When it comes to breaking away from an established school district, the hurdles can be impossibly high.
But leaders in several small neighborhoods near Los Angeles International Airport believe they have a good shot at bailing out of the embattled Centinela Valley Union High School District. The communities hope instead to open a new high school under the control of their high-performing, kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Wiseburn School District.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday September 09, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 8 inches; 101 words Type of Material: Correction
School district map -- A map in Monday's California section with an article about Wiseburn School District labeled the area bounded by Century Boulevard on the north, the 105 Freeway on the south, La Cienega Boulevard on the west and Prairie Avenue on the east as Inglewood. Most of that area is in the community of Lennox. Also, an area south of 138th Street -- between El Segundo Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue -- and east of the 405 Freeway, was shown as being in the Wiseburn School District. It is part of the Lawndale School District. The correct map is below.
The proposal -- which began three years ago with a signature collection drive -- is scheduled for a crucial hearing and vote Thursday by the state Board of Education. The board will decide whether to allow a local election on the issue, the last step in the arduous process of birthing or reshaping a school district.
If the state board approves the proposal, it would go to voters in March, and if they give a thumbs up to the district reorganization, a high school for Wiseburn would probably open in the fall of 2006 or possibly earlier.
The Wiseburn district includes Holly Glen in Hawthorne and the unincorporated communities of Wiseburn and Del Aire, just south of the airport.
"We want safe schools, schools with strong academics, and a district that is fiscally responsible and responsive to parents," said John R. Peterson, a secession campaign leader. "This is what makes sense for our kids and our community."
Officials of the Centinela Valley Union High School District strongly disagree and say they will continue to press their case with the state board. They want the board to kill the Wiseburn proposal by refusing to send it to voters. But if there is to be an election, they argue, voters throughout the high school district should be included, not just those in the Wiseburn district, as Wiseburn leaders want.
"This is going to have an impact on all of us, so everybody should have the chance to vote," said Cheryl M. White, superintendent of Centinela Valley. Four elementary districts -- Hawthorne, Lawndale, Lennox and Wiseburn -- currently feed into the Centinela Valley district's four high schools.
Wiseburn's exit bid comes at a difficult time for the high school district. Although its test scores have been improving, the district remains below state and county averages. Its students scored 549 (out of a possible 1,000, with county and state averages of 676 and 693, respectively) on the latest Academic Performance Index. Wiseburn students posted a 784. Centinela Valley also was among 18 districts in California that failed for the last two years to make adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
