L.A. School Board Approves Expansion of Magnet Program, Adding 24 Schools

By SANDY BANKS

May 3, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES EDUCATION WRITER

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Monday to expand its popular magnet program this fall, opening specialized programs on 24 campuses and adding room for 8,000 new students in one of the largest expansions in the program’s history.

The expansion proposal had sparked bitter debate among board members when it was introduced two weeks ago, because few of the proposed magnets were bilingual or in inner-city neighborhoods, and Latino students have long been underrepresented in the magnet program.

“Something is wrong with our policy,” board President Leticia Quezada said Monday. “Latinos are being hugely underserved by what we consider the best program in the district.” Of 37,000 magnet students, 29% are Latino and 4% are limited English speakers in a district that is 66% Latino and 44% limited-English-speaking.

Two weeks ago, district staff recommended the addition of 21 magnets. But in reviewing that list, board members expressed dismay that almost half the new centers would be in the San Fernando Valley and few were in predominantly minority or inner-city neighborhoods.

Already, more than 15,000 of the district’s 37,000 magnet seats are in the Valley and on the Westside.

To remedy that, Supt. Sid Thompson on Monday recommended adding three more magnets to the list: a bilingual math-science-technology center at Miles Avenue Elementary School in Huntington Park, a bilingual International Humanities magnet at Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood, and a math-science-technology magnet at Huntington Park Elementary School.

In addition, centers on two other campuses--Belvedere Middle School’s Latin music magnet in East Los Angeles and Grant High School’s technology magnet in Van Nuys--will offer bilingual classes.

Board members were unanimous in approving the proposals.

Enrollment forms explaining the new magnets are to be sent to parents this month.

Thompson recommended that the district step up efforts to attract Latino students to magnet programs, which are popular among parents because they offer smaller classes, more money for special activities and a handpicked faculty.

Students must apply for magnet schools and are selected based on a variety of factors, including ethnicity and whether their neighborhood schools are overcrowded. About 38,000 students apply each year for 9,500 annual openings in the district’s 108 magnet centers and schools.

To boost the number of Latinos accepted at magnet schools, the board voted Monday to have Thompson and district lawyers consider a change in the selection criteria that would double the bonus points given applicants from overcrowded schools.

Board member Jeff Horton called the changes and the addition of bilingual programs a “good-faith effort to address the inequality” in magnet enrollment.

But board member Julie Korenstein, who represents the San Fernando Valley, complained that district officials, in their desperation for East and Central Los Angeles sites, appeared to be “jamming it down the throats” of schools that did not volunteer for magnet status.

Magnet schools were created as a vehicle for student integration during the divisive busing battles of the 1970s. The schools aim for student bodies that are 30% white and 70% minority, but board members voted Monday to ask district lawyers to review whether the ratios can be changed.

New Magnet Schools

These are the new magnet centers approved Monday by the Los Angeles Unified School District board, to open this fall sharing existing campuses:

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

* Buchanan: Math-Science-Technology

* Gledhill: Math-Science-Technology

* Haskell: Math-Science-Technology

* Humphreys: Math-Science-Technology

* Huntington Park No. 2: Math-Science-Technology

* Marvin: Language Arts

* Miles: Math-Science-Technology

* Multnomah: Environmental Sciences

MIDDLE SCHOOLS