PUBLIC FORUM : LAUSD DIDN'T HOLD UP REPORT ON LEARN.

Your otherwise excellent June 25 editorial (``More left to LEARN''), pointing out the issues raised by the Evaluation and Training Institute's progress report on the Los Angeles school district's LEARN (Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now) reform movement, also included one glaring factual error: There was no ``long delay'' in releasing the information. Here are the facts:

The first of three volumes of the ETI report was received by the district in early May. It provided the raw test data for the schools tested.

The report was presented by district staff - at a public meeting - to the Board of Education Curriculum Committee on May 6. Ample public notice was given, including notice to news media of the meeting being held. Copies were available for the news media; no one asked for one.

A draft of the second of the three volumes of the study, consisting of the analysis and conclusions of the reviewers, was received by the superintendent on June 14. ETI stressed its draft status and asked the district not to circulate it until the final version was ready.

The final draft was received four days later, on June 19. Also delivered was the third volume of the report, which consisted of backup materials and forms used in the evaluation. Members of the LEARN organization and district staff were briefed that same afternoon by ETI representatives.

A notice was sent to news media advising them of a briefing to be held June 21, at which time copies of the report would be distributed.

Delay? What delay? The facts are we broke our backs trying to get the information to all media at the same time, in the spirit of fairness. The news briefing was canceled when the L.A. Times broke the story early, thanks to a leak which provided preliminary data. Some of the preliminary data were wrong and required a correction to be run the following day.

Incidentally, many of the questions raised in your editorial are the same ones raised by district staff when we first reviewed the findings.

- Brad Sales

Assistant to the

Superintendent-Communications

Los Angeles Unified School District

More on the melee

After reading your July 11 article regarding the 4th of July incident at the Federal Building in Westwood (``Melee probe sought'') I felt I had to write in defense of Voice of Citizens Together.

As a long-time member of VCT, I found your writer's reference to them as an ``anti-immigration'' and ``foes of immigration'' organization an unfair depiction of this group of nonviolent, responsible citizens whose objective it is to stop the flow of illegal aliens into this country.

VCT and its members were very instrumental in getting Proposition 187 on the ballot, thus drawing much needed national attention to the plight of the California taxpayer.

VCT and Glenn Spencer, president and founder, should be commended by all Americans for their unwavering determination to maintain our national sovereignty.

- Audrey Robb

North Hollywood

Van Nuys air show

With regard to your recent letters regarding the Van Nuys air show:

I am amazed that there are not more complaints during the year concerning the noise created by air traffic flying over our homes to and from Van Nuys Airport. Indeed the Van Nuys air show creates noise; however, our focus should be the excessive and noisy daily operations of small aircraft, jets and helicopters - not a yearly air show event.

- Jan Neveu-Beaghan

Encino

The L.A. Life article on the Aviation Expo July 9, 1996 discussed the excitement of airplane history.

What really concerns me is the fact that the stealth bomber, costing an estimated $750 million, was one of 12 operational B-2s stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Please tell me, an ordinary citizen, why all 12 bombers are in the same place? Doesn't that seem to be a very insecure position for something so valuable?

- Barbara Gardiner

Granada Hills

Banning a myth

``A proposed ban in Los Angeles on the sale of cheap handguns known as Saturday night specials could be enforced with existing resources'' - so sayeth the mighty Philadelphia marvel, our own very authoritative chief of police, Willie L. Williams (Daily News, July 13), in what must be one of many confidence-inspiring reports to the Police Commission.

I agree, mainly because just like that other media-touted myth called ``assault rifles,'' there is no such thing as a Saturday night special. That's right. They simply do not exist.

Frankly, I had hoped that by this time, we'd have settled all that, back when former City Councilman Michael Woo finally ran out of breath from using Saturday night special as some kind of kooky mayoralty campaign crutch. But, no, the bull-headed hard losers of the news media have just got to keep the term Saturday night special alive and well.

Nothing in the article is very clear except that Saturday night specials are supposed to be some kind of low-class, ``cheap'' handguns as defined by an ordinance.

OK, then: What's ``cheap?'' How much are they supposed to cost? In a word, all this phony-baloney stuff about the City Council getting on the gun grabbers' bandwagon to outlaw low-priced, off-brand handguns makes me suspicious.

Could it be, that some councilmanic opportunists are getting their palms greased by some leading, better-known handgun manufacturers in an effort to ``snuff'' the competition? Well, there's nothing new about that kind of lobbying, is there?

In any event, were I in the market to buy a gun, I would take a dim view of having to purchase only a weapon of a brand and caliber approved by a bureaucrat in the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, who doubtlessly knows much less about handguns than I do.

- Warren V. Geeting

North Hills

Governor commended

We should applaud Gov. Pete Wilson for signing a budget that includes reducing the class size in kindergarten through the third grade. He had the foresight to include funds to build new facilities for the additional classrooms to accommodate the students.

What impresses me the most is Wilson's good sense to start this at the kindergarten level, where the basic fundamental educational skills begin.

- Wayne Blasman

Trustee

Oak Park Unified School District

Workers' compensation

A few years ago, businesses and the insurance companies that insured them for workers' compensation were threatening to leave California, due to skyrocketing cost caused by fraudulent claims, shyster lawyers and medical scams.

Gov. Pete Wilson stepped in and forced many out of the system. However, the new system gives the insurance companies the advantage. Workers' compensation no longer protects those it was set up to protect.

Insurance Companies are now making record profits on workers' compensation claims. Businesses are required to pay large premiums to insure their workers, but insurance companies are not forced to pay benefits. The legal system now protects the insurance companies.

Honest and concerned doctors can no longer afford to see the injured. Legalities force doctors to file liens to collect their fees.

It is easier to deny care to the injured worker than deal with legal hassles. The injured worker is left with the ``unbiased'' agreed medical examiners. These doctors are hand-picked and paid by insurance companies. Judges only acknowledge the AME's findings.

Also ignored are benefits that replace wages. Compensation is substantially less than the worker's earned income. Without income, the injured are forced to the streets or in the care of loved ones.

- Jackie Mitchell-Santizo

Tujunga

Republican Party `in deep trouble'

Regarding ``Payback time for GOP's lionizing of Colin Powell'' by Maureen Dowd, Opinions, July 16: After reading the article, I'm concerned that the Republican Party is in deep trouble.

In psychiatric terms, the party is suffering post-Gingrich Revolution depression, exhibiting behavior which ranges from obvious suicidal tendencies to outbursts of delusions of grandeur.

The behavior of Bob Dole with his misstated positions on abortion, ban on assault weapons and the danger of smoking belongs, of course, to the suicidal category. The stern demands of the Christian Coalition smack of feelings of the delusion of grandeur. After all, where in the Bible did Jesus categorically and clearly forbid abortion?

And Dole, fresh from wheelings and dealings of the Senate, has not put down his feet on many crucial issues haunting his campaign, and thus is seeing himself losing in polls to Clinton by a wide margin (``Voters expect Dole to lose, poll shows'' by R.W. Apple, Daily News, July 16).

Where then does Powell come in?

He's moderate. He does not want to jump on a sinking ship to save the captain. Powell is, perhaps, politically naive, but should he be politically stupid?

It's quite realistic, assuming that Bob Dole is a loser by wide margin, that the November election will open new opportunities for Republican moderates, especially Powell. Why should he waste his time and energy saving a candidate who has no chance to win and has no backbone and will to free himself from the radical right of the party?

Dole is the problem, not Powell.

- Adolph Donins

Oxnard