Panel on Splitting LAUSD Weighs Minority Concerns

Concerns about fairness to minority students dominated a forum on public schools Saturday at which San Fernando Valley residents questioned two proposals to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Speakers raised concerns about a proposal to create two districts in the north and south Valley as well as one offered by school district officials that would set up three Valley districts, each with enhanced autonomy.

A coalition of Latino activists suggested a different approach, creating a north-south boundary dividing two districts in the East and West Valley.

“We want to incorporate the best elements taken here into our own plan,” said Xavier Flores, executive director for the nonprofit Pueblo Y Salud Inc.

One proposal sponsored by Finally Restoring Excellence in Education calls for the creation of two new districts in the Valley with Roscoe Boulevard serving as the dividing line. Some people fear the division would leave a larger population of poor and minority students in the north Valley district than in the south.

Another plan created by LAUSD interim Supt. Ramon Cortines would reorganize the district into 11 subdivisions, with three in the Valley. The plan would eliminate the main office and give more autonomy to the new districts.

Most of the roughly 25 people who attended Saturday’s forum at Valley College in Valley Glen were concerned about fairness to minority students in both plans. State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) said Los Angeles Unified has been a “failure” and that too many students receive a homogeneous education.

“A huge school district like this creates mush,” he said. “It teaches all of the students to be the same person. You need to change the culture of the institution so kids learn success in their own way.”

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Alan Clayton of the Latino Redistricting Coalition, the forum’s sponsor, proposed two Valley school districts split into western and eastern zones. He said the plan would balance the growing Latino population in both sections.

“We don’t want to cut the core of the Latino community,” he said. “You can’t influence public policy if you dilute a group’s voting strength.”

The secession push has been moving on different tracks in the Valley, as activists also push for Valley cityhood and an independent transportation system.

Several recent LAUSD decisions--from abandoning the Belmont Learning Complex project to ousting Supt. Ruben Zacarias--have disappointed Valley residents and increased calls for breaking up the district.

“It’s a question of accountability and the allocation of resources,” said Ed Moreno, retired principal of San Fernando High School. “There is a uniform policy in a large school district. Smaller districts are much more effective. I’d like to see that in Los Angeles.”