Southland Schools Welcome Displaced Gulf Students

As effects from the catastrophe in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast reach Southern California, local schools have begun enrolling the first children from displaced families.

School officials in Los Angeles and in Ventura and Orange counties said they had either registered children from the stricken region or expected to in the coming days.

Lainey Rogers, director of school operations for L.A. Unified’s Local District 3 in South Los Angeles, said she was contacted by six local families who planned to take in school-age relatives from the hurricane zone. The families were put in touch with two elementary schools, Westwood and Paseo Del Rey, and a middle school, Mount Vernon. At least two Louisiana children enrolled Friday, she said.

“We have an obligation to educate all students,” Rogers said. “Schools are being contacted on a case-by-case basis and being asked to request from the host families proof of residency in their school boundary area, but the family coming from the hurricane area does not need to produce any kind of paperwork, because they don’t have it.”

For at least four affected families with school-age children, Thousand Oaks in Ventura County is about to become home. Residents with relatives in Louisiana began calling Conejo Valley Unified School District officials this week to see if they could enroll displaced children in schools.

Assistant Supt. Richard Simpson said he was not surprised to get the calls given the devastation along the Gulf Coast and the expected long-term recovery.

“It may be a while before they know whether they have anything to go back to,” Simpson said. “We’re going to welcome them with open arms. This may be all they’ve got.”

He said the district was equipped to handle additional students if necessary because it always anticipated new residents. He said the inquiries received by the district concerned proof of immunization and other paperwork that might be needed.

“We can enroll them conditionally,” Simpson said of the new students. “The law permits that, so that if they need to get an immunization they can contact their physician, which they probably can’t do, or a local pediatrician.”

The grandmother of a Louisiana teenager phoned Capistrano Unified School District on Thursday to see if the child, who was moving in with her, was eligible for enrollment in Dana Hills High School.

“Of course, we said yes,” said district spokesman David Smollar said. “We’ll accommodate anyone who falls into that category.”

He said school psychologists would be available for the teenager. “Our teachers and staff will extend anything that’s needed to make the student feel comfortable,” Smollar said. “Even though she’s enrolled here, she’s probably still worried about what’s happening [on the Gulf Coast]. Hopefully, it will become as normal as it can for the student.”

Many African American families in South Los Angeles have roots in the hurricane-stricken area, and because many of those families are Roman Catholic, officials at parochial schools in the area said they expected to receive requests to enroll children.

“I haven’t heard anything yet, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen,” said Father Paul Spellman, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church.

“Eighty percent of our parish is African American, and the vast majority of them are from the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee area,” Spellman said.

Linda Hollis, secretary at St. Bernadette Catholic School, said officials spoke to several people with relatives in the hurricane zone, but that they had not heard from their families. “You can understand why everyone’s on pins and needles here. We’re just praying.”

Hollis said that if people contacted the school about sending displaced children, “I’m quite sure everybody will open their doors heartily to them. What other Christian thing would you do?”

Times staff writers Cara Mia DiMassa and Gregory W. Griggs contributed to this report.