School-College Plan Would Move Students to Ease Crunch

Officials from the overcrowded Los Angeles school district and the undercrowded Los Angeles community colleges are trying to arrange a deal that would send hundreds of inner-city high school students to classes on college campuses next fall.

Although the details have not been worked out, school and college officials say such an arrangement makes sense because of the enrollment trends in the two systems.

Schools near downtown Los Angeles have more students than classroom seats or teachers. Meanwhile, the colleges have more space and instructors than students.

The number of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District has been swelling by nearly 14,000 a year, while the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District has been losing students even more rapidly. Since 1982, the college rolls have dropped from 139,000 students to about 93,000 this fall.

Of Mutual Benefit

“It is in our best interest to help them solve their (overcrowding) problem because it would benefit us too,” said Monroe Richman, president of the college district’s board of trustees.

If high school students take several classes on the campuses, the colleges would get a share of the state revenue that pays for each student’s schooling.

But officials caution that assigning students to the junior colleges won’t solve the school district’s overcrowding problem.

According to the latest projections, the Los Angeles school district expects to gain an extra 82,000 students by 1991, which would push enrollment to an all-time high of 660,000.

School officials say discussions about an exchange with local junior colleges have focused first on Belmont High School, just west of downtown Los Angeles. It is the city’s most overcrowded high school. Though operating year-round, it can accommodate little more than half the 7,000 students living in its attendance area. Most of the overflow students are bused to schools in the San Fernando Valley.

However, nearby Los Angeles City College has empty classrooms, and along with most of the two-year colleges, is virtually deserted after noon each day.

Could Enroll in Both

“We’re looking at a concurrent enrollment as an option for students, where they could be enrolled both in high school and at City College,” said Sidney Thompson, the school district’s associate superintendent for school operations.

Students would sign up for several classes at the junior college and would be bused there by the school district.

“We don’t care whether the people doing the teaching are their people or ours,” Thompson added. “It would just come down to whether they could offer the required high school courses. We haven’t worked out any of these things, but I don’t see them as prohibitive problems.”

Officials say they are considering similar arrangements for East Los Angeles College, Trade-Tech College and Southwest College, all of which are relatively close to overcrowded high schools.

“We don’t want to set up anything that would require an hour-long bus ride. That would kill the whole idea,” said Kenneth Washington, vice chancellor for educational services at the college district.

Because of the overcrowding problem, the Los Angeles school board on Thursday will begin debating a proposal by city schools Supt. Harry Handler to put all 618 schools on a year-round schedule over five years. This would allow each school to accommodate more students.

Several Alternatives

But for several months, school district officials also have been considering several other alternatives, including sending students to schools in surrounding school districts that have closed.

“We’ve had conversations with a number of school districts, including Glendale and Santa Monica, but we haven’t gotten anywhere,” said school spokesman William Rivera. “Either their buildings (closed schools) weren’t in good shape or they were too far away from where we needed them.”

Talks between district and community college officials had also languished for months as a result of what were described Tuesday as “turf problems” or the “usual bureaucratic delays.”

Last month, however, Richman and Los Angeles school board member Jackie Goldberg met to discuss an exchange of students, and since then negotiations have picked up.

“We can’t afford to delay on this,” Richman said, noting that the college district is in desperate need of extra revenue. “And they can’t afford to delay either.”