Cortines Deals Blow to High School Schedule Fight

Hopes that a year-round schedule could be avoided at North Hollywood High School were all but dashed Wednesday by a letter to parents from interim Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon Cortines.

In the letter, Cortines said that the overcrowding problem in the North Hollywood area is worse than suspected and other parts of the city already on year-round calendars “must have first priority” for building new schools.

While Cortines said he would not announce a decision on the year-round schedule until Friday, his comments disappointed parents who had hoped he would accept an alternative plan to a year-round, multitrack calendar.

“It certainly sounds like he’s preparing us for an unpleasant decision,” said Marilyn Morrison, whose 10th-grade daughter attends the school’s highly gifted magnet program.

Through a spokeswoman, Cortines declined comment, citing a copy of the letter as “self-explanatory.”

The letter shows that the overcrowding problem “is more severe than we realized,” said Principal John Hyland, who vowed to continue working with Cortines to find the best solution for North Hollywood. Hyland has advocated temporarily going year-round while the district builds more classrooms on the campus and expands off-site learning programs.

North Hollywood High has long been considered a gem in the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District. The 3,500-student campus ranks as one of the top 30 schools in the nation and houses the prestigious highly gifted and zoology magnet programs. For the past three years, it has produced the nation’s No. 1 Advanced Placement scholar and won the regional Science Bowl competitions.

Acknowledging North Hollywood’s “exemplary instructional program,” Cortines stated that student enrollment at most high schools in the East Valley is expected to exceed original estimates, and campuses will be crowded even on year-round schedules.

Funding is scarce, in part because available money for building new schools “may be substantially less than was anticipated,” Cortines said.

“I must very honestly tell you too that the Belmont and southeast areas of the [LAUSD] must have first priority for the new construction of high school classrooms,” he wrote.

Morrison said she and other parents understand the districtwide problem, but at North Hollywood their plan addressed ways to ease overcrowding while preserving a traditional calendar.

Their plan included expanding the school’s “academies,” or specialized education programs. Academy students could learn at off-site locations.

“It’s disappointing,” said Morrison. “We feel like the district’s attitude is everyone must suffer by going year-round. I resent this share-the-pain mentality.

“North Hollywood is a success story,” she said. “Why take a successful school and bring it down?”