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Schools

Parents Worried About Linwood Howe Kindergarten Classes

Rumors are flying about the school district's plans for kindergarten classes at Linwood E. Howe Elementary and El Marino Language School, but the district says no decisions are final yet.

Amid ongoing concern about where the school's budget ax is going to fall next, parents at Linwood E. Howe Elementary are worried that their school will be asked to give up one of its kindergarten classes.

"We're the school with the good kindergarten, so we put a lot of stock in that," said Paul Walsleben, of the Linwood E. Howe Boosters. He has two students at the school, one currently in kindergarten and the other in third grade. "We want more families to come to our school and love it like we do."

The problem, according to district officials, is that there are fewer kindergarteners to enroll at the neighborhood school, at least for the time being. Yet Walsleben pointed out that El Marino Language School is keeping their six kindergarten classes and asked why they shouldn't be expected to give up some of their students.

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"I think the thing for us is we just want to get back to the equal playing field," Walsleben said.

But Culver City School District Board Member Karlo Silbiger said that the two schools can't really be compared because LinHowe is a neighborhood school, while El Marino draws its students from across the district. The school offers two language immersion programs, one in Spanish and one in Japanese. La Ballona Elementary also offers a Spanish language immersion program.

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"There's not an attendance area for El Marino," Silbiger said. "It's based on how much space we have there. We have a lot of people who want to send their kids there and that's how many classes we offer."

Furthermore, El Marino Principal Tracy Pumilia pointed out that El Marino's kindergarten is actually a half-day program, with students either going in the morning or in the afternoon.

"We can't offer full-day kindergarten," Pumilia said. "We don't have the classrooms. We only have three at this time."

In fact, there has been brief discussion about the possibility of moving El Marino's Japanese program to El Rincon Elementary just to get some extra classroom space and offer full-day kindergarten. But both Pumilia and were quick to say that the option has only been briefly considered and that the district is nowhere near making a decision about it.

Jaffe also said that although current projections mean that there will only be enough students to fill two kindergarten classes at Linwood Howe, she fully expects that to change.

"This happens every year," she said, explaining that enrollment projections are based on conservative estimates. When more students enroll over the summer, more kindergarten classes are added. "Things are looking better. We're already getting some enrollment."

As to how much enrollment will happen over the summer, Jaffe said a lot will depend on how many students who live in Los Angeles Unified School District neighborhoods get permits to enroll in Culver City schools. In an interview for , Jaffe told Patch that upwards of 25 percent of CCUSD students actually live in the LAUSD.

Silbiger did say that if Linwood Howe only gets enough students for two kindergarten classes this year, it won't have a negative an impact on the school's funding.

But Walsleben said that the number of kindergartens isn't just about potential money lost from the school, it's about what makes Linwood Howe attractive in the first place. The school is known for its excellent kindergarten program, which had up to four classes in previous school years. With only three classes this school year, Walsleben fears that if they lose another class the school is going to lose its cachet.

"You're taking 50 percent of our draw away," he said regarding having only two kindergarten classes. "That's what people are upset about."

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