Mandate Puts School to the Test

VAN NUYS —  Everything was in place for the new school year when Principal Kiyo Fukumoto left Anatola Avenue Elementary School in June for summer vacation. Class schedules were done, teachers assigned and workers had bolted the last security bars outside Room 10’s new computer lab.

Then state lawmakers made a mess of Fukumoto’s plans--approving nearly $1 billion for public schools to reduce classes in the primary grades to 20 students.

So he returned to campus early for the unexpected--but welcome--task of hiring extra teachers and finding space for four new classes at the already cramped school.

“We’ve just been in hyper mode this summer,” Fukumoto said, “reorganizing all of our classes and trying to consider all of our options to make this thing happen.”

Anatola--which begins its fall semester Thursday--is one of several hundred elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District scrambling to find space and qualified teachers to create additional first- and second-grade classes.

Reducing class size has long been the dream of public school educators.

But the logistics have caused hand-wringing and long, caffeine-driven days for Fukumoto and the teachers and parents responsible for the changes here.

Sitting back in his office last week amid piles of teachers’ guides and benefits information for his new hires, Fukumoto recalled the frenetic attempts to notify teachers.

“When I came back, I had to jump on the phone to grab people from their vacations or at least talk to them on the phone to let them know what was happening,” he said. “I still have a teacher in India who doesn’t know about the changes yet. She’ll find out though when she starts school next week.”

Fukumoto and a committee of parents and teachers interviewed more than 20 prospective teachers in the first three weeks of August. The school hired four instructors--some with emergency credentials who had worked as teachers’ assistants and others with only a couple of years of experience.

“We were lucky because we were able to gain a lot of good talent,” Fukumoto said.

Part of that talent pool is 28-year-old Diane Nakamoto, who just ended her student teaching program at Cal State Northridge and landed a permanent job at Anatola.

“Knowing that I have 20 kids instead of 30, I feel like I finished my student teaching at an opportune time,” said Nakamoto as she cut strips of brightly colored construction paper in a school office.

The new teacher spent the past two weeks sprucing up her classroom, first painting over the drab green walls with coats of powder-blue paint and then bringing in a used air conditioner and rearranging the furniture to create what she sees as the perfect working and social environment for her students.

“I just want everything to be bright and cheery and just right for them,” Nakamoto said as she surveyed her new classroom amid the unpacked school supplies.

Smaller class size does not come without a price. The computers in Room 10 have been removed and put in storage so the space can again be used as a classroom.

“They waited a whole year to get this room the way they wanted it, and now with the last-minute decision it’s all being undone,” said plant manager Eric Santillano as he surveyed the former computer room.

Other room conversions have eliminated the school’s “parent center” and a reading specialist’s room. Kindergarten classes have been split into morning and afternoon sessions. The private after-school program now must share its leased space with a first-grade class.

“It’s been quite a bit of last-minute changes, and this has really caught us off guard,” Santillano said.

Last week, Santillano and school custodian Emil Zakkak spent hours moving computers and storing excess furniture in every available nook and cranny. Some items are being stored outside for now.

“Small schools like this don’t have garages to put things [in],” Santillano said, “so they sit outdoors and get weather beaten and broken down and that’s too bad.”

Fukumoto said he hopes to distribute the school’s computers to classrooms during the course of the school year. And if the school’s order for additional bungalow classrooms comes through this winter, he may be able to replace the parent center or the reading specialist’s room.

But those losses are small, Fukumoto said, compared to the payoff: a more manageable number of students in class.

Annette Star, who has taught second-grade classes of 30 or more students at Anatola, has been all smiles since she heard the news.

“I’m just so excited,” she said. “For years I’ve just wanted to spend more time with the students one on one, and now I’ve got the chance.”

* MAIN STORY: A1

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

School Reducing Class Size

In the San Fernando Valley, more than half of L.A. Unified’s 112 elementary schools here will open this week with reduced first and second grade classes. Below is a list of schools that are ready to go and others that will start the process later in the year. Nearly 40 schools could not be reached for the information.

Schools that will start the new school year with reduced first and second grade classes:

Anatola Avenue

Andasol Avenue

Beckford Avenue

Blythe Street

Brainard Avenue

Calabash Street

Calahan Street

Calvert Street

Canterbury Avenue

Capistrano Avenue

Carpenter Avenue

Castlebay Lane

Chandler

Chatsworth Park

Cohasset Street

Colfax Avenue

Darby Avenue

Dearborn Street: first grade ready to go, second grade within two weeks after school starts.

Dixie Canyon Avenue

Dyer Street

El Oro Way

Encino

Germain Street

Granada: first grade only

Harding Street

Herrick Avenue

Justice Street

Knollwood

Lanai Road

Lassen

Lemay Street

Lockhurst Drive

Mayall Street

Melvin Avenue

Monlux

Montague Street

Morningside

Mountain View

Napa Street

Nestle Avenue

Nevada Avenue

Parthenia Street

Pinewood Avenue

Plainview Avenue

Rio Vista

Riverside Drive

San Fernando

Sherman Oaks: first grade only

Shirley Avenue

Stagg Street

Stonehurst Avenue

Sunland

Superior Street

Sylmar

Tarzana

Topanga

Wilbur Avenue

Woodland Hills

*

Schools starting reduced class size in first and second grade at a later date:

Bassett Street: date unknown

Beachy Avenue: date unknown (by Feb. 16 deadline)

Bertrand Avenue: as soon as possible

Broadous: targeting to start October

Burbank Blvd: targeting to start in early October for first grade only.

Burton: by February deadline

Canoga Park: targeting to start in January.

Cantara Street: by February deadline

Chase Street: targeting to start in October.

Coldwater Canyon Ave.: targeting to start in late September for first grade only.

Gridley: targeting to start in October

Kittridge Street: targeting to start in early October

O’Melveny: date unknown

Osceola Street: targeting to start in September.

Pacoima: date unknown

San Jose Street: date unknown

Sharp Avenue: date unknown

Sylvan Park: targeting in mid-September

Valerio Street: targeting for early October

Van Gogh: will not be ready until September, 1997

Winnetka Avenue: targeting to start in September

Compiled by Lucille Renwick, Stephanie Stassel, Maggie Barnett and Brett Collins