Los Alamitos Unified School District (LAUSD) is a school district with its headquarters in Los Alamitos, California. The school district area includes Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach, and Surfside. It also includes portions of Cypress. It also includes an area with a Long Beach street address. As of 1993 the district is majority White American and is smaller and wealthier than the Long Beach Unified School District.
History
Around 1987 Los Alamitos began a day care program from 6:30 AM to 6: PM for 24 students Who were enrolled in Los Alamitos elementary school. By 1993 the day care program served 800 children in grades Kindergarten through 8. The price was $2.50 per hour per child, with each child serving a weekly minimum of 10 hours; this price was lower than that of an average private preschool, which would charge $300 per month per child. The childcare program was entirely self-supported by the fees paid by parents. Shirley Horn, a former Los Alamitos teacher and principal who had become a consultant, designed the program, which offered activities including arts instruction, computer training, homework assistance, after-school recreation.
As of 1993 several parents in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) boundaries enrolled their children in the Los Alamitos day care program so that they could then use LBUSD district transfer rules, stating that parents may enroll their children at a school closest to their daycare provider even if the school is in another school district, to obtain an inter-district transfer from the Los Alamitos district and send their children to Los Alamitos schools. As a result LBUSD was losing money, because state education funds were paid based on attendance. Horn said "It was never anyone's intention to make the (child-care) program a drawing card from other school districts. It did turn out that way." Gordon Dillow of the Los Angeles Times said "Although school officials say they do not track the racial make-up of their inter-district transfer students, the perception has been that many, perhaps most, of the Long Beach-to-Los Alamitos transfer students are Anglo." Whites were a minority in LBUSD, with 26% of the student body, while they were a majority at Los Alamitos USD, with 75% of the student body. LBUSD established its own preschool programs so that parents could no longer use the loophole.
Demographics
In the 1992-1993 school year the district schools were about 75% White. During that school year, the Los Alamitos district had about 1,200 students from other school districts. 400 of them lived in the Long Beach Unified School District. Some students had parents working in the Los Alamitos district, and some attended the Los Alamitos daycare in order to go to Los Alamitos schools.
Schools
Secondary schools
High schools:
- Los Alamitos High School (traditional high school)
- Laurel High School (Continuation high school and adult school)
Middle schools:
- Sharon Christa McAuliffe Middle School
- Oak Middle School
Primary schools
- Hopkinson Elementary School
- Lee Elementary School
- Los Alamitos Elementary School
- McGaugh Elementary School
- Rossmoor Elementary School
- Jack L. Weaver Elementary School
References
External links
- Los Alamitos Unified School District
