Compton to Be Required to Repair Its Campuses

State officials overseeing one of California’s worst-performing school districts will be legally required to fix its badly deteriorated campuses, under a court settlement announced Tuesday.

While renovation work in recent months in the Compton school district has restored three of its 38 campuses, the agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union and state education officials may ensure that more will follow.

Under the settlement, which would preclude a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU and a group of parents, the state-run district is legally bound to fulfill the promises that state officials have been making for years: certified teachers in every classroom, textbooks or copies for every student to take home; sanitary, well-lit bathrooms; and wiring that doesn’t endanger children.

“This agreement puts textbooks in the hands of students,” said ACLU legal director Mark Rosenbaum. “This agreement will assure accountability and deliver hope.”

Compton’s long-troubled school district has been under state control since 1993, when its $20-million debt and abysmal test scores led the Legislature to strip the school board of power and install a state trustee to oversee district operations.

The school board still meets, but acts only as an advisory panel and has no real authority.

The schools had been left to deteriorate for decades before the state seized control, but previous state trustees did little to improve conditions. Instead, they slashed the maintenance budget and withdrew applications for state renovation money. Only in the last year have state officials started to devote resources to repairing Compton’s schools.

With $8.5 million allocated for maintenance, work crews have placed new roofs on 150 buildings, with 33 more to come, said Randolph E. Ward, the state trustee.

Renovation is complete at three schools, where buildings have fresh paint and bullet-resistant glass blocks instead of easily broken windows. Renovations are underway at six other schools. An additional $107 million would become available if Compton voters approve a bond measure in April.

But under the settlement, which is to end a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU and several parents in July, state officials must maintain the schools even if the bond measure fails.

The agreement also requires the district to:

* Repair or clean a bathroom within 24 hours if a principal finds it is unsafe or unsanitary.

* Replace broken windows with clear glass or clear plexiglass--not boards--within 72 hours.

* Hire a licensed electrical inspector with no prior contract with the district or city to examine schools named by the ACLU.

* Remove or repair broken playground equipment within 30 days.

* Provide every student with a textbook or reproduced portion of the book for each core class by the start of the 1998-99 school year.

* Require that all new teachers pass the CBEST exam within two years of their hiring.

State officials must also develop plans to encourage parent volunteerism, incorporate race relations into everyday study, tighten campus security and reduce employee absenteeism. If the district fails to comply, the lawsuit will proceed. ACLU officials will review the district’s progress in July and report to the court in November.

“I am going to be watching,” said Claudia Soto, a plaintiff whose 6-year-old daughter attends Mayo Elementary School.

Even as work crews continue to make repairs, the district faces numerous obstacles. Some parents are skeptical of the planned bond measure, which will appear on a citywide ballot. And the district is constantly at war with vandals and arsonists who seek to wreck its newly restored campuses.

At Compton High School, the district’s flagship campus, there were familiar signs of neglect Tuesday--litter, graffiti, boarded-up windows--but there also were reasons for optimism.

Construction workers were surrounding the campus with a 10-foot wrought-iron fence, taller and stronger than the chain-link one that barely provided a deterrent, much less a barrier, to outsiders. Another crew was re-roofing the old journalism building to keep the rain from seeping in.

Students offered mixed reviews of the repair work thus far.

“I’m glad they’re doing it, but I’ll never see it get done,” said Milton Riley, 18, a senior. “They do stuff just to satisfy the press. If they didn’t have to, they wouldn’t do it.”

But Compton High senior Abigail Perez said the settlement “is really going to help us out.”