Hard Part Now Begins for Backers of School Split : Education: Competing interests must all come together to pull off breakup of L.A. Unified. Even some previous critics say it may happen, though worries about segregation remain.

After winning a long-fought battle to give voters the power to more easily dismantle the city school district, a host of groups with longstanding differences now face the larger task of conquering the system without dividing into warring factions themselves.

Converting disenchantment with the Los Angeles Unified School District into overwhelming voter support will require a plan that combines school reforms and educational philosophies with balanced racial and ethnic diversity, say breakup advocates.

And to do that, competing ethnic and political groups--including parents and other school activists--must settle historical personal and political differences, say campaign supporters.

“There isn’t room for personalities,” said Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills), author of legislation signed by Gov. Pete Wilson easing the way for succession. “It has to be done right . . . and not for personal agendas and not for personal goals,” added Boland, who hopes to continue to lead the effort as it moves from the state Capitol to Los Angeles. She also called on supporters to steer clear of personal and political bickering.

But only days after Wilson signed her bill--which dramatically reduces the number of signatures required to qualify a breakup proposal for a vote--several developments reveal some of the emerging players--as well as conflicts--in the campaign to break up the nation’s second-largest school district:

* The South Bay cities of Carson and Lomita are well ahead in their campaigns to carve out school districts along municipal boundaries. Many residents say they will not support a citywide breakup plan unless they get their own districts.

* Former school board member and congresswoman Bobbie Fiedler, who had sought to assist Boland on the breakup effort, agreed last week to stay out of the public debate. Critics said her participation would reopen political wounds from her leadership of the San Fernando Valley’s fight against mandatory busing during the 1970s.

* Several Latino activists said they will develop their own breakup plans in part because they fear that a breakup plan created by others would shortchange predominantly Latino communities of the city.

* Seeking to lead the campaign, the 31st District Parent Teacher Student Assn. sent out letters to about 50 people--including school district and union officials and community members--to join a task force to draft a breakup plan.

* Although opposed by employee unions within the district, Connie Moreno, staff representative for the California School Employees Assn., which represents 4,600 school and office clerks, said, “We’re beginning to think we should just throw in the towel and that it might be easier to deal with a smaller district.”

* Mike Roos, head of the school district’s 2-year-old LEARN reform program, said he has not ruled out the possibility that he would eventually join the breakup campaign. “We proved if in fact you are able to galvanize will--and clearly there is will in the San Fernando Valley--then effective leaders will bring the differing, superficial conflicts into focus.”

* Members of Valley Advocates for Local Unified Education--a long dormant Valley group--resurfaced last week and began plans for citywide meetings. They may compete for leadership of the campaign with members of the Parent Teacher Student Assn., say education activists.

“People are no longer saying, ‘Will we break up?’ ” said Diana Dixon-Davis, a Valley activist who has sought secession for a decade. “It’s ‘When we break up, this is what we want.’ People all over the district are saying, ‘We’re fed up.’ ”

Some of the efforts are viewed skeptically by some politicians and activists who said internal wrangling could give opponents plenty of opportunity to defeat a breakup effort.

“It’s amateur hour,” said one political observer.

So far, current and former school board members have refrained from supporting any of the emerging groups.

School board member Julie Korenstein, who supports a single San Fernando Valley school district, said she wants to see whether a single coalition emerges to draft a breakup plan before joining. “I’m very selective,” she said. “I will not be involved with anything that smacks of trying to segregate schools--that would be very offensive to me.”

To be successful, campaign leaders must persuade voters they can create smaller, more efficient systems without replicating the bureaucracy of the 640,000-student city school district.

“You’re going to have to approach this with a sense of humor and a lot of note pads. There will be egos and differences,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden (D--Santa Monica), who authored legislation to maintain racial and funding equality in any new districts.

Wilson this week is expected to sign Hayden’s bill, which protects school desegregation agreements and funding levels. Hayden acknowledged that his legislation could make it tougher for some areas of the city, such as the Westside, to withdraw from the school district.

Los Angeles Unified Supt. Sid Thompson said the Hayden bill will make it difficult to create a breakup plan that divides up the district’s student body fairly. The district, he said, will examine breakup proposals to determine their merit.

“There are some people who I don’t think are vicious folks and who don’t have political agendas who are looking at this,” Thompson said. “We can work with these folks. But I also see the opposite. There are some who see the wounded bear and who want to shoot it.”

Former school board member Roberta Weintraub, a breakup supporter, said she is unsure what effect the Hayden legislation will have on new districts.

“With Tom Hayden’s bill, it seems as if a breakup doesn’t accomplish a great deal,” she said. “One of my concerns is to go through this [and] what is the end result? What will be left?”

Maintaining protections for minority students is of paramount importance to Tony Alcala, a Sun Valley school activist who supports the breakup.

While Alcala lauded Boland for her legislation, he said he and other Latinos are distrustful of her motives because she supported Proposition 187--the statewide initiative that eliminates social services for illegal immigrants. He said Latino parents worry that breakup plans may end up penalizing immigrant children and their families by draining money and experienced teachers away from poorer neighborhoods.

Alcala said he is talking with other Latino parents in the east San Fernando Valley about devising their own breakup plan.

Several South Bay cities already have such plans.

In 1993, voters in Carson voted by a 2-1 margin to pursue forming a city district. “I’m not interested in reporting to the city of Los Angeles in any way,” said Carolyn Harris of the Carson Unified School District Formation Committee.

Operating under the current requirement that they gather signatures from 25% of registered voters, organizers have been working for nearly a year and hope to present their petition to county education officials next month. The Boland law reduces the signature requirement to 8% of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election.

A Carson district would consist of about 16,000 students at one high school and 15 elementary and middle schools. Harris said she is confident such a district would be ethnically and socioeconomically diverse enough to meet the criteria set by county education guidelines, as well as Hayden’s bill.

“Carson itself is a naturally integrated city,” said Harris.

Parents in neighboring Lomita also want a unified school district, although Bob Hargrave--a former city councilman--said he would consider joining with adjacent cities if necessary.

Gardena is also exploring the idea of a separate school district. Warren Furutani, a Gardena resident and former Los Angeles Board of Education member, was hired by the city last month as an education consultant.

Furutani said a withdrawal from the school district he once headed is only one of many options.

“There’s no groundswell” of support for a secession in Gardena, Furutani said. “I don’t think right off the bat smaller is better than bigger. You have to make the case for it.”