Severity of District’s Woes Is Debated by Candidates

At the second of a series of forums for the Los Angeles school board election, candidates disagreed Tuesday night on the severity of the district’s problems.

“I believe that our schools are in a profound state of crisis,” said Caprice Young, an IBM executive, who is running against two-term incumbent Jeff Horton in the April 13 election. “You bet we have problems. . . .” Horton said. “But we have been working toward reform.” He cited the Los Angeles Unified School District’s plan to end social promotion a year before the state requires it.

Young and Horton are vying to represent District 3, which includes the east San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and Los Feliz.

Speaking to more than 100 activists, parents and educators in the auditorium at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, both candidates said they deplored the fact that two-thirds of third-graders fail to read at grade level, and that the district’s test scores rank in the bottom third of the nation.

“When I look at the reform measures Jeff is talking about, it is not enough,” said Young, who has financial backing from Mayor Richard Riordan. “It is not working fast enough.”

Horton, referring to a slight increase in reading scores, said, “We are beginning to see results. Test scores are slowly moving up.”

The forum was sponsored by the Committee on Effective School Governance, a group of 26 business and education leaders which has faulted the school board for poor student achievement.

The committee had recommended that the board stop micromanaging the district’s staff and finances, that it set measurable educational goals and that it hold the superintendent responsible for achieving them.

Young and Horton agreed with the group’s recommendations. Young said her background in business and technology would help the board fulfill the recommendations, while Horton emphasized his record and background in education.

Using the $200 million Belmont Learning Complex as an example, the candidates said they would have handled the situation differently.

Young said she would have insisted that the board gather more information before beginning construction on the complex, which has been criticized for its cost and environmental problems.

“The school board chose to move forward” without proper input from the community, she said.

Horton, who voted in favor of the complex, said the board gathered public input but was given bad information by experts.

He said the district should “move on” and focus its efforts on building the 51 schools needed to accommodate student growth.

The next debate is between candidates George Kiriyama, an incumbent, and Mike Lansing, a former parochial school teacher, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Fleming Middle School, 25425 Walnut St. in Lomita.