Parents May Have to Hope for Luck of the Draw

The Santa Ana school board tonight will consider ending the annual rite of parents camping out in lines to enroll their children in magnet schools, and opting for a lottery system instead.

But rather than being thrilled by the prospect of no more cold nights in a tent, many parents are outraged.

Parents say the district’s six fundamental schools won’t be the same without the days-long lineups.

The highly desired campuses offer a back-to-basics curriculum and stricter discipline, and typically post higher test scores than other campuses. Each spring, parents turn the campuses into tent cities as they line up to enroll.

District officials are concerned that the camp-outs are unsafe and make enrollment an impossibility for the children of parents who cannot afford to miss work to wait in line.

But veterans of the camp-outs, such as Roland Lujan, whose child attends MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate School, say the real secret of the schools’ success is the commitment of parents. Switch to a lottery system, he warned, and the fundamental schools will be no different than other campuses.

“It will put a strain on the concept,” said Lujan of the lottery proposal. “There’s a lot of people who feel that if you take five days for your child’s education for the next nine years, that’s worth it.”

Talk of switching to a lottery system began last spring, after parents complained that the camp-outs were unfair to working parents. One mother, Theresa Delvac of Thorpe Fundamental, an elementary magnet school, also charged that the camp-outs violate California’s education code, which says that spots in schools must be awarded in an unbiased and random manner.

Assistant Supt. John Bennett said the district’s process is legal but could be vulnerable to a court challenge. But he also said that the fundamental schools have become so popular that it’s time to switch to a lottery. The new policy calls for changing to a random-drawing system in fall 2003. Students already at the school would be able to stay. The proposal is set for a first vote tonight.

“We have those who say camping out shows commitment,” Bennett said. “But there are other parents who are just as committed [who can’t camp out].”

District officials also are concerned about the safety of the camp-outs. It is not legal to camp on the street in Santa Ana, but police have looked the other way because parents set up tents on campus.

At Mendez Intermediate Fundamental School last spring, however, parents were forced to camp in a strip-mall parking lot, because the school is at the back of the shopping center. Many parents were horrified when an unrelated shooting in a nearby parking lot interrupted card games and PTA planning meetings.

Patty Olvera, PTA president at Mendez, noted the cost of the camp-outs, saying the district must pay for security guards and portable toilets. And some parents have been known to pay homeless people to wait in line for them. There also have been battles over parents who allegedly cut in line.

On the other hand, many believe the camp-outs--which turn into giant educational parties--bring parents together.

Olvera wants officials to find a compromise that is fair to working parents but requires a show of commitment to their children’s education. “I have really mixed feelings,” she said. “I can see both sides.”