5,000 LA’s BEST Kids to ‘Open’ Theme Park

More than 5,000 Los Angeles elementary school students and their families will go on a free trip to the Raging Waters theme park in San Dimas Saturday as part of the LA’s BEST after-school enrichment and recreation program.

LA’s BEST--short for Better Educated Students for Tomorrow--was created in 1988 by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and the Los Angeles Unified School District and is geared toward students from ages 5 to 12 who live in low-income areas of the city.

The program, funded through the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, has a budget of more than $2 million, said LA’s BEST spokeswoman Tammy Sims. Twenty-two schools in Los Angeles, including five in the San Fernando Valley, participate in LA’s BEST programs. Activities include homework assistance and tutoring, arts and crafts, sports, computer instruction, music and theater activities.

Schools qualify for the program based on the percentage of students whose parents receive federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Sims said. The city plans to add more schools, but needs private funding to do so.

“We’re at our [budget] limit, so any expansion has to come from private assistance,” Sims said. “And any event or trip has to be free . . . that’s why Raging Waters is so great.”

The LA’s BEST trip has been an annual opening-day event at Raging Waters for the past four years, said marketing manager Ken Kowalski.

Sylmar Elementary School is sending the largest contingent of students and family members, Sims said: “They’ve got more than 400 people signed up. It’s going to take seven school buses just to get all the Sylmar people up there.”