CLASS-SIZE CHAOS; BOARD CONFUSED OVER REDUCING 3RD-GRADE.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

A mere two weeks before school starts, plans to cut third-grade class size to 20 students are in chaos.

Stumped by conflicting information about whether overcrowded campuses would be required to shrink third grade, and burned by bad experiences last year, principals and teachers are resisting what many feel was an ill-conceived plan.

Cluster leaders have been unable to get clear direction from administrators downtown and even school board members are so confused about their policy decision that they asked to have the videotape rechecked of their July 21 meeting when they ordered third-grade class-size reductions.

After further review, the board decided it meant what it said: All campuses would be required to either shrink classes to 20 students with one teacher, or use a team-teaching approach with three instructors overseeing 60 students if space for separate classrooms is not available.

``If we're forced to do third grade, without adequate space and without getting quality teachers, we're stuck,'' said Richard Alonzo, regional administrator for schools in the east San Fernando Valley.

``Are we going to have to use libraries and parent rooms while waiting all year for bungalows? Are we going to be forced to pick teachers we don't want so there will be a warm body there?''

Uncertainty over decision

With chaos brewing at the school sites, Board of Education members found themselves battling over what was really decided in their July 21 vote that gave the go-ahead to begin planning the next phase of the statewide reform.

Board President Julie Korenstein, who wanted some schools to be exempt, asked the board's clerk to recheck the videotape of the meeting, according to board member David Tokofsky.

Not satisfied with the clerk's interpretation, Korenstein then polled other trustees on ``what they thought they voted on'' and found there was wide disagreement, Tokofsky said.

``The tape and the clerk wasn't enough, she wanted to check our memories,'' he said.

Some board members argued that they had added an escape clause for schools that were too crowded. Others maintained correctly that the order applied districtwide.

The final board consensus was all schools would be required to reduce class size in third grade as well as kindergarten.

Tokofsky said the process ``got messy'' because, in a rare occurrence, debate was done in public, not behind close doors.

He acknowledged that the class reductions this year were hard for some campuses, but said the board felt it couldn't let parents down or lose state funds.

``It's do it or lose it,'' Tokofsky said. ``It's damned if you do or damned if you don't.''

With the internal battling, information about the district's plans have been slow in going out to principals, Alonzo said.

Clarification sought

``We've called the district for clarification but were told, `We don't have that information yet,' '' Alonzo said. ``If there's that much confusion at the district, imagine how much confusion there is at the schools.''

Answers were finally forthcoming Wednesday at a workshop session for principals, geared to clarify the district's class-size reduction plans, order bungalows and put in requests for additional teachers.

``Some schools are reluctant - we hope these one-on-one meetings will clarify the questions and mitigate the misinformation,'' said Gordon Wohlers, assistant superintendent of school and management initiatives.

Seated before district officials, a North Hollywood elementary school principal had one pressing question:

``Do we have to do third grade?'' asked Alvaro Cortes, principal of Oxnard Street School.

The school is one of 53 overcrowded schools with campuses so small that they are incapable of adding any more portable classrooms on the grounds.

Cortes was told that he must use team-teaching for his third-grade classes, a solution that has proved problematic at some campuses.

Principal tells concerns

But his biggest concern is how the area, hit hard with increasing enrollment, is going to cope over the next few years.

``The district doesn't have a long-range plan for new schools for the East Valley,'' Cortes told district staffers. ``The Valley has a crisis, you need to put something on the books for the East Valley.''

Wohlers said that only 113 of the district's 661 schools actually have the space to shrink third-grade classes to 20 students.

An estimated 1,004 portables will be ordered, but that won't help schools like Oxnard that can no longer accommodate bungalows.

The reluctance of principals like Cortes to reduce yet another grade might be surprising to some given the common perception that class-size reduction has been an immensely successful program.

But while the concept may be good, some educators say the execution has been difficult.

``Last year teachers were idealistic and did all sorts of things, put classes in auditoriums and had 60 kids in the room because they were told bungalows would be there shortly - but they didn't come,'' Tokofsky said. ``This year, they don't want to be idealistic, they don't want the problems.''

While teachers at Toluca Lake Elementary School waited, and waited, for their portables, classes were held in the school's dining room.

``What happened last year was terrible, I want to make sure we don't have the same problems again,'' said Principal Dolores Kaneshina.

Delay in receiving portables

The delay of portables is so severe that several schools - including 14 in the Valley - still have yet to receive portables needed to reduce grades 1 and 2, district officials said.

John Rosell of the facilities services division answered principals' questions Wednesday about portables. As he talked, he scribbled furiously in a notebook.

``I've got a long list,'' he said. ``They want to know, why didn't they get their bungalows? Why don't the ramps fit? Why didn't they come with shelves?''

Vinedale Elementary School in Sun Valley will be getting new teachers who will rove between two third-grade classrooms - providing a 20-1 ratio.

``Teachers aren't all that excited about a roving teacher,'' said Cory Potter, a first-grade teacher at Vineland.

But Vineland Principal Linda Rolls said they had good luck with new hires last year, and she believes that once everyone is situated in portables that ``all the suffering will be worth it.''

Some schools had good news Wednesday.

Carpenter Elementary School will be getting three new double portables. By September 1998, the school can conceivably have rooms of 20 students in grades K through 3, said Bruce Takeguma, assistant director of school utilization.

``That would be truly remarkable in an urban school district,'' Takeguma said.

INSTANT REPLAY

L.A. school officials were confused about how to implement class-size reduction for third grade this fall.

What some LAUSD board members thought they voted on:

For Grade 3, utilize Option I (one teacher for 20 students) or II (three teachers for 60 students, sharing two classrooms) to the extent feasible as determined by each school.

What they actually voted on:

For Grade 3, utilize Option I (one teacher for 20 students) or II (three teachers for 60 students, sharing two classrooms).

Source: Minutes from LAUSD Aug. 4 board meeting

CAPTION(S):

Box

Box: INSTANT REPLAY (See text)