REDRAWING LAUSD MAP VALLEY MAY GAIN SCHOOL BOARD SEAT UNDER REDISTRICTING.

Los Angeles Unified school board boundaries are up for redistricting again, and this time San Fernando Valley advocates are gunning to regain a second local seat.

The City Council is charged with redistricting the school board every 10 years to reflect the latest census figures. The goal is to create seven equal districts, but where the boundaries end up is always politically charged.

Last time, the city's Latino coalition succeeded in converting an East Valley seat into a district that combined Latino communities in Arleta and Sylmar with those in East Los Angeles.

``It was designed to create a second Latino seat on the school board and not allow for a second Valley seat. But it ended up chopping those communities in half,'' said board member David Tokofsky, the non-Latino but Spanish-speaking board member who surprised some in the city when he won the seat in 1995.

Board members said they hope this year's redistricting process will focus more on keeping school communities and neighborhoods intact and less on ethnicity. For the first time, they'll have some say in the way their districts look through appointments to a 15-member commission selected jointly by the board, the mayor and the City Council.

The redistricting process will cost about $626,000 and will study census data and draw a recommended map for the council to adopt. The deadline to adopt final redistricting plans for the school board is July 1.

The board appointments run the full gamut of experience. They include former Deputy Mayor Mike Keeley, University of Southern California political science professor Michael Preston and parent volunteers Diana Dixon-Davis and Jane Takubo. Others include political consultants Sue Burnside and Julie Buckner.

``What's at stake is getting decent representation for the Valley,'' said Dixon-Davis, a Chatsworth demographer who drafted a losing map 10 years ago.

During the 1990s, the Valley's population jumped 10.7 percent to 1.35 million residents, according to the 2000 Census.

Board member Julie Korenstein, who represents the only district entirely in the San Fernando Valley, said she often feels the onus is on her to make sure the Valley gets its fair share.

``During the last redistricting, the Valley was really fractured,'' Korenstein said. ``Sometimes I feel like the Lone Ranger. I'm always having to ask how many Valley schools will benefit from this program or that one. And the response is always, oh, the Valley. It would help to have some backup.''

Ten years ago, the City Council had no commission. Instead, its final decision was influenced by debate over various maps brought by community groups. The one that ultimately passed most closely resembled the map drawn by the Latino Redistricting Coalition of Los Angeles, an umbrella group that included a number of Latino political and community groups.

Coalition spokesman Allan Clayton said the process will probably be politicized again, but he can envision a cohesive East Valley district that will give the Valley another full seat while also preserving the region's Latino voice.

Board President Caprice Young said that while most communities face similar issues in their schools - for instance, concern about overcrowding - they said parents and students and advocates benefit from having one representative to turn to on a particular issue.

``When you look at the way the map is drawn now, it doesn't make sense,'' she said. ``My strongest hope is that they take into consideration school family boundaries and keep the school communities intact.''

CAPTION(S):

map

Map:

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICTS