EDUCATION WATCH : Public Triumph

Local public education simply doesn’t work anymore, and those who can afford it get their kids into private school.

If you’ve heard a version of that false assertion, then listen again: Once again, local schools excelled in the rigorous California Academic Decathlon.

The team from El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills won the 13th annual California Academic Decathlon, which means the school will represent the state in the national championships in Boise, Idaho, next month. The runner-up in the state competition was West High School of Torrance, and Laguna Hills High in Orange County came in third.

The competition, which includes student exams, essays and interviews and speeches on everything from science to fine arts, requires months of intensive preparation. And this year is not the first time local schools have done well. Los Angeles’ John Marshall High won the national title in 1987, and Taft High, a Woodland Hills rival of El Camino Real, won the state and national championships in 1988.

Some critics of academic competitions say the contests benefit only those who participate. Yet there is no denying that at a time when the news is full of disturbing stories about the distressed state of public education, the symbolism of high-achieving public school students is powerful and important.

So to El Camino’s Maggie Bandur, Justin Behar, Ethan Bernard, Jeffrey Bernstein, Joshua Erdman, Rebecca Gessert, David Hickman, Brian Lazarus, Gil Strauss and coaches Mark Johnson and Jeff Craig: Go team!