Firm Considers Building For-Profit School in Area

In a time of widespread discontent among San Fernando Valley residents over the quality of public education, a Tennessee company that hopes to build affordable for-profit schools across the country will meet with parents next month to test the waters for establishing a campus in the Valley.

The Whittle Communications’ Edison Project picked the Valley as one of five sites nationwide for a series of meetings to gauge parent reaction.

The invitation-only “focus group” sessions, to be held Feb. 9 and 11 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in North Hollywood, are the only ones scheduled in California and signal the Knoxville-based company’s intention to build a school in the Valley, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The meetings come as efforts to split the huge Los Angeles Unified School District gain momentum, particularly in the Valley, where sentiment to withdraw from the nation’s second-largest school system runs high.

But John E. Chubb, who is helping to design the new schools, said the company’s decision to visit the Valley was not tied to the burgeoning secession movement.

“We began thinking about the Valley months ago,” he said. “In Southern California, we could have done West Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange County. We just happened to pick this one as a promising place.”

The company caused a stir two years ago when entrepreneur Christopher Whittle announced plans to build a string of money-making schools that could deliver quality education at a price within reach of most middle-class families. The schools would charge tuition equivalent to the per-pupil amount spent by public schools--in California, about $5,000 per year.

Although details of the projected campuses will not be released until spring, the company has begun testing the market and raising funds to build as many as 100 schools nationwide, including several in California.

In selecting locations for the campuses, which are expected to open in 1996, the company is looking for areas in need of improved schools as well as communities such as the Valley “where people have historically shown an interest in quality education,” Chubb said.

He said the company has been working with civic and community groups and educational organizations to identify two or three dozen Valley families to invite to the meetings, which will be closed to the public. Officials plan to offer an outline of what the schools will offer, then measure the level of parental interest.

“The essence of our presentation is to get reactions from parents in the area to make sure our conjecture that this is a good site is correct,” Chubb said. “This is simply the next step in a long process.”