If the district implemented the college prep curriculum, "what do you do with the kids who continue to fail? What does that do for their self-esteem?" Ross said.
"We want them all to continue their education, but not all are college material," Ross said. "It's just hard when they're not motivated."
Hollywood High college counselor Judy Campbell said one student had failed algebra six times. He should have graduated a year ago, she said, but "he just can't get it."
Every student should have access to college prep courses, Campbell said, but "they have a hard time now just meeting regular graduation requirements."
In her office, Campbell flipped through a 13-page list of this year's 538 seniors and their grade point averages. Students who had between a 2.0 and 3.0 took up six pages; students receiving lower than a 2.0 filled four pages.
Campbell pointed out that some of the students excel in the school's culinary and performing arts classes. But because most of those classes don't qualify as college prep courses, she worries that students will miss out on those subjects.
Last year, 85% of Hollywood High's graduating seniors went to college, Campbell said. Fewer than half of them, however, enrolled in a four-year university.
Districtwide, 38% of graduates completed the college track requirements last year, the state Department of Education said. At Hollywood High, just 15% of graduates completed the college prep curriculum last year.
Implementing a college track system, which includes an extra year of math and two years of foreign language, would push students who are capable of getting into a university to apply, said Payne, the Hollywood High counselor. Some say they don't want to attend a university, but when senior year rolls around, they change their minds.
Hollywood junior Karla Magallon, 17, who wants to be a makeup artist, said she has had problems with overburdened counselors giving her classes she didn't want or need. Still, Magallon said she has no desire to attend college.
"From my perspective, I don't need it," she said. "It would really waste my time."
Supporters of Huizar's plan believe students will rise to the challenge if they are put on a college track in their freshman year.
Luis Sanchez, a member of Communities for Educational Equity, the grass-roots group that introduced the college prep curriculum proposal to Huizar and Romer, said the district has a responsibility to offer the chance for college admission to all high schoolers.
"Do you really want to allow a 13-year-old kid," he said, "to decide what they're going to do with their lives?"
