Their Numbers Are Up

More than 500 parents filed into the auditorium at Van Nuys High School Tuesday evening to take part in a lottery to determine whether their children will be walking to school this fall or spending up to an hour a day riding a bus.

The two-hour meeting was called by administrators at Van Nuys to head off the overcrowding problem the school will face this fall when it converts from a three-year to a four-year high school and receives more than 1,400 additional ninth- and 10th-graders.

As many as 600 of those students will have to be bused to either Birmingham High School in Van Nuys or Taft High School in Woodland Hills because Van Nuys can’t handle the load, school officials said.

“I’ve been worried for a while because I live near the school and can walk here,” said 15-year-old Ivan Vasquez, who is headed for the 10th grade, as he arrived for the lottery with his mother. “I might not be able to go here because there are too many kids . . . “

The overcrowding arose because parents, teachers and students at the school voted not to adopt a year-round calendar to accommodate the influx of students, as other high schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District have been doing when they convert to four-year institutions.

Opponents of the year-round schedule opted for limiting enrollment and busing some students to other schools. But administrators overestimated how many students the high school could accommodate, initially believing it was more than 3,400 and later learning from district officials that it would be only 3,300.

More than 1,400 ninth- and 10-graders are expected when school opens next month, Principal Russ Thompson said.

Magnet school students, previously enrolled students and their siblings will not be affected by the busing policy.

Administrators at Van Nuys devised the lottery, plucking from a fishbowl paper slips bearing birth dates. Those whose birth dates were chosen were given priority for the 900 non-magnet spaces at Van Nuys High.

Estella Gutierrez was not comforted by the random draw.

“The children who live in this area, we want them to go to school around here, not to have to take a bus somewhere else,” she said. “We should have the first right.”

But Susan Kim and her daughter, Lisa, didn’t mind. “I want to go to Taft so I don’t really mind if I don’t get in here,” said Lisa Kim, 14.

All parents had the option of volunteering to have their children bused to either Birmingham or Taft. Several parents, such as Susan Kim, took that option.

But most parents and students let the lottery decide for them. As administrators plucked random birth dates from the fishbowl, the parents and students sat tensely as though waiting to hear the winning numbers for a cash prize.

Some people yelled and shrieked when they heard their dates called out.

Ivan Vasquez’s birthday was the second date called, confirming he can probably attend Van Nuys. His mother let out a deep sigh, raised her arms and hugged her son.

“I was getting scared, but I feel OK now,” said Ivan, who attended Van Nuys Middle School. “If I had to go to Birmingham I wouldn’t have had friends there. All my friends are here.”

Administrators hope to send letters to parents on their children’s status by Friday, Thompson said.

Regardless of whether a student will be able to enroll in Van Nuys or be bused to another school, all students are expected to attend the first day of classes at Van Nuys on Sept. 4, Thompson said.

Van Nuys High is one of four high schools in the San Fernando Valley that decided against switching to a year-round schedule. The others are Taft and Birmingham--which do not have space problems--and North Hollywood High School, which also may have to bus students to other schools this fall.

John Hyland, acting principal at North Hollywood High, was out of town and unavailable for comment. District officials, however, said an unknown number of students from North Hollywood may have to be bused to Taft and Reseda high schools. Bruce Takaguma, who oversees enrollment limits for the district, said additional teachers have already been assigned to each of the receiver schools.