SCHOOL OPENING A PLATFORM FOR WAR OF WILLS ROMER, VILLARAIGOSA EACH SEEKS BACKING FOR STANCE.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer NORTH HILLS - The opening of an elementary school elementary school: see school. Wednesday became the latest venue in the skirmish for control 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. , with Superintendent Roy Romer Roy R. Romer (born October 31, 1928 in Garden City, Kansas, United States) was the 39th governor of Colorado and served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2001 to 2006. and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. vying to garner support for their opposing views. The ceremonial opening of Monroe Elementary School No. 2 - which officials promised will get its own unique name soon - marked the 55th school opened under the district's ambitious building program financed with more than $18 billion in voter-approved bonds. Romer noted that voter support - and district improvements - in speaking to the hundreds of parents, children and teachers gathered with red, white and blue balloons in the school's multipurpose mul·ti·pur·pose adj. Designed or used for several purposes: a multipurpose room; multipurpose software. multipurpose Adjective center. ``For 35 years, these schools were neglected,'' Romer said. ``Now, things are changing. This is Super Bowl week and I would say we are only in the second quarter. ``We are making improvements. This is a district on the move. We are building schools to relieve 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. . Our scores are improving. We need you to stand with us.'' But while Villaraigosa praised school officials for their efforts, he said more needs to be done. ``We need to make sure every child is educated,'' Villaraigosa said. ``And we need to make sure that parents are involved. We need to make sure there is a parent resource center here.'' School board member Julie Korenstein said such a center already exists - but Villaraigosa said that happened only after he raised the issue. ``I was told there was a vacant room,'' he said. ``But it was only after I mentioned it that it became a parent resource center.'' The school - designed for 1,000 students - opened for instruction in January after teachers and administrators worked through the Christmas holiday to get it ready. It has started with 540 children in kindergarten through fourth grades, with fifth grade set to be added next year and officials hoping to open a middle school nearby by 2008. As he prepared for the ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the school, Villaraigosa told reporters and a group of parents he will continue efforts to get mayoral control of the district. The mayor is putting together a formal plan that would address district issues, including how to deal with elected school board members and the 27 neighboring cities that send children to LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) . ``I think the public is looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. someone who will be accountable,'' Villaraigosa said. ``This is not personal, and I do not want to take away from what the school district has accomplished. I just think we need to do something to improve the education of our children and reduce the 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 rate.'' Korenstein, who represents the area around the new school and has been at odds with Villaraigosa over mayoral control, said she strongly disagrees with him and worries that the dispute will affect the quality of education. ``This should be about the children and the education they are receiving and not about who is in charge,'' Korenstein said. ``We need to work together.'' Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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