Activists at Hearing Push for LAUSD Breakup

Activists who want to dismantle the troubled Los Angeles Unified School District argued their case Wednesday night before a panel that will recommend to the state whether to form two independent school systems in the San Fernando Valley.

An estimated 100 people--almost all appearing to be in favor of the breakup--attended the hearing at San Fernando High School. It was the first of two public hearings on the issue to be held by the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization, whose 11 members are elected by school district governing boards in the county.

Among those speaking in favor of the breakup were parents, district teachers and Valley community leaders.

“We’ve lost faith in the ability of the LAUSD,” said Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford and other auto dealerships in North Hills.

Lauren Santos, a fourth-grader at Darby Avenue Elementary School in Northridge, also voiced support for the breakup.

“I think it would probably help,” she said. “Our school might get more supplies, more pencils and paper, because we barely have any.”

But Jose Hernandez, mayor of San Fernando, said he didn’t see how a breakup would benefit students--including the Latino students who make up the majority of the district.

“I urge you to put a lot of emphasis on improving the education level of the children,” Hernandez said.

Terrence McConville, director of litigation research for the LAUSD, said district officials had not taken a stand on the proposal to create two new districts of 100,000 students each in the Valley.

But Los Angeles Board of Education member Caprice Young, whose district includes part of the Valley, has urged community members to postpone breakup efforts to give reform-minded board members a chance to make changes.

Late last year, interim LAUSD Supt. Ramon C. Cortines outlined a reorganization plan that would divide Los Angeles Unified, which has an enrollment of 711,000 students, into 11 subdistricts intended to give more control to local schools.

But breakup proponents say it is too late for reform, citing problems that have plagued the district in recent years, such as overcrowded campuses, toxic school sites and fiscal mismanagement.

“The district is not going to change,” said Stephanie Carter, a leader with Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE, a grass-roots group that collected 20,962 petition signatures supporting the proposal. “The district is dysfunctional. This is a reasonable request to be able to vote on whether to form our own school district. It’s the best thing for the kids, the very best thing,” she said before the meeting.

The hearing at San Fernando High School was part of a long review process that could culminate with a vote by the public.

The proposal calls for dividing the Valley into northern and southern school districts with a boundary roughly along Roscoe Boulevard.

County officials emphasized the hearings are being held to gather information and should not be interpreted as referendums based on the number of people who attend supporting or opposing the proposal.

The county is required by the state to make sure the proposed districts will not contribute to increased costs to the state nor promote racial or ethnic discrimination or segregation, among other factors.

To begin the breakup process, FREE had to collect signatures from at least 8% of residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election, which came to a minimum of 20,808 signatures in the Valley.

The county committee has 120 days from Wednesday’s hearing to submit a recommendation to the California Board of Education, which would decide whether to call an election. The state has not yet determined who would vote in the election--all district voters, or just those voters in the areas proposed for independence.

No community has broken away from the LAUSD since Torrance did in 1948. Lomita has tried to secede and form its own 2,000-student district but failed twice, in part because the state board believed the new district would be too small to operate efficiently.

The proposed Valley districts would be among the five largest in the state, according to the state Department of Education. Supporters say the new school districts would be large enough to wield clout in Sacramento but small enough to respond to the community.

Valley activists have advocated a school district split for more than a decade. FREE formed two years ago but experienced several setbacks, including losing its executive director and being overshadowed by the city secession drive.

There are about a half-dozen school district breakup movements in Los Angeles County, including efforts in the South Bay and Eastside.

“Personally, I want to see FREE’s plan move ahead to Sacramento,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, the group behind an effort to achieve Valley cityhood.

Valley VOTE recently expanded its campaign to include a regional school breakup effort called the All-District Alliance for School Reorganization, which is continuing to develop a comprehensive plan to split up Los Angeles Unified, Close said.

FREE is by far the largest effort and one of the furthest along in the process.

The county Committee on School District Reorganization will hold its second and final public hearing Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at Birmingham High School, 17000 Haynes St., Van Nuys.