Focus of School District Breakup Task Force Questioned

VAN NUYS —  A community wide task force to consider breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District held its first session Saturday amid criticism that the group was spinning its wheels.

“To me, there’s no focus here,” said Linda Jones, a parent and member of the Valley Advocates for Local Unified Education, which supports the breakup effort. “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve already answered the question, ‘Should we reorganize?’ The question now is, ‘How?’ ”

Meeting at Anatola Avenue School in Van Nuys, the 50-member task force, organized by the San Fernando Valley Parent Teacher Student Assn., included parents, teachers, school district officials, community leaders and academics. Although much of the 3 1/2-hour meeting centered on the nuts and bolts of formulating a breakup plan, task force Chairwoman Bobbi Farrell insisted the 31st District PTSA has not yet taken a position on the issue.

“Many of you invited today are pro-breakup,” Farrell told the group in her closing remarks. “Many of you invited today are anti-breakup. But the point of this is to bring you both to the table . . . so we can address what has to be addressed before [any proposal] goes before the county.”

School Board President Mark Slavkin, who appeared briefly before the task force a few minutes before the meeting adjourned, noted there has been “a lot of confusion” on where the district stands on the issue. But he said the board’s position should become clearer next month after board members adopt a set of criteria that will guide them in evaluating any breakup plans.

Breakup advocates complain the district is too large and bureaucratic to effectively serve students and parents. The school board has opposed efforts to dismantle the district and has instead promoted reforms that would give parents, teachers and community leaders more control over their local schools.

Although the breakup effort has been under way for years, the movement was energized just last month after Gov. Pete Wilson signed legislation making it easier for voters to dismantle the 640,000-student district. The legislation dramatically reduced the number of signatures required to place a breakup plan on the ballot. It also eliminates the veto power that the school board had over such plans in the past.

The task force listened to several speeches by officials from the district, as well as the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Reorganization, before dispersing into smaller groups to begin studying how reorganization plans would affect everything from ethnic diversity to student programs and services.

While the study groups are expected to meet several times in coming weeks, the entire task force will not meet again until November, Farrell said. The group’s final recommendations are expected to go before members of the 31st District PTSA by Jan. 20, she said.