Low Ratio of Latinos in Magnets Condemned : Education: Board will seek advice on whether it can re-evaluate how schools and students are chosen for program. The district may add 21 locations.

By BETH SHUSTER

April 19, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles Board of Education members on Monday condemned the low numbers of Latino students selected for the district’s highly prized magnet schools and the small number of magnets located in predominantly minority areas.

After a sometimes heated debate at Monday’s meeting, the board agreed to seek legal advice to determine whether it can re-evaluate the way in which schools and students are chosen for the magnet program. Magnet schools were created after lengthy desegregation lawsuits in the late 1970s.

Board President Leticia Quezada said far too many magnet school seats are located in the San Fernando Valley and too few are available in inner-city areas. In addition, she said the number of Latino students and those who speak limited English is far too low in the magnets.

Of the 37,000 students attending magnet schools, 10,850, or 29.2%, are Latino, officials said. However, Latino students constitute 66% of the district’s 640,000 students. About 3,000 magnet students, or fewer than 10%, are limited-English speakers. About 44% of the district’s students speak limited English.

Board members faulted the paucity of bilingual magnet programs and poor recruiting efforts at schools with large numbers of Latino and limited-English students.

“I think these numbers clearly show that Latino students are being shortchanged in one of the best programs this district has to offer,” said Quezada, who represents East Los Angeles. “There is no question that the magnet school students get a better education--the test scores prove that. (But) these numbers perpetuate the disparity.”

Board members are considering adding 21 schools to the magnet program this fall, including 10 in the Valley. The board is expected to vote in two weeks on expanding the program. The new schools would provide specialized courses in a variety of subjects, from Latin music to math, science and technology.

But board members said they are concerned that the schools would be located in areas that already have a high number of magnet classroom seats. They said the board agreed five years ago to apportion the number of seats more equally throughout the city.

In a report to the board, Assistant Supt. Theodore Alexander said the largest number of students enrolled in magnets--8,086--are in Julie Korenstein’s San Fernando Valley district. The second-highest, with 7,209 students, is Mark Slavkin’s district, which includes West Los Angeles and parts of the West Valley. The fewest magnet students--2,106--are in Victoria Castro’s southeast district. Board member Jeff Horton’s district, which includes Hollywood and the Mid-City area, has 2,817 enrolled.

District officials said they know of no written policy that bars schools in areas with higher numbers of magnet seats from expanding or from becoming magnet centers. Alexander said the 21 proposed schools--more than three times the number of schools that typically apply to become magnets--are in areas that have space for new students.

In addition, Alexander said the district might be in violation of the court desegregation order by denying schools that apply for the right to become magnets, especially when there might not be space in other parts of the district.

Nonetheless, board members said that they want to make the magnets accessible to all students and that the district should be doing more to recruit Latino and limited-English-speaking students.

Horton, who represents Hollywood, said he believes there is a “gross inequality” in the distribution of magnet seats for minority students.

“It just seems like such a blatant inequality . . . in a program that’s supposed to diminish inequality,” Horton said. “Irony of ironies.”

Korenstein, an ardent magnet supporter, said Valley schools have changed dramatically and that the Valley is no longer “all white and affluent.”

“I know there has been a picture of what the San Fernando Valley looks like--and may have looked like in the past--that is no longer the case,” Korenstein said, adding that she hopes many more schools will become magnets.

Student applications for next fall were due last Friday. If new magnets are approved, a supplemental application brochure will be issued.

Students are selected for the magnet program based on a variety of factors, including ethnicity. Magnet schools are considered to be integrated at 70% minority and 30% white.

But minority students are grouped together in the selection process so that Asian, Latino and African American students, among others, compete for space. White students are selected separately.

Created during the divisive busing battles of the late 1970s, magnets are intended to provide students from across the sprawling district with smaller, ethnically diverse student bodies and educational programs.

Administrators and teachers from the 21 schools have said they want to become magnets to boost test scores and to keep high-achieving students from fleeing to other campuses.

Aside from the 21 programs--which would open up 8,000 new seats, 5,300 of them this fall--the board also will consider next month expanding another 21 magnets to create an additional 2,000 classroom seats. The board will also consider changing the focus of eight magnets to math, science and technology.

Magnet Candidates Twenty-one Los Angeles Unified District schools have asked to join the magnet program. About 5,300 magnet seats would become available this fall if the new magnet centers are approved by the Board of Education. More than 23,000 students are on magnet waiting lists this year. These are the schools requesting magnet status and their specialties:

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS * Buchanan: Math-Science-Technology

* Gledhill: Math-Science-Technology

* Haskell: Math-Science-Technology

* Humphreys: Math-Science-Technology

* Marvin: Language Arts

* Multnomah: Environmental Sciences

MIDDLE SCHOOLS * Belvedere: Latin Music

* Curtiss: Math-Science-Technology

* Holmes: International Humanities

* Millikan: Performing Arts

* Wright: Math-Science-Technology

HIGH SCHOOLS * Birmingham: Journalism Technology