FREE SEEKS BREAKUP OF LAUSD.Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer Stephanie Carter wants out of the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , and she wants to take the entire San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. with her. Frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: by what she says are mediocre schools and out-of-touch career bureaucrats, the Tarzana mother is helping lead a campaign to break up the nation's second-largest school district and create two new school systems in the Valley. ``What's best for children is not what is currently being addressed,'' said Carter, co-chairwoman of Finally Restoring Excellence to Education. ``We have to change that system. All parents want are good schools for their children, and that's not what is being provided right now.'' As reform movements from within the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) and from the community push for ways to improve the schools, some believe the only solution is to split up the district. Under FREE's proposed plan, the northern Valley district would have 108,000 students, 82 percent of them minorities. The southern Valley district would have 88,000 students, 73 percent of them minorities. The districts would be the third- and fourth-largest in the state. Before the proposal can be placed on the ballot, FREE needs to collect about 21,000 signatures on petitions. Then the county Committee on School District Organization and the state Board of Education need to hold hearings. The state school board must approve any breakup breakup The division of a company into separate parts. The most famous breakup to date was the 1984 division of AT&T (formerly, American Telephone & Telegraph Company). This breakup was intended to increase competition in the communications industry. proposal for a public vote. FREE, which isn't facing a time limit, plans to submit petitions to the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Office of Education later this year. Previously, group leaders had hoped to put the matter on the April 11, 1999, ballot but have since retreated, saying they don't want to tip their hand to opponents such as the powerful United Teachers Los Angeles union. ``We'll periodically review the signatures, and we'll do a large volunteer push and see where we are, and turn them in after that,'' said Scott Wilk, executive director of FREE. Breakup efforts abound Dismantling the LAUSD promises to be a herculean task for activists who face opposition from a district and teachers union hostile to the idea. ``It's not going to be easy,'' Wilk acknowledged. Yet FREE is among a growing number of grass-roots organizations across Los Angeles that say the district is too big to address their children's educational needs. Groups from South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. , Carson and Gardena have filed proposals to break away from the district and are collecting signatures. Lomita, which began breakup efforts in 1995, has finished collecting signatures and is seeking reorganization approval from the state Board of Education. This week the Valley Industry and Commerce Association's board called for the district's dissolution, and gubernatorial gu·ber·na·to·ri·al adj. Of or relating to a governor. [From Latin gubern candidate Dan Lungren Daniel Edward (Dan) Lungren (born September 22, 1946), is a Republican of the United States House of Representatives representing California's 3rd congressional district (see map), located in the suburbs of Sacramento where he has served since 2005. recently gave his endorsement to the breakup. ``There's a lot of people who want out,'' said Carter, whose daughter graduated from Taft High School in Woodland Hills. ``When you have kids in the school district, their individual needs are not met. The only way to do that is to get the district down to a manageable size and reorganize re·or·gan·ize v. re·or·gan·ized, re·or·gan·iz·ing, re·or·gan·iz·es v.tr. To organize again or anew. v.intr. To undergo or effect changes in organization. down to a smaller school district.'' The motivation is simple: Although the LAUSD made modest gains on the Stanford 9 achievement test this year, the district remains in the bottom one-third nationally on the standardized exam of reading, math, language and spelling. What's more, two-thirds of the district's third-graders can't read at their grade level, and dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rates continue to soar above the state average while districtwide SAT scores hover below state and national results. Breakup opponents say reorganizing California's largest school district would mean chaos for Valley schools while ignoring what matters most - students. ``There's not one thing in the pro-breakup plan that addresses the needs of the classroom,'' said Ed Kaz Ed Kaz born November 21, 1956 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is an entertainment correspondent for the Asbury Park Press, a newspaper located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States. In addition to reporting on entertainment, Kaz is an on-camera talent for hire. , a social studies teacher at Reseda High School Reseda High School, established in 1955, is located in the Reseda section of Los Angeles, California, United States. The current principal of Reseda High is Alfredo Tarin. The mascot of Reseda High is the Regent, a lion welding a crown and a scepter. who opposes reorganization efforts. ``It's not reform. This simply puts someone else in charge of making decisions.'' Opponents also say smaller isn't necessarily better. ``Wealthy suburbs tend to do pretty well no matter what type of system you have, but other areas don't tend to survive experiments as well,'' said Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. ``You end up with pieces that look more like Compton than Diamond Bar. Compton would probably do better if they rejoined the district.'' This year, the LAUSD expects nearly 20,000 more students in kindergarten through 12th grade, for a record enrollment of about 700,000 students. Former Assemblywoman Paula Boland, R-Granada Hills, who sponsored legislation that made the school breakup possible, said FREE is at a critical stage. ``We're really the footprint for breaking up the city,'' said Boland, referring to Valley secession efforts. ``It will certainly help the efforts of the (city's) breakup.'' However, breakup supporters face a tough political battle from a variety of sources. Last year, FREE lost valuable time fighting an effort by the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which had wanted proponents to provide formal boundary maps of the two proposed districts that could have cost up to $100,000. FREE finally won the right to start collecting signatures after Lungren intervened and issued an opinion sparing the group that expense, which could have stopped the movement in its tracks. ``We're going to have that the whole way through,'' Wilk said of activities that could hamper breakup efforts. Reasons not to split The LAUSD has not taken a formal stance against breakup, but district officials say the present school system offers the best of both worlds. Because of its size, the LAUSD wields tremendous political clout in Sacramento with 31 state legislators who represent districts within LAUSD boundaries, said Ron Prescott, deputy superintendent Deputy Superintendent, or Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was a rank used by police forces of the British Empire. In some territories it was called Deputy District Superintendent of Police (DDSP). of schools, government relations and public affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. . Prescott also said the LAUSD could make district administrators and decision-makers more accessible to parents and students by reinstating a decades-long system that featured 12 area superintendents who made many of the decisions in the district. ``The effect of that was the community had immediate access to the boss,'' Prescott said of the system, which was eliminated because of cost concerns. ``It would cost more than the current system, but it would be way less costly than a new (school) system.'' Cluster leaders, who have less power than the former area superintendents, now oversee groups of elementary, middle and high schools throughout the district. District officials also say reorganizing the nation's second-largest school system would overburden o·ver·bur·den tr.v. o·ver·bur·dened, o·ver·bur·den·ing, o·ver·bur·dens 1. To burden with too much weight; overload. 2. To subject to an excessive burden or strain; overtax. n. 1. already overcrowded o·ver·crowd v. o·ver·crowd·ed, o·ver·crowd·ing, o·ver·crowds v.tr. To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. campuses in parts of the city, and force schools on the Westside and in the Harbor area The Harbor Area is the area along the Port of Los Angeles. It contains neighborhoods of Los Angeles (including Wilmington & San Pedro). Los Angeles City neighborhoods in the Harbor Area
``In terms of housing, it's an absolute disaster for the central city,'' said Gordon Wohlers, assistant superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. of policy, research and development for the district. ``You're further overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. the most overcrowded areas of the city.'' Valley-area schools now enroll between 12,000 and 14,000 students who live outside the area. Overall, about 195,000 students attend Valley schools. Trouble predicted Critics warn that dramatic - and contentious - changes would take place if the district were broken up. ``It's going to be disruptive,'' Higuchi said. ``There's liable to be lawsuits filed. You'll have adults fighting like cats and dogs Cats and Dogs A slang term referring to speculative stocks that have short or suspicious histories for sales, earnings, dividends, etc. Notes: In a bull market analysts will often mention that everything is going up, even the cats and dogs. , and are students' needs going to be remembered or lost in the shuffle?'' Breakup supporters downplayed such a scenario, pointing to legislation sponsored by state Sen. Tom Hayden Thomas Emmett "Tom" Hayden (born December 11, 1939) is an American social and political activist and politician, most famous for his involvement in the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. , D-Los Angeles, that requires any new district to meet conditions such as socioeconomic diversity, fair resource distribution and geographical compactness. And they say that because the proposed districts would be smaller, parents would be able to attend school board meetings in the Valley rather than downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . District officials also would be more responsive to their constituents' needs. ``It'll be spectacular,'' Carter said. ``You will see a surge of parents and community leaders who will want to participate and be welcomed to participate.'' WHAT IT IS: Finally Restoring Excellence to Education is an organization campaigning to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest. FREE proposes the creation of two new school systems in the Valley and is collecting signatures to put its proposal on the ballot, a measure that would need state Board of Education approval. HOW MANY STUDENTS INVOLVED: Under FREE's proposed plan, the Northern Valley district would have 108,000 students. The Southern Valley district would have 88,000 students. THURSDAY: Charter schools allow administrators, teachers and parents to tailor their campuses. CAPTION(S): photo, map, 3 boxes PHOTO (color) Stephanie Carter of Tarzana, co-chairwoman of Finally Restoring Excellence to Education, is helping lead a campaign to break up the LAUSD and create two new Valley school districts. Michael Owen
Map: Proposed San Fernando Valley school districts Box: (1) What it is (see text) (2) How many students involved (see text) (3) North: Total number of residents 593,322 Approximate school enrollment 108,000 Minority student population 82 percent Income below poverty level 7.13 percent South: Total number of residents 645,692 Approximate school enrollment 88,000 Minority student population 73 percent Income below poverty level7.47 percent |
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