La Canada Schools Accused of Violations : Education: Pasadena officials say the affluent district has illegally enrolled students, recruited top athletes and screened out low-achieving and minority students.

A blistering report by Pasadena school officials accuses the neighboring La Canada school district of illegally enrolling Pasadena’s students, soliciting its top athletes, and screening out low-achieving and minority students.

The report claims to document what La Canada’s neighbors long have alleged: that the highly ranked district, with its 3,700 mainly white students and its scores on standardized tests in the top 2% in the state, routinely accepts students from other districts without state-required district transfers. In the process, the other districts contend, La Canada unfairly receives state money allocated by attendance figures.

Among the report’s allegations:

La Canada’s Educational Foundation solicits funds from the parents of would-be students as a means of granting entrance.

La Canada Unified gives students placement tests to assess aptitude before deciding whether to admit them.

La Canada athletic coaches have solicited at least three promising athletes from Pasadena schools to enroll in La Canada High School.

Minority students, especially African-Americans and Latinos, have a much more difficult time enrolling in La Canada Unified, even after they have obtained inter-district transfers from Pasadena Unified. Officials said 40% to 50% of minority students who applied were denied admission but only about 8% of white students.

The report said investigators found 164 Pasadena students who were illegally enrolled in La Canada schools during the 1991-92 school year. Since then, those students have obtained legal transfers, returned to the Pasadena schools or switched to private schools.

La Canada school officials deny all of the report’s allegations and say they have no knowledge of any improper behavior on the part of school or foundation officials.

“It’s not true,” said James W. Davis, superintendent of the La Canada Unified School District, who is aware of the report but said he has not seen it. “People can start rumors; that doesn’t make it a fact. Those are serious allegations and I’d like to see the data.”

Michael Klentschy, Pasadena’s associate superintendent for instruction, said the report was published after a six-month review of the inter-district permit process, including confidential interviews with parents who had dealings with La Canada school officials.

“We’ve been told that they’ve offered to expedite youngsters getting in by providing false addresses and sometimes they’ve even suggested that parents make a donation to the Educational Foundation,” Pasadena school board President Elbie J. Hickambottom added.

Klentschy and Hickambottom were on the committee that studied the issue and reported to the school board.

Muffie Alejandro is one Pasadena parent whose son attended La Canada schools illegally for two years. Alejandro said she moved her son, Eric, who she said is gifted, from private school into La Canada public schools three years ago after district officials assured her that there would be no problem.

Last year, however, La Canada officials told Alejandro that her son would need a release from Pasadena Unified to continue in their district. Aware that it would be difficult to get the release, Alejandro instead moved her son back into private school. She didn’t consider Pasadena public schools, Alejandro said, because friends had warned her that the district was bad.

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“Many of us didn’t know we were in La Canada schools illegally,” Alejandro said. “We were just told, ‘C’mon, you’re in.’ Private school is so expensive, and this is supposed to be one of the best public schools in the country. It was a big sigh of relief. But we got caught.”

Davis, who took over as La Canada superintendent last May, says he does not know what district officials told parents in the past. But he says all out-of-district parents are now told that they will not be accepted without releases from their home districts.

The hotly contested allegations by Pasadena Unified go to the heart of the debate confronting public schools today. With campus violence soaring, budgets plummeting and test scores dipping, many who can afford it put their children in private schools or move to pricey enclaves such as La Canada Flintridge, San Marino and Arcadia, all known for their good schools. In La Canada Flintridge, the average home price is from $500,000 to $650,000. The average price for a house in Pasadena is $300,000.

The departure of these students, most of whom are middle class and affluent whites, further segregates public school districts. “The simple fact is,” one Pasadena parent said, “that most white people in Pasadena send their kids to private schools.”

Such attitudes alarm Pasadena public school officials, who have no exact figures on the numbers of white students in private versus public school but agree that their estimates show the majority in private. “It’s to the detriment of our school district if the middle class is abandoning us,” Pasadena board member Anne Pursel said. “Frankly, I think it’s part of the reason why test scores in surrounding districts are higher than ours.

“(La Canada) is picking and choosing who they will let in, which certainly makes it more difficult for us to maintain the critical mass of kids we need at all achievement and socioeconomic levels.”

In contrast to the affluent bedroom community of La Canada, Pasadena grapples with all the complexities of a large, urban school district. Its 22,080 students come from all economic strata in the city of 132,000. Test scores on standardized tests hover around the bottom 25th percentile statewide. Students, parents and teachers complain about violence on campus. The district is 80% minority, with an increasing number of immigrants who speak limited English and require specialized education.

The state, which gives school districts about $3,000 per child per year toward education, requires students to attend schools where they live. Exceptions are often made for foster children, those placed in homes by the courts, those living with legal guardians and those whose parents work in another school district.

Bonnie Buratti, a Pasadena resident who works as an astronomer at JPL in La Canada Flintridge, took advantage of these exceptions to enroll her two children in La Canada schools. Buratti cites the school’s nearness to her work and the availability and quality of child care in La Canada, which she thinks is better than in Pasadena.

But Buratti also thinks that Pasadena has a point in trying to stop the exodus of its students.

“La Canada would take someone without any legitimate reason,” Buratti said. “You could walk in there and say, ‘I want to enroll my kid,’ and if they had space, they would take you. I was told unequivocally by La Canada that a permit wasn’t necessary.”

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But the news angers some La Canada parents, who claim that out-of-district students have usurped the place of La Canada children.

“Definitely there are kids who are edged out of honors and sports programs,” said Anne Brown of La Canada, who has six children in the city’s public schools. “A lot of people feel rather helpless about the whole thing.”

Pasadena is not alone in raising the alarm about losing students. Neighboring school districts long have complained that some of their best students--including high academic achievers and top athletes--cross city borders to attend La Canada schools illegally.

Last year, in a one-time cash-for-student swap, La Canada Unified agreed to pay Glendale Unified $3,000 per student after Glendale found as many as 20 students from that city who were illegally attending La Canada schools. In exchange, the students were allowed to stay on at La Canada; this school year, they either have received transfers, gone back to Glendale schools or on to private school.

Phil Kauble, an official with the Los Angeles County Department of Education, said cash-for-student swaps are not illegal. Kauble said he knows of three similar deals in the last 15 years.

In Pasadena, officials say that they are debating what kind of legal remedies to take against La Canada Unified and that their investigation is continuing.