Van Nuys : Magnet Program Gets New Hospital Sponsor

The prognosis is good for Van Nuys High School’s popular medical magnet program that was threatened last month by cutbacks.

School officials Monday toured a 10,000-square-feet facility on Sherman Way, one of two sites Northridge Hospital Medical Center has offered for use by the school. The medical center also has pledged a building on its Roscoe Boulevard property in Northridge.

“We’ve always been committed to education,” said Dr. Myron Berdischewsky, a physician at the medical center who first suggested the partnership. “We’re a nonprofit organization and this is also part of our community benefit.”

The brown, two-story building on Sherman Way is in the shadow of the hospital. It was originally built as an apartment complex and its 20 or so units still feature distinct kitchen and bathroom areas.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Joan Martin, coordinator of the school program. “It’s close and the people here are interested” in the magnet program.

Van Nuys High School has operated a medical careers program for three years. It is one of three magnet programs the campus offers and has an enrollment of 240 and a waiting list of more than 600.

Magnet programs are designed to attract students to special educational opportunities.

“Students have an opportunity to be involved in every aspect of the hospital, from folding linen to being in the emergency room,” Martin said.

Despite its popularity, the program was threatened when its previous sponsor Valley Presbyterian Hospital announced in April that it was could no longer participate. Administrators there said they needed the space to provide additional community education programs.

Valley Presbyterian’s action prompted Principal Robert Scharf to warn of possible cuts to the Van Nuys school’s magnet programs because of overcrowding. Scharf said that campus enrollment is already at its 3,000-student capacity and ninth-graders, who are scheduled to attend the school for the first time in fall, 1996, will add to the problem.

Parents and students were angered by the suggested cuts, and Los Angeles Unified School District officials have since called for the school to use year-round programs or traveling teachers to safeguard the magnet programs.