the 1950s the Los Angeles City High School District considered closing Belmont. By the 1990s the school had its peak enrollment, 5,500 students, making it California's largest high school and one of the largest in the United States. During that period many students were reassigned to and sent on buses to schools in the San Fernando Valley because there were too many students in Belmont. In the 1997-1998 school year the school had 5,160 students. At the time, the school's dropout rate was 65% and in terms of its four-year graduation rate it ranked lower than 96% of Los Angeles County high schools. 72% of the enrolled students took free lunches. The enrollment declined in the 2000s due to the opening of charter schools and LAUSD opening schools to relieve capacity. In 2001 the LAUSD began a building campaign to relieve the capacity of the school. Due to overcrowding, Belmont had a year-round schedule for 26 years, until the 2008 opening of the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center. After the opening Belmont resumed having a traditional two-year school schedule. Academic performance In 2011 the school had an Academic Performance Index (API) of 639, an improvement of almost 100 points in a two-year period. Jason Song of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the score was "still poor". In 2013 its API was 668, an increase of over 175 points from the 2002 figure. The State of California API goal is 800. Notable faculty Sal Castro (1933-2013), activist (faculty) Notable alumni Veronica Porché Ali, (1955–present), actress, model Patrick Arguello (1943–1970), US-Nicaraguan national killed in the attempted hijack of an El Al flight, as carried out by the PFLP. John Beradino (1917–1996) (born Giovanni Berardino), actor, major league baseball player Ron Botchan, NFL official Irwin Corey (1914–2017), American comic, film & television actor, and activist James C. Corman (1920–2000), Congressman, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Crenna (1926–2003), actor Brad Dexter (1917-2002), actor and film producer Thelma "Tiby" Eisen (1922-2014), baseball player Craig Ellwood (1922–1992), architect Abel Fernandez (1930–2016), actor with Robert Stack on The Untouchables Mike Frankovich (1909–1992), film producer Murray Fromson, CBS News correspondent and USC professor Luis (Lou) Gomez, MLB player Jacinto Guevara, artist, musician Odetta Holmes (1930–2008), folk singer, activist David A. Karnofsky (1914–1969) physician, medical oncologist, known for the Karnofsky score Young-Oak Kim (1919–2005), highly decorated combat veteran; 1937 graduate Willa Kim (1917–2016), 2007 Theatre Hall of Fame