Classrooms

When Marcus Tyson visited his new campus days before his senior year was set to begin, he stood in a nearly empty parking lot and declared that the trailer before him looked "like prison. " By Tuesday, the first day of school, mounds of dirt and workbenches had disappeared, but the white-and-green portable classroom remained. "Still pretty awful," said Marcus, 17. Culver Park Continuation High School, now stuck in the back of a parking lot between the district's adult and middle schools, began classes this week with about 50 students in a single portable unit.

After receiving a completely bogus moving violation for making a rolling stop in Chinatown, I decided to go to traffic school to keep my insurance costs in check. To my surprise, I learned that they still held traffic school in actual classrooms and not just online. The online courses' advertised rates were cheaper - in some cases by half - than the brick-and-mortar variety. Who would pay more to watch gory traffic films with strangers when you could stay home in your pajamas?

Re "L.A. Unified is rethinking offers of space," April 26 I applaud Deputy Supt. Ray Cortines for reviewing charters on Los Angeles Unified School District campuses. Last year, I was told that a charter school would be taking over "unused" classroom space at my school. The district never asked me how many classrooms were available or how they were being used. We lost a computer lab, a tutoring room, ESL classes for adults and space for students receiving emotional counseling. Our enrollment is growing, and we will be even more squeezed for space this fall.

Re "Davis Proposes Longer Year for Middle Schools," Jan. 7: Any teacher will tell you the most important reform that will keep students from failing is to reduce class size. Gov. Gray Davis is correct that middle school students should not be forgotten; however, adding six weeks to the school year is not the answer. Having students sit in overcrowded classrooms for six more weeks or for another hour a day will lead to more frustration and failure. The answer to the problem is to build more classrooms.

The school district is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who set fire to a wing of the Barranca Elementary School Jan. 5. The fire destroyed four classrooms, causing an estimated $450,000 in damage, said Sidney Stokes, the district's assistant superintendent of business services. He said replacement of the classrooms, at the corner of Barranca and Workman streets, will not be completed until August.

There are high school students sweltering in un-air-conditioned, understaffed and undersupplied classrooms in the San Fernando Valley, barely able to breathe, let alone learn. Yet, were you to put the same number of dogs or cats in the same environment, you would be cited for cruelty to animals. ANDREA BARER, Van Nuys