Lomita Schools Will Try Again to Secede From L.A. District : Education: Proponents expect to submit their petition to the county today, but a state board ultimately will decide the fate of the effort. Opponents say separation could lead to ethnic imbalance.

Lomita activists plan to submit a petition today calling on the Los Angeles County Office of Education to consider their proposal to form an independent school district.

The Committee to Unify Lomita Schools, which launched its campaign in June, expects to have 3,000 signatures in support of its secession drive. That amounts to 25% of the city’s registered voters, the minimum needed to qualify as a valid petition.

The group argues that the Los Angeles Unified School District is too big and too distant to address Lomita’s schooling needs.

“So many people are disturbed by the ineffectiveness of L.A. Unified,” said Lomita City Councilman Robert Hargrave, leader of the Lomita secession group.

Once county education officials receive the petition, they will study it for the next seven months, verifying signatures, conducting public hearings and preparing a report for the State Department of Education.

If the state board denies the petition, the secession drive fails. If the proposal is approved, it will be put to a public referendum in a geographical area that would include Lomita but could also embrace neighboring communities that might be affected by Lomita’s withdrawal from Los Angeles Unified.

Lomita’s campaign marks the second time in recent years that the city has tried to secede from Los Angeles Unified. The city failed in its previous attempt in 1987.

If the current effort is successful, supporters say, Lomita will create a new school district of about 2,000 students. The district would comprise two elementary schools--Eshelman Avenue Elementary and Lomita Elementary, which is a magnet school. Fleming Middle School would become a combined junior and senior high school.

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The Lomita secession effort is drawing criticism from Warren Furutani, the Los Angeles Unified School District trustee who represents the South Bay. Furutani expresses concern that creating a separate school district in Lomita would cause damage by cutting into enrollment at Narbonne High School, which is just east of Lomita. Most high school students from Lomita attend Narbonne.

Furutani also fears that since most of Lomita’s students are white, the city’s secession effort would undermine Los Angeles Unified’s desegregation efforts. It was this concern that derailed Lomita’s 1987 bid to leave the district.

But Hargrave argues that desegregation should not be the issue.

“It’s not about racial mix,” he said. “It’s about having local control.”

He said he is optimistic that Lomita will prevail this time around. Said Hargrave: “We think (Los Angeles Unified officials) are going to let us go this time. They’re tired of fighting us.”

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The Lomita campaign is one of two secession drives under way in the South Bay. The Carson Unified Formation Committee has recently launched a drive to gather the 15,000 signatures it needs to put its proposal before county education officials.

Carson activists give the same reasons as Lomita secession supporters for wanting their own school district. But Furutani says that Carson might have a better chance of succeeding.

A Carson district would not be racially unbalanced, Furutani said. He pointed to the city’s ethnic breakdown, which, as of 1990, was 28% Latino, 26% African American, 24% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 22% white.

And Carson already has the makings of a self-contained school district, with its 11 elementary schools, three middle schools and its high school--Carson High. Most middle school students from Carson move on to Carson High, though some go to Banning High in Wilmington.

Carolyn Harris, chairwoman of the Carson Unified Formation Committee, and whose daughter attends Carson High, said the secession group hopes to get its proposal on the November, 1994, ballot. Meanwhile, the group is organizing a voter registration campaign.

Said Harris: “We plan to cover all the bases.”

Carson secession activists say Los Angeles Unified’s recent efforts to give schools more autonomy are well-meaning, but insufficient. The new program, called the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now, or LEARN, is too gradual and not necessarily tailored to Carson’s needs, they say.

Two South Bay schools are taking part so far in the LEARN program, one in San Pedro and the second in Carson--Annalee Avenue Elementary.

“LEARN started in the Valley; it’s not a Carson program,” said Harris.

“It takes about 20 years for reform to happen,” she added. “I wish them well, but we are about the business of developing a program (an independent district) that is appropriate for our city.”