stuff, there were two guys out there using the field. Who’s going to kick them off, who’s going to police it?

“When we played there, we took care of the field and we cleaned up the area.”

Other Legion coaches support Hornback’s claim that the fields are well-maintained by players and fans.

“If there was ever a custodian on the field, I’d fall out of my wheelchair,” said Valley North Coach Pete Redfern, whose team plays at Chatsworth High, a district school. “As far as American Legion goes, we take care of the custodial stuff ourselves.

“If this custodial guy exists, he’s the invisible man.”

The most controversial aspect of the user-fee proposal is the custodial fee, which Wertz also concedes is prohibitive for most groups. The district proposal calls for a flat custodial fee that can run as high as $480 to be charged to users of a large football stadium. In addition, an hourly rate will also apply.

Wertz said the custodial fees are not firm, and that the district plans to meet with representatives from the its janitorial department to discuss the cost of cleaning up after youth athletic events.

An arrangement wherein teams would be asked to submit a cleaning deposit before the season is one alternative.

“Let’s be honest, 75-80% of the groups would be happy to use the fields on (a deposit) basis,” said Wertz, who estimated he has spoken with more than a hundred individuals seeking information on the situation. “But we have to iron out the details first.”

Wertz said that the district’s police force has been notified of the facilities’ closures and likely will remove any team that occupies a district field.