2 Divided by None

It is not a long walk between Burbank Boulevard Elementary School and the Country School. As a graduate of the former and head of the latter, Paul Singer knows the route.

But until two years ago, he didn’t see the potential benefits in the schools’ proximity and his relationship with both.

Now Singer is spearheading what administrators say is an unusual private-public partnership between the campuses, modeled on similar successful alliances in the business world. In an arrangement unique in the San Fernando Valley--and one of just a handful in Los Angeles--Burbank Boulevard and the Country School have pooled their resources to boost each school’s capabilities.

Fourth- and fifth-graders from Burbank take weekly 10-minute walks down Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the Country School for instruction in art, computer lessons and physical education--classes largely unavailable in Los Angeles public schools. In exchange, Burbank allows its partner use of its auditorium for assemblies and performances.

Through it all, students at both schools are exposed to other children from a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We’re all going to live in the same society,” Singer said. “For people in private schools to act as if the kids in public schools don’t exist is detrimental.”

“If we’re going to ask children to expand their thinking, then we [school officials] have to do the same thing,” said Burbank Boulevard Principal Sharon Greene.

After hearing of a successful private-public school partnership in Santa Monica, Singer brought the idea to North Hollywood as part of a larger effort to promote multiculturalism on campus and in the community. The children at the 49-year-old Country School are largely white and come from affluent families, while Burbank is host to mostly minority students, many of whom come from struggling households.

For their work with Burbank students, teachers at the Country School are paid a stipend from a private fund set up by the school.

For now, students mix only during assemblies, but administrators expect joint classes to be held eventually.

Although aware of the larger implications of the two schools’ arrangement, the fifth-graders who walked over to the Country School for computer lessons recently offered simpler answers as to why they enjoy the partnership.

“We get this for free!” several cried out.

“I have a computer at home, but I didn’t know how to do all this stuff,” said 10-year-old Casey Donato, never lifting her gaze from a monitor filled with vividly colored objects the class was learning how to animate.

*

Education experts say the setup in North Hollywood represents a rare sort of middle ground between a voucher system and a de facto separation--often along racial and class lines--between public and private schools that has divided areas like the Valley.

So far, Singer said only one parent has called him to complain that Burbank students are getting a free ride.

“People as a community are more eager to work together than they are to stay apart,” said Tim Sullivan, a spokesman for the Center for Education Reform in Washington. “Some people may question it, saying there are economic disparities that need to be worked out before entering into these kinds of arrangements. But this is not an ideal world, and in the meantime, there are children here.

“And those children need to be taken care of.”

Eiko Moriyama, a Los Angeles Unified School District official who specializes in developing partnerships between schools and companies, said the 1990s have been a sobering time for educators.

“The uprisings in 1992 made a lot of people realize that they need to do something,” she said. While partnerships such as the one between Burbank Boulevard and the Country School are not common, Moriyama said they are on the rise, largely due to private schools’ outreach efforts.

*

Computer class had concluded when Burbank fifth-grade teacher Frank Ward introduced Singer to the group. Students gasped and giggled when told Singer had once haunted the halls of their elementary school.

“Did you ever get any bad grades?” one asked, more than a little hopefully.

“They’re all hidden away,” he replied with a grin.

In his office, Singer said he hopes he Burbank Boulevard-Country School partnership will inspire other schools to follow suit, just as hearing of the program in Santa Monica inspired him.

“I just thought, ‘Oh, I feel so stupid. It’s so obvious!’ ” he said, smacking a palm against his forehead. “Why shouldn’t there be more schools doing this?”