Legislators OK Bill to Reopen East L.A. School

A bill that would allow a group of acclaimed alternative schools based in East Los Angeles to reopen as a charter program sailed through the state Legislature on Thursday.

“We’re dancing in the streets,” said Brother Modesto Leon, executive director of the Soledad Enrichment Action centers.

The 25-year-old program has received high praise for reaching at-risk youths, many of whom are on court-ordered probation or have been kicked out of public school.

But the Los Angeles County office of education terminated its five-year contract with the program last fall after the state found that it had violated regulations by, among other things, hiring non-county employees as teachers and aides.

The last of the centers was closed in December after county funding ran out. At the time, about 850 students were studying at 16 sites around Los Angeles County, including classrooms in Pacoima, Wilmington, El Monte and Central Los Angeles.

Since then, the county has employed some of the teachers and kept eight classrooms open for about 225 students.

But hundreds of other students who couldn’t go back to their home high schools had nowhere to go.

The bill that will give the program the authority to operate as a charter school until June 30, 1999, cleared the Assembly and Senate without a single vote of opposition.

“This is a much-needed piece of legislation,” said state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who wrote the bill. “Eight hundred kids will have a permanent place in the educational system, and these are high-risk kids that would not have anywhere else to go. I’m just ecstatic.”

The bill now goes to Gov. Pete Wilson, who has indicated he will sign it, program directors said. A Wilson spokesman said the governor had no comment until he sees the legislation.

Program directors said they could reopen within 10 days after the bill becomes law.

The charter status would allow the program to operate without being tied to certain county restrictions. It would enable the program to reopen its sites around Los Angeles and continue what many say is a winning formula for reaching at-risk youths.

The key, Leon said, is having three to five teachers in classes who can give students more attention than they would receive in traditional classrooms.

Regular courses are augmented with lessons on job skills, parenting and counseling for students.

East Los Angeles resident Virginia Lopez credits the program for saving her two grandsons from gangs and failing out of school.

On Thursday, Lopez was thrilled at news of the bill passing.

“Today seems like a victory,” Lopez said. “It’s such an important step because it’s for the youth--and these are the youth that need a second chance.”