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After 14 years as a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, Roberta Weintraub is retiring from her central San Fernando Valley seat at the end of June. Weintraub, who won election to the board on an antibusing platform, is planning to turn some of her energies toward breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District. Weintraub was interviewed by Times staff writer Henry Chu. Q: You previously did not support a breakup of the district. What changed your mind?
In the beginning of my time on the board, we'd just been through the whole turmoil of mandatory busing, and there seemed to be some real hope that we could put this school district back together and have some peace and some education taking place.
Those were the quietest years-until the teachers union began the escalation of demands, resulting in the strike in 1989. That's when the entire dynamic of the L. A. Unified School District changed. And with the enormous loss of dollars in the district and the rise of unionism, you now have an extremely polarized community. I don't see any breaking of the animosity, and that bothers me. Q: Should the Valley form its own district?
I'm not in favor of the Valley breaking off from the city. I'm in favor of breaking into relatively small, manageable districts where the superintendent has the understanding of every single principal, knows basically who all the teachers are, really understands what's happening out there and has a hands-on touch.
Q: So what is the right district size?
Not more than 50,000...