Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : THE SENTINEL : School District Breakup: The Majority of Students Would Not Benefit
In the latest and biggest debate over whether or not to carve up the Los Angeles Unified School District, each side has loudly charged the other with either segregationist tactics or political jockeying.
We, however, agree with the Los Angeles School Board in its opposition to the bill that would carve the district into at least seven entities.
It is true that to proceed along the path of breaking up the 640,000-student district without first considering the impact on students puts the cart before the horse.
We don’t feel that the breakup of the district would benefit the largest majority of the students, who are mostly black and brown.
Supporters of the breakup argued that the district is too large and too entrenched in its bureaucracy to educate students effectively.
How much better educated would they be if there was a district for South-Central Los Angeles students, for example, and another for the students in Chatsworth?
Who do you think would enjoy better facilities, supplies and a more qualified roster of educators? Teachers, like other workers, go where the better environment and better salaries are.
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