Reactions to School Cuts a Telling Tale of Disparity : Education: More than 1,000 San Pedro High students express frustration during protest. But students nearby at comparatively well-off Torrance High seem largely unconcerned.

For many South Bay high school students, returning to campus this fall has meant getting back to such perennial schoolyard concerns as grades, sports and classmates of the opposite sex--often not in that order.

But for others, the resumption of classes has meant getting caught up in such adult problems as taxes, education budgets and teachers’ salaries.

Consider, for example, the tale of two schools in different districts--San Pedro High School, home of the Pirates, and Torrance High School, home of the Tartars.

San Pedro High, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is a 2,300-student school on West 15th Street in San Pedro. The tightly fenced perimeter and heavy presence of security guards underscores the problems the school faces from gangs and crime.

But another issue has concerned San Pedro students since the school term began last month, sparking walkouts and protests at other LAUSD schools from Van Nuys to the Central City.

The issue is the decline in education spending--a decline that could see some teachers’ salaries cut by up to 17.5%, and, some students fear, perhaps endanger student extracurricular activities.

Until last week, students at San Pedro High had not staged walkouts or demonstrations. But on Friday they joined the debate, holding a morning rally that attracted more than 1,000 students to protest teacher pay cuts and increasing classroom sizes.

“I’m tired of everyone saying we’re doing something,” said Naomi Herrera, a junior. “What are you doing? I want to see it, touch it and feel it.”

Ursula Wilson, a senior and drama student, worried that the budget cuts would derail the annual school play.

“If budget cuts keep happening, I won’t have some of the things I want, and it’s important; this is my last year,” she said.

The students say their activism is their own idea and is not being prompted by members of United Teachers-Los Angeles, the teachers union that has itself staged angry demonstrations over the budget cuts.

“As a student, my whole future is being affected,” said Irene Bradish, a student council member. “Anybody who says that this is being set up by the teachers just doesn’t understand the problem.”

Others, however, disagree.

“A lot of teachers are talking this up in class,” said one teacher who declined to be identified. “I personally don’t think the students should be brought into this.”

San Pedro High Principal Joseph Viola said he would be “very much surprised if it weren’t being talked about in class” because it is a legitimate “current events issue.”

“The students are very concerned,” Viola said. “They want to do something more to express their feelings about the situation.”

Seven miles to the north at Torrance High School, the picture is quite different. Part of the Torrance Unified School District, the 1,800-student school sits on a sprawling, breezy, open campus on Carson Street.

The Torrance school district has had its share of budget problems as well, but it has not been hit as hard as the LAUSD schools. Last spring, $1 million had to be slashed from the district’s $80-million budget, and according to Torrance Teachers Assn. Executive Director Bill Franchini, spending has not kept pace with inflation. Still, the district has experienced no massive pay cuts, no extensive layoffs and no widespread disbanding of school programs.

Students there started the new year with a much different, and less worried, view of the world than did their LAUSD counterparts.

“It’s a good school,” said junior Travis Aureli, 16. “It’s exciting to be back, for the first couple of days at least.”

“I don’t really know that much about it,” added freshman Nicole Quinn, 14, when asked for her views on school budgets. Quinn and her friend, Stephanie Mascarenas, 15, a sophomore, agreed that grades, not budgets, were their biggest concerns this year.

Principal Joe Rotcher and Torrance High teachers said they expected no student unrest over the budget problems.

“This has traditionally been a very calm school,” said English teacher Gary Breese, who has taught at Torrance High for 17 years. “The students here are easy to get along with.”

Still, some students were aware of the problems affecting education, even if the impact has not yet been felt at their own school.

“They should stop cutting back on schools,” said Shawn Hurley, 15. “They ought to cut back on the space program instead.”

“We shouldn’t be cheated out of an education,” added senior Tenaya Kauffman, 17. Tenaya and her friend, Jenny Morales, also a senior, said they had seen the LAUSD students’ protest at City Hall on television a few days earlier.

“I’m glad they’re doing something about it,” Jenny said. “I wanted to go to it.”