School Breakup Drive Emerges in South L. A.

South Los Angeles parents, who for decades have been forced to bus their children to schools in the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, have begun drafting their own secession from the Los Angeles Unified School District with the hope of finally keeping students close to home.

Several plans are being developed for an independent South-Central Los Angeles district that would keep students in their own neighborhoods--either by building new schools to supplement the area’s aging, overcrowded campuses or converting to double sessions.

“There is nothing in cement about how the school district should be organized or structured,” said Sylvester Hinton, a parent who attended a community meeting at Hyde Park Boulevard Elementary School on Friday evening to launch the effort.

“We need to take care of our children.”

Busing also appears to be a factor as parents and politicians in the cities of Bell, Huntington Park and South Gate monitor the growing movement to dismantle the nation’s second-largest public school system. Those communities in the southeast portion of the county, which have some of the most overcrowded schools in the district, send thousands of students to campuses miles away. Busing, a chronic source of bitterness within the sprawling school district, also promises to inject tension into competing breakup campaigns. Because many western San Fernando Valley schools rely on bused students to boost enrollment--and, in turn, state funding--breakup advocates there say they would probably maintain old transportation agreements.

A renewed battle over busing was foreshadowed in a letter mailed out last week by three southeast area officials warning that the region’s children are likely to be sought by fledgling school systems in need of cash.

“Remember,” states the letter sent to the city councils of Bell, Maywood and Huntington Park, “some areas may try to include OUR area in THEIR plans as we are the area in the district WITH THE KIDS, and hence, future MONEY.”

Freeing their children from the tedium of long bus rides and establishing their own schools and special programs were among the concerns voiced in South Los Angeles Friday night.

Crowded around a long conference table at the family service center at Hyde Park school, about 25 parents, activists and school district employees began laying the groundwork for their own, self-sufficient school system.

“We have to talk about it and plan it--otherwise, someone will do it for us,” said Board of Education member Barbara Boudreaux, who calls the weekly meetings to discuss community concerns. “We don’t want to be left out.”

About 78,000 students were bused throughout the system during the 1992-93 school year, according to L.A. Unified records, with nearly 19,000 going to the Valley. The district’s busing program includes voluntary transportation for students in the magnet program and those who prefer to attend schools outside their neighborhoods, as well as mandatory busing for students who cannot be accommodated by local schools. Nonetheless, activists acknowledged that land and money for new schools are scarce and that continued busing seems inevitable, at least for the next few years.

Financing school construction in new districts is an issue that a State Allocation Board subcommittee has begun to examine, not only because of the breakup movement in Los Angeles County but also because of the creation of new districts in other parts of the state.

The State Allocation Board distributes money to districts to build schools based on current need, future enrollment projections and ability to match funds. Currently, no money is available for new school construction.

“It’s a multimillion-dollar issue,” said Joel Kirschenstein, a subcommittee member who believes financing is so crucial it needs to be addressed before reorganization plans for new districts can be adopted.

“Eligibility [for districts to receive funding] may fall differently once the overcrowded areas form their own districts,” said Kirschenstein, president of SAGE Institute Inc., a public-policy consulting firm.

Kirschenstein and Los Angeles attorney Laurence Labovitz plan to discuss the topic further this week at a meeting of the San Fernando Valley United Chambers of Commerce, which is scheduled to discuss the burgeoning breakup movement and the group’s own hopes for several Valley districts.

But the need for new schools is particularly pressing at the southern end of the 708-square-mile school system, where parents at the Friday night meeting began grappling with the complexities of creating a district independent of L.A. Unified.

“Your work is really only just beginning,” warned Carolyn Harris, a breakup leader in Carson who attended the meeting to answer questions and add a dose of reality to the group.

“You need money and resources . . . and you need to develop a good, solid plan,” Harris said.

Breakup advocates in Carson have been organizing for a couple of years. In an effort to place the issue before voters as soon as possible, they plan to file petitions on Sept. 8 with the Los Angeles County Office of Education in order to qualify.

Boudreaux, who previously opposed breaking up the 640,000-student system but now endorses the effort, said South Los Angeles activists ought to develop three or four different plans. She said the group should be ready to respond to plans from other parts of the district as well.

Last week, Boudreaux joined several district officials softening their stance on the breakup movement, which was greatly enhanced by recent legislation making it easier to place such an initiative before voters.

Supt. Sid Thompson had earlier announced he will not fight a breakup campaign if it improves education, and he assigned a top district official to provide information to all sides in the debate.

Even leaders of the district’s powerful teachers union, who once scoffed at the idea of a breakup, met with county education officials last week to better understand the steps involved in dismantling the system.

Helen Bernstein, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, stopped short of pledging that the union would push its own breakup plan, but said, “The union is going to pursue anything that is in the interests of the students we teach and the members we serve.”

Clearly, as the San Fernando Valley’s breakup campaign gains momentum, parents and politicians elsewhere are watching closely--not only inspired to begin similar efforts but also eager to see how they might immediately benefit.

“Let the Valley pull out. Maybe that reduction alone will change things significantly for us,” said Ric Loya, a Huntington Park High School teacher and city councilman who co-signed the letter predicting a busing battle.

South Gate Mayor Albert Robles, a former middle-school teacher, said his city should pursue a withdrawal from L.A. Unified.

“Sometimes you need to take drastic measures,” Robles said. “The system is broken; there’s no doubt about it. I’ve experienced it as a student, a teacher and now as an outside politician.”

Loya and others in the area said they have no doubt that they, too, will seek to secede from the district--though not for several years.

“I think the reduction of the district is going to happen and I think somewhere down the line, we’ll be involved in it,” Loya said. “We’re not in an immediate rush. We’re waiting to see what will be the best for our kids.”