Issue of School Gates Divides Community

Local residents and school officials are at odds over gates designed to keep both pedestrian and vehicular traffic away from San Fernando High School.

School officials 10 years ago received permission from the Los Angeles City Council to barricade Chamberlain Street during school hours to control vehicular traffic through the campus.

Then last December the Los Angeles Unified School District erected gates to block pedestrian traffic as well.

School officials said the gates enabled them to keep their students on campus during the day as they walked from the main campus to the south side, where the football field and several classrooms are located. The gates remained open at night.

But city officials said recently that blocking pedestrian traffic was not allowed by the council’s action in 1988.

School officials then reopened the street to pedestrians during school hours, but said they would rather keep it closed. “Student safety is paramount,” Assistant Principal Hewitt Hornbeck said Monday. “That gate should be locked.”

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area and is chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, said the problem was brought to his attention by a Neighborhood Watch group.

Some residents complained about having to walk an extra half-mile to catch a bus and were concerned about the gates blocking access by emergency vehicles.

“[Residents] really need to be open-minded about the issues that the principal is dealing with,” Alarcon said. “But at the same time, it was wrong for the district to do this without getting permission.”