Schools Choose a Lucky Few

The luckiest person in Los Angeles on Wednesday may very well have been Genevieve Winter of Winnetka, No. 1 on the open-enrollment list at El Camino Real High School.

Her name plucked from a punch bowl, where it was among those of 713 other hopefuls, Winter beat some big odds. She was one of only 15 students to get into the popular Woodland Hills school.

Although El Camino Real had announced 75 open-enrollment seats, Principal Ronald Bauer told the small crowd that 60 of the slots would be taken by students from nearby Hale Middle School who had applied through open enrollment.

“Let me start at the beginning by saying it’s going to be a tough one,” Bauer said. “But district policy is clear that we have to give priority to our feeder schools.”

The open-enrollment program started in 1994 when many Los Angeles Unified School District campuses were under-enrolled and had room for non-local students.

But only four years later, district enrollment is at an all-time high and many schools are filled.

This year 7,400 open-enrollment seats were offered, down from 22,000 in the program’s first year.

On Wednesday, Bauer was feeling the pressure. As he began pulling the names, parents silently recalculated the odds with each slip drawn.

“All day long my stomach was just in knots,” said Sandra Brkich, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who lives three houses from the El Camino area’s border in Woodland Hills. “I was just hoping to get lucky for once in my life.”

She was not, but she had plenty of company.

At Granada Hills High School, Elsa Merva of Panorama City sat with clenched fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She hoped to hear her son’s name called during the morning lottery.

The school had more than 600 applications for its 100 open-enrollment slots. At El Camino Real, some parents were angry about the futility of their effort.

“I was expecting that she would have a chance,” said Judy Chung of Northridge, standing in the school’s library where the walls are draped with academic decathlon championship banners.

“I’m disappointed,” said her daughter Christine.

The small odds made Chris Rowe of Woodland Hills shake her head.

“It was bad enough with 75 seats,” Rowe said. “I can do the math in my head with 15 and it’s not even a 2% chance.”

Rowe, who lives in the Taft High School area, said she was angry that she had to go through the process and questioned why there wasn’t more room at El Camino Real for students from nearby neighborhoods.

But the day wasn’t all about heartbreak. The lucky few rejoiced.

Benavidez said her heart was in her throat as the numbers were drawn. Last year, she had applied to Granada Hills for a daughter but ended up as No. 94 on the list. Her daughter instead went to Chatsworth High School on open enrollment and her son to Frost Middle School in Granada Hills, leaving Benavidez with a 60-mile drive to get her children to and from school.