CULVER CITY : Plan to Ease School Crowding Unveiled
In an effort to ease overcrowding in elementary schools, district officials have decided to reopen El Marino Elementary this fall, but only for foreign-language students.
The district’s Spanish-language immersion program at El Rincon Elementary and the Japanese-language immersion program at Farragut Elementary will be transferred to El Marino. Students in the Japanese and Spanish immersion programs spend 90% of their time studying in the foreign language and 10% in English.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 6, 1994 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday February 6, 1994 Home Edition Westside Part J Page 3 Zones Desk 3 inches; 88 words Type of Material: Correction
Petition drive--A Westside article Thursday about the reopening of El Marino Elementary School contained incorrect information. A petition circulated by a residents group asked Culver City school officials to find an alternative site for Culver Park High School, a continuation school, not El Marino. Also, parent Kelly Pullan said she was not campaigning against the reopening of El Marino, as stated in a photo caption. Instead, she opposes elementary and high school students going to schools so close in proximity. The article also misstated the distance between the schools, which are separated by a chain-link fence.
Superintendent Curtis Rethmeyer said he anticipates El Marino’s enrollment to be 350 to 400 students. The district will spend about $1 million for structural and operational rehabilitation to prepare the school for reopening.
El Marino, which closed in 1981 because of low enrollment, has been leased to a number of private schools. The lease on the current tenant, Westside Prep, expires in June.
Nearly 2,100 elementary students in the district attend four schools.
“All the schools have reached their capacity,” said James Crawford, the district’s business director. Last fall, elementary enrollment increased 6%. Officials added portable classrooms at all four schools.
El Marino is a few hundred yards from Culver Park High, a school for students who have missed at least a semester. El Marino’s proximity to Culver Park High prompted parents to circulate a petition asking the district to find an alternative site for the elementary school. About 600 signatures were collected.
“I feel it’s unacceptable for 6-year-olds and 16-year-olds to be (close to) each other,” said Kelly Pullan, whose two children attend El Rincon.
“What I fear is the exposure,” Pullan said. “Nowadays, a lot of teens use bad language and smoke.”
But Asst. Supt. Vera Jashni said the district doesn’t have the money to lease another site. “If we lease, we’re looking at $200,000 per year. So do teachers miss out on a salary increase if we lease?” she asked.
Rethmeyer said there is no cause for concern. “We’ve had that (continuation school) program there for 12 years. We’ve had private schools leasing (El Marino) and there have been no problems,” he said.
Pullan said her group will seek corporate sponsorship to help the district buy another school site.
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