Kids Get Their Busing Orders : School’s Off to an Anxious Start as Many Van Nuys Students Learn They’re on List to Go Elsewhere

The first day of class at Van Nuys High School heaped more than its usual load of adolescent angst on hundreds of students. Instead of worrying about being in the same classes as their friends, many wondered whether they would even be at the same school.

Because Van Nuys High decided last spring against adopting a year-round schedule to make room for the incoming freshman class, 600 students arrived at the campus Wednesday not knowing whether they would be enrolled there or transferred to Birmingham High School in Van Nuys or Taft High in Woodland Hills.

“I asked for my daughter to go here. I don’t want her to go to another school. I don’t want her taking the bus, it’s too dangerous,” said parent Khtun Khambekyan, whose daughter, Susan, is entering the 10th grade.

Van Nuys is among five Valley schools adding ninth-grade students to its campus as part of a districtwide reconfiguration. Francis Polytechnic, Sylmar and San Fernando high schools will begin operating classes year-round to make room for the incoming freshmen. But North Hollywood High, like Van Nuys, decided to transfer students and continue its traditional school year.

Susan Khambekyan and her mother arrived at 7 a.m., hoping to persuade Van Nuys Principal Russ Thompson that the girl deserved a spot at the school. They were disappointed.

“There’s nothing I can do to help you,” Thompson told Susan’s older brother. “You’ll have to wait in the auditorium until your name is called.”

By 11:45 a.m., after failing to squeeze into Van Nuys, Susan settled on Birmingham High. “It’s farther from my home, but that’s the only place I can go,” she said.

Her mother decided she would drive Susan to school each day to avoid having her ride the bus. “I’ll just have to make a sacrifice,” Khambekyan said.

The anxiety at Van Nuys and North Hollywood high schools this week illustrates the increased authority of school councils--made up of parents, teachers and administrators--in solving problems such as overcrowding. Over the past several years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has seen a transfer of power from district headquarters to campus councils and committees.

Van Nuys parents and students who opposed converting to year-round classes argued that the change would have wrecked summer vacation plans. At North Hollywood High, parents of gifted children feared they would miss special summer enrichment programs at Ivy League schools. Both schools are likely to face the same choices for the 1997-98 school year, if the number of area students continues to grow.

On Wednesday, educators, parents and students began to see the consequences of their decision firsthand.

Kiki Garwood also had no luck in getting her son, Nick Kelly, 14, a place at Van Nuys. The youth waited more than three hours before learning that he would have to choose between Birmingham and Taft. For Nick, now a ninth-grader, the decision was easy--most of his friends go to Birmingham. For his mother, however, neither choice was a happy one.

“I need him here because I have a young daughter at home that he needs to take care of and he won’t get home from school in time if he has to be bused from Birmingham or Taft,” Garwood said. “He can walk here and he can’t walk to Birmingham or Taft.”

The selection of students at Van Nuys began with a lottery last month. Several hundred students who drew bad lots learned Wednesday if they were being transferred. Campus administrators said they had to wait until the first day of school to notify students because they did not know how many would be returning to the campus, which has room for 3,364.

At North Hollywood High, the number of students affected is dramatically lower.

The estimated 200 students who were on North Hollywood’s waiting list stayed home Wednesday, awaiting a phone call or letter from administrators. School officials said they would know by the end of the day how many would be bused to Taft or Reseda high schools.

“Our objective is to find out how much space is available and then contact them and let them know where they’ll be attending or that they’ll have to make a choice of where to go,” said Jim Szabo, North Hollywood’s registrar.

North Hollywood administrators anticipated an increase of 850 students with the new ninth-graders, bringing the school’s total enrollment to 3,175, Szabo said. The campus’ capacity is 3,200. To accommodate the influx, officials converted offices as well as an unused shop room and a home economics room to classrooms.