School Activists Plead Case for Breaking Up District

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 two independent school systems should be formed in the San Fernando Valley.

About 100 people, almost all of them appearing to be in favor of the breakup, attended the hearing at San Fernando High School. Among them 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.

But Jose Hernandez, mayor of San Fernando, said he did not see how breaking up the district would improve education, especially for 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.

The public hearing was the first of two 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.

Terrence McConville, director of litigation research for L.A. Unified, said district officials had not taken a stand on the proposal, which would create two new districts serving 100,000 students each.

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 Supt. Ramon C. Cortines outlined a reorganization plan that would divide Los Angeles Unified, with an enrollment of 711,000 students, into 11 sub-districts 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 and toxic school sites.

“The district is not going to change,” said Stephanie Carter, a leader with Finally Restoring Excellence in Education, or FREE, a group that collected 20,962 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 of 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 that the hearings are being held to gather information and should not be interpreted as supporting or opposing the proposal.