Special-Needs Pupils

Los Angeles Unified School District is in dire need of a safety hotline. One month ago, I sent a memo to Supt. Roy Romer about problems a third-grade boy with special needs was encountering at Cheremoya Elementary School in Hollywood. After the death of the child at Roscoe Elementary School in the San Fernando Valley, I sent a second letter to Romer regarding the non-English-speaking student, who was encountering problems while on school grounds between 2:30 and 5 p.m. I made a follow-up call last week.

The school has no parent group and no after-school child-care program on school grounds. A member of the newly-formed administrative team told me that the school could not use a teacher’s classroom for a latchkey program. She actually suggested that the boy, who arrived in this country less than two months ago, should walk home. Community agencies that pick up children from school are at capacity. Meantime, a non-English-speaking newcomer’s safety is in jeopardy every day after school [while he waits] for his working mother to pick him up at 5 p.m.

IRENA SZEWIOLA

North Hills