LOTTERY DECIDES STUDENT BUSING.

Byline: Kimberly Kindy Daily News Staff Writer

A lottery has decided which new students are more likely to be bused and which will be allowed to attend an overcrowded Van Nuys High School next fall.

Parents will be formally notified of the results by mail in the next two weeks.

Principal Russ Thompson said the lottery has been a painful experience, and he is sorry that any neighborhood children will have to be turned away as the school transitions to a four-year high school.

``It's very difficult,'' said Thompson. ``There are kids who are going to be turned away. I feel very bad for the kids who want to, but will not be able to, attend here.''

Only students who are new to the school risk a chance of being bused. Returning students and students accepted into the magnet programs are exempt.

In the lottery, which was conducted Tuesday night at the school, dates were drawn for every day of a leap year and priority numbers from 1 to 366 were assigned.

Students are to match their birth dates to the priority number to determine their chances of remaining at the school.

``The higher the number the greater chance you'll be bused,'' said Thompson. ``If you're 366, you're chances of getting in are slim.''

Students with a birthday that falls on April 9 are priority one and students with a birthday of Nov. 2 are priority 366. A list of where other birthdays fall is available at the campus during regular school hours.

The competition for getting into the school is so fierce that Thompson said ongoing students who are guaranteed a space at the school will surrender that spot to someone on the waiting list if they fail to show up by 7:50 a.m. on the first day of school.

Siblings will be kept together. If one child from a family wins the lottery or is a returning student, the other siblings from that family will be given a seat at Van Nuys High School.

The high school has a capacity of 3,300 students, and the school, based on recent enrollment projections, has estimated that between 400 to 600 students will have to be bused to either Taft High School in Woodland Hills or to Birmingham High School, which is also in Van Nuys.

Under a district reconfiguration plan, Van Nuys High School, and a handful of other Valley senior high campuses, are scheduled to be the last in L.A. Unified to convert to four-year campuses.

Making space for the coming freshman class left Van Nuys High grappling for options, including moving a magnet program to another school or converting to a year-round calendar to create more space. Both options were rejected.

North Hollywood High School, too, is projecting they might not have space for between 100 to 200 students. But Assistant Principal David Smith said North Hollywood will not be conducting a lottery for the seats.

It will merely be a first-come, first-served situation.

``When people come in new to us, we are giving them an enrollment packet and telling them they may or may not be able to attend here,'' Smith said. ``Returning students need to be here the very first day. There is a strong possibility they will lose their spot if they aren't.''

Students living in the North Hollywood attendance boundary, but for whom the school has no space, will be bused to either Taft or Reseda High School.

All students within the attendance boundaries of Van Nuys and North Hollywood high schools are to report for the first day of school Sept. 4 to determine if there is sufficient space after an enrollment count is taken.