Latino Enrollment in L.B. Surpasses Anglos’ : Education: Racial and ethnic survey by school district shows group is now the largest.

LONG BEACH —  For the first time, the number of Latino students registered in local schools has surpassed the number of Anglo youngsters, underscoring the dramatic population changes that have transformed this district over the years.

Of the 71,462 students enrolled last fall, nearly 32% are Latino, contrasted with 28% Anglo, according to an annual ethnic and racial survey released this week by the Long Beach Unified School District.

The third-largest group is black students, who make up 19% of the district. Asians account for 15% of the students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Officials said they were not surprised by the shift that now makes Latinos the largest bloc of students. “The handwriting was on the wall. We knew it was coming,” said Lew Prilliman, the district’s research director.

But officials said they were caught off guard by the number of new students registering last fall. They expected about 1,500 new students. Instead, they got 3,000.

“We’ve never had that kind of growth before,” Prilliman said.

Most of the growth is in the elementary schools, where bungalows were rushed in to accommodate the new youngsters. In recent years, with the growing number of younger students, officials have reorganized schools by shifting sixth-graders to middle schools and ninth-graders to high schools.

But at this rate of growth, that won’t be enough to ease overcrowding. Officials said that by the year 2,000, they expect to convert elementary schools to the controversial year-round program, which eliminates the traditional three-month summer vacation.

Long Beach has seven schools on the year-round program, all in the lower-income downtown and central areas.

School board members are attempting to induce a school from the affluent east side to volunteer for year-round conversion. But so far, parents have balked. Last week, during a meeting at Kettering Elementary School, parents and teachers voted 62 to 39 against converting to the new schedule. Most of the supporters were teachers and staff members, according to district officials.

Eventually, district officials said they will have no choice but to convert schools to year-round. “If the growth continues as it has in the last couple of years, knowing there won’t be any new money for construction, the only solution will be year-round,” said Supt. Tom Giugni.

Meanwhile, officials say they are working to implement new programs and services to meet the needs of the growing student population that does not speak English. Recently, the school board adopted a series of recommendations, including a program to encourage staff members to train as bilingual teachers.

But Latino and Asian activists complain that the district has not done enough for its students who do not speak English. A key criticism is that the district has refused to offer bilingual teachers an extra stipend. The Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, pays bilingual teachers $5,000 extra annually.

“These new numbers prove that the need is out there. The district must do more for these students,” said Jerome Torres, chairman of the district’s Hispanic Advisory Committee.

RACIAL, ETHNIC MAKEUP OF L.B. STUDENTS

Enrollment Asian Latino Black Anglo Year Total No. % No. % No. % No. % 1990 71,462 10,827 15.2 22,590 31.6 13,807 19.3 20,042 28.1 1985 63,829 7,035 11.0 15,107 23.7 12,358 19.4 25,216 39.5 1980 56,124 5,430 9.7 10,246 18.3 10,491 18.7 29,655 52.8

Note: Percents may not total 100% because of rounding and the omission of minor ethnic groups.

Source: Long Beach Unified School District.