CAMPUSES ADDED TO ANTI-GANG PROGRAM : COUNCILMAN COMPLAINS VALLEY SCHOOLS WERE OVERLOOKED.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council designated eight additional middle schools for the L.A. Bridges anti-gang program Friday, despite charges by Councilman Joel Wachs that the selection process was manipulated in a way that excluded three qualified schools in the San Fernando Valley.

``I could not stand by and watch three Valley schools taken out just arbitrarily for political reasons,'' Wachs said explaining why he cast the lone vote against the expansion of the gang-diversion program from 18 to 26 schools.

The council had voted Oct. 9 to allocate $9 million and designate 18 middle schools, including Fulton, Maclay and Sutter in the Valley, for the L.A. Bridges anti-gang program.

At the time, east-side council members Richard Alatorre and Mike Hernandez complained that their district's serious gang problems were ignored, so the council set aside an additional $2 million to expand the program to other schools to be named later.

Under the program, designated middle schools and surrounding neighborhoods will be targeted with counseling, recreation programs, mentoring, parent education, job training and other programs aimed at keeping youths out of gangs.

The first 18 schools were selected because they are in neighborhoods that have the 18 highest violent crime rates in the city, a criteria agreed to by a team of LAPD and Community Development Department officials as the best measure for selecting schools.

If the same violent-crime criteria had been used to pick the additional eight schools, they would have included four in the Valley - Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, Portola Middle School in Tarzana, Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley and Pacoima Middle School in Pacoima.

But Madison, Portola and Byrd were left out when the new schools were designated.

Wachs voted against the designation of eight new schools and said some city staff members had buckled to political pressure to name schools based on getting the most council votes rather than on the violent crime problem.

``I was not happy that in coming back with the eight additional schools they changed their rankings and three schools from the Valley were removed,'' Wachs said.

``I'm upset that things are done that way. I expect more of staff. I expect them to be professional,'' Wachs said. ``I think this is a very political. I think the staff acceded to political pressure.''

The council voted Oct. 9 to direct that other criteria be considered so that schools believed to have the most serious gang problems be included, even if they are in neighborhoods with lower violent crime rates than others.

The selection team chose the eight additional schools considering other criteria, including crime on campus, dropout rates, poverty and math test scores.

Madison, Portola and Byrd schools in the Valley were replaced by El Sereno and Hollenbeck middle schools in Alatorre's council district and Mark Twain Middle School in the Pacific Division area represented by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

Pacoima Middle School was the only Valley school among the eight middle schools added to the program Friday, even though the police reporting district that includes Madison Middle School in North Hollywood has a higher violent crime rate than any of the eight schools added to the program ahead of it.

The others added to the program Friday include Le Conte in Hollywood, Nightingale in the Northeast Division, Mount Vernon in the Wilshire area and Stevenson in the Central Division.

Officials at Madison and Byrd middle schools did not even know they were in contention for the L.A. Bridges program, so reaction to being excluded was low-key.

``If it involves our school getting money we would welcome it, but I'm sure there are other schools that have greater need,'' said Jerry Horowitz, the principal at Byrd.

``At our school we don't have that kind of (gang) activity,'' Horowitz added. ``We take no prisoners when it come to that and our students are well behaved.''

Gloria Clarke of the Community Development Department did recommend that Madison be part of a second phase of the L.A. Bridges program to be considered in 1998 if the first phase appears to be working.

Councilman Hal Bernson of the Northwest Valley voted for the program even though he also questioned the selection of schools.

``I have some problems with how it works. None of the schools in my district are covered.''

Clarke said she was not pressured by Alatorre or anyone else to put one school in over another, saying the staff team she headed followed the direction of the entire council to look at other criteria.

``The recommendation of the team was not based on political pressure,'' Clarke said. ``It was based on the council direction to look at all the criteria the team had available to it.''

Although Madison Middle School had a higher violent crime rate in its neighborhood than the eight schools chosen, it had lower dropout, poverty and school crime incident rates and higher math scores than some of the schools selected, including Hollenbeck.

Councilman Mike Hernandez, who has one school from his district among the eight additional schools, said the problem is that many more schools than 26 have gang problems that need attention.

For that reason, Hernandez submitted a motion that was approved by the council to get certain city departments - Harbor, Airport and Water and Power - to contribute money next year so that phase two of the program can include many more schools.

``I think that they have an obligation to work with the communities they impact,'' Hernandez said of the departments. ``What would happen is instead of talking about 18 schools or 25 schools and the parochial politics that we saw going on, what were talking about an inclusive program and asking the entire city to participate.''

In addition, Councilman Richard Alarcon won approval of a motion that allows the L.A. Bridges workers to have flexibility to provide attention to schools outside their target areas if it appears their gang problem is related to the one at the school designated for the program.