Breakup Backers Leery of Reform Plans

Activists aiming for a breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District said Saturday they aren’t swayed by arguments that new reforms would make the mammoth district a better place for their kids.

At a panel discussion on school reform sponsored by the Los Angeles League of Women Voters downtown, breakup proponent Diana Dixon-Davis said she was skeptical of both the LEARN school reform program, which has the backing of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, and the movement to create charter schools, which operate autonomous from school districts and most state education codes.

“They are alternatives,” said Dixon-Davis, who has children at Chatsworth High School and Germain Street Elementary School in Chatsworth. “But they are not sufficient.”

About 80 people attended the meeting, many of them retired teachers and members of the League of Women Voters. Speakers included parent Kathleen A. Milnes, who discussed her efforts to create charter schools for Pacific Palisades and Brentwood, and Day Higuchi, who represented United Teachers-Los Angeles, the teachers’ union.

Marc Forgy, assistant director of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, described the 18-month breakup process, which includes gathering signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in the school district and putting the issue to a vote.

Forgy, however, said state law is fuzzy on just who gets to vote on such a proposal. The Education Code also allows the State Board of Education to deny the request outright.

Milnes suggested that parents who want to separate from the district also look at the creation of charter schools.

In the Palisades and Brentwood, she said, test scores improved after the charter was set up. Also, sagging enrollment improved so dramatically that there are now waiting lists for area schools.

Dorace Deigh, a retired teacher from Studio City, said she believes creating charter schools is a better way to achieve reform.

“I’m afraid that in the breakup we would lose too many programs that would benefit the schools,” she said. “I think today they presented a good alternative.”

But Stephanie Carter, a pro-breakup activist whose daughter attends Taft High School in Woodland Hills, said the promise of freedom with charter schools does not change a fundamental problem faced by the giant district--large class sizes.

“They could do one thing that would slow me down,” Carter said. “They could make sure my child and other children are not in a classroom with 43 kids. My daughter has been in a classroom with 43 children since the sixth grade.”