Great Public Schools Now Executive Director Myrna Castrejon at a June news conference announcing the first three grants.

Great Public Schools Now announced Thursday it will give up to $3.75 million in grant funds next year to expand up to five academically successful LA Unified school campuses in underserved areas — the nonprofit’s first partnership with the school district.

GPSN launched its program in June, when it gave its first grants, totaling $4.5 million, to Teach for America, an after-school program called Heart of LA and Equitas Academy, which runs three charter schools in LA’s Pico-Union neighborhood.

GPSN Executive Director Myrna Castrejon said replicating high-performing schools has not been attempted in Los Angeles before or anywhere in the nation at the same scale, and the organization is encouraging the “best and brightest” in the district to apply for grants to expand their successful schools’ impact on more children in LA.

“We are excited to begin this collaboration with LA Unified schools where we know high-needs students are finding supportive learning environments that result in high achievement,” Castrejon said. “Our goal is to increase the number of students enrolled in high-quality programs, and to do so quickly.”

 GPSN is encouraging schools that fit certain criteria to apply for the grants. Castrejon said her organization wants to help successful leaders do more, rather than tinker with what’s working.

“We feel strongly that it is actually the leaders and the school that have the will and vision to do more that should apply rather than us deciding to do x, y or z,” she said.

“Frankly, I’m really excited to see who will apply,” she said.

Castrejon said her organization has been working with Superintendent Michelle King and her staff to develop the process, which she described as collaborative and open.

“I am excited about the opportunities to increase the number of high-quality choices for our LA Unified families,” King said in a statement. “We have schools in every corner of the district where students are excelling. Investing in these campuses will allow more of our students to attain the knowledge and skills to be successful in college, careers and in life.”

The grants — that will range from $50,000 to $250,000 annually over three years — will only be given to district-run schools. They must be used to expand successful schools by either adding seats or adding a new campus of a school.

Here are some of the criteria:

• schools must be non-selective, high-performing magnets, pilot or traditional schools;
• at least half of the students must meet or exceed proficiency in math or English on state tests
• no fewer than 25 percent of all students must perform at proficient levels
• schools as a whole must perform significantly better in math and English than surrounding schools with similar demographics
• schools must enroll special education students and English language learners at rates similar to the district as a whole
• administrators should have the autonomy to pick their own teaching staffs
• at least 80 percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch

GPSN will also provide up to five planning grants of $20,000 to help schools prepare their applications. The deadline to apply for a planning grant is Oct. 28.

Applications for the grants will be due in February. An advisory committee will vet the applications, and the GPSN board of directors will make a final decision by April.

Castrejon said the grants are not intended to replace traditional funding of schools through ADA but will be used to support school leaders to do effective planning.

King said she has asked local district superintendents to identify the district’s most successful models and to develop competitive proposals.

“These grants can help us bring additional resources to meet our students’ needs,” said Christopher Downing, who oversees 148 schools as superintendent of Local District South. “They deserve every learning opportunity that will create pathways to college and 21st-century careers.”

Map of 10 neighborhoods where Great Public Schools Now will focus its efforts.

GPSN’s areas of focus are in South LA, East LA and the northeast San Fernando Valley because they have “chronically underperforming schools and few high-quality school choices for struggling families,” according to the organization’s plan released in June. In the 10 identified neighborhoods, 160,000 low-income English language learners are enrolled in schools where 80 percent of students are learning below their grade level, according to the plan.

GPSN’s new plan outlines its targeted areas of funding as teacher and leadership pipeline and support, facilities, community engagement and school replication.

GPSN is also holding a town hall meeting Oct. 22 at St. Mark’s Banquet Hall, 14646 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, 91405 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to hear feedback from parents and the community on its program. Another event will be held on Dec. 10 in LA, the location will be announced.

Un emprendimiento masivo para aumentar el acceso a una educación de alta calidad para decenas de miles de estudiantes de bajos recursos en Los Angeles fue revelado hoy a través de un esperado plan de Great Public Schools Now (GPSN, Excelentes Escuelas Públicas Ahora), una organización sin fines de lucro que recibe una buena cantidad de fondos y que se formó el año pasado.

El objetivo es extender el acceso a 160,000 estudiantes que GPSN ha identificado y que asisten a escuelas deficientes en 10 barrios de bajos ingresos de Los Angeles de manera que puedan asistir a escuelas exitosas que esta organización quiere ayudar a duplicar o expandir

Los barrios están en el Sur de Los Angeles, Este de Los Angeles y el Noreste del Valle de San Fernando, y fueron elegidos porque están llenos de “escuelas de bajo rendimiento crónico y hay muy pocas opciones de escuelas de alta calidad para las familias que tienen dificultades económicas”, señala el plan.

GPSN proporcionará fondos y apoyo a escuelas de alto rendimiento, sin importar qué tipo de escuela sea – escuela charter o autónoma, tradicional, piloto, magnet o afiliada — de manera que se puedan duplicar y ampliar. Asimismo, apoyará a las escuelas propuestas con el potencial de que se conviertan en planteles de alta calidad.

El enfoque cada vez más extenso es una transición de un plan inicial publicado el año pasado antes de que se formara GPSN para expandir las escuelas charter en Los Angeles.

Myrna Castrejon

“Se trata de un tipo diferente de iniciativa, muy distinto a la que se ha intentado antes en Los Angeles”, dijo Myrna Castrejón, directora ejecutiva de GPSN. “Estoy muy entusiasmada, en particular por la oportunidad de trabajar a través de todos los sectores con el fin de poder realmente fortalecer a toda la educación pública”.

El otro cambio notable del plan inicial es la escasez de datos.  El nuevo plan no incluye una cantidad específica de dólares que la organización tiene por objetivo recaudar, no da un plazo para inscribir en escuelas exitosas a los 160,000 estudiantes que están en escuelas que no tienen un alto rendimiento, no enumera los posibles donantes, ni nombra a ninguna escuela específica – charter, magnet o de otro tipo – como un modelo que quiera duplicar.  

Yolie Flores, miembro de la junta de GPSN y ex miembro de la junta escolar del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles, indicó que algunos detalles se darán a conocer durante una conferencia de prensa el jueves, en la cual se darán a conocer varios ganadores de las subvenciones. Pero también dijo que la junta está recién formada y todavía están precisando los detalles.

“Creo que van a poder escuchar algunos detalles sobre el trabajo el jueves”, dijo. “Esto es en parte porque la junta se acaba formar. Tenemos mucho trabajo por hacer para trazar el plan y queremos una oportunidad para poder hacerlo “.

La estrategia para financiar a “toda la escuela” en lugar de solamente un programa específico también representa un cambio en los esfuerzos de reforma de la educación en Los Angeles, de manera que todos los recursos, y no sólo un programa, dentro de una escuela estén alineados con la misión de éxito de los estudiantes.

Castrejon lo llama la estrategia “dentro de estas cuatro paredes”.

Todo “se reduce a culturas escolares realmente sanas y robustas que tengan la capacidad de prever cuál será el trabajo para los niños, y que tengan la suficiente, por así decirlo, autonomía, responsabilidad y rendición de cuentas entre sí y hacia su comunidad para poder llevarlo a cabo”, dijo.

Si bien el plan de GPSN se aleja del plan del verano pasado centrado en las escuelas charter, el éxito de las escuelas autónomas independientes en Los Angeles sentó las bases para la última evolución de la reforma educativa en la ciudad, dijeron varios miembros de la junta.

Bill Siart, presidente de GPSN, dijo que el historial que algunas escuelas han tenido en la última década para mejorar los resultados de los estudiantes en los barrios de bajos ingresos significa que ahora es posible duplicar el éxito en una manera que no era posible antes.

“La verdadera clave es que esto es distinto a la mayoría de los esfuerzos de reforma que he visto y en los que de hecho he estado involucrado”, dijo Siart, también presidente de ExED, una organización sin fines de lucro que proporciona servicios de apoyo y negocios a las escuelas autónomas. “Afortunadamente, hemos dedicado suficiente tiempo en varias escuelas y ahora éstas son escuelas que realmente tienen un buen desempeño en las zonas pobres. Históricamente, la verdad no había suficientes ejemplos como éstos.  Pero ahora está claro que es posible y no es sólo una o dos – sino docenas de escuelas”.

Castrejon dijo que se ha aprendido una lección de las escuelas autónomas que han desarrollado culturas escolares fuertes en donde todos los recursos dentro de la escuela están alineados con una misión de éxito para los estudiantes. “Lo que es interesante acerca de esto es que tenemos la oportunidad de extender esa teoría de acción, por así decirlo, en el distrito”, dijo. “Creo que es una diferencia significativa e importante de la manera en la que los esfuerzos de reforma escolar han cobrado forma en Los Angeles y algo que, con suerte, podrá orientar nuestro trabajo para lograr un gran impacto a un ritmo acelerado”.

Los padres exigen escuelas exitosas. En su informe, GPSN indicó que hay más de 40,000 estudiantes que están en lista de espera en las escuelas charter y “miles más” intentan inscribirse en los programas de escuelas magnet populares del distrito.

Castrejon dijo que ya se ha reunido dos o tres veces con la Superintendente Michelle King, del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles y planea tener más reuniones este verano y en otoño para hablar a fondo sobre los detalles de su trabajo en lo que respecta a las escuelas del distrito. Se calcula que los primeros resultados de parte de la implementación se verán aproximadamente en un año

GPSN también está dando a conocer hoy la composición de su junta compuesta por siete personas, las cuales cuentan con décadas de experiencia en educación.  Además de Siart y Flores, quien es también miembro titular de Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, (Campaña para la Lectura a Nivel de Grado), los miembros de la junta son Gregory McGinity, director general de política de The Broad Foundation (La Fundación Broad); Maria Casillas, fundadora de Families in Schools (Familias en las Escuelas); Virgil Roberts, presidente de la junta de Families in Schools; Marc Sternberg, director del programa de educación K-12  de the Walton Family Foundation, ( La Fundación de la Familia Walton) y Allison Keller, vicepresidenta y directora general de finanzas y directora general de  W.M. Keck Foundation (Fundación W.M. Keck).

LA School Report recibió por anticipado una copia del plan oficial bajo la estipulación de que no lo comparta ni se hable de él.  

El Plan inicial del verano pasado, publicado en el diario Los Angeles Times en agosto, describió una iniciativa audaz para financiar una expansión masiva de las escuelas autónomas independientes. Fue muy específico en su objetivo, el cual era inscribir a la mitad de los estudiantes de todo el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles en las escuelas autónomas dentro de un período de ocho años recaudando cerca de mil quinientos millones de dólares. Incluyó una lista de donantes específicos que quería solicitar, así como las organizaciones específicas de escuelas autónomas que propuso como modelos para expandir, incluyendo varias organizaciones importantes de administración de escuelas autónomas en el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles como KIPP Public Charter Schools, (Escuelas Autónomas Públicas KIPP), Alliance College-Ready Public Schools (Alianza de Escuelas Públicas de Preparación para la Universidad) y Green Dot Public Schools (Escuelas Públicas Green Dot).

Ese plan fue intensamente criticado por UTLA, el Sindicato de Maestros de Los Angeles, y varios miembros de la junta, incluyendo al presidente Steve Zimmer y Scott Schmerelson, quienes lo caracterizaron como un plan que podría llevar a la quiebra al distrito y acabar con el sindicato debido a la masiva cantidad de fondos por alumno que el distrito podría perder. La junta también aprobó una resolución unánime en enero declarando su oposición al plan.

Las escuelas autónomas son financiadas a través de fondos públicos, pero son escuelas que se administran a nivel privado y reciben sus fondos directamente, por lo que cada vez que un estudiante sale de una escuela tradicional del Distrito Escolar de LA, los siguen los fondos estatales y federales. El Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles tiene ya a 101,000 de aproximadamente 650,000 de sus estudiantes inscritos en escuelas autónomas, más que cualquier otro distrito del país, y se enfrenta a  grandes déficits de presupuesto en los próximos años, en parte debido a una pérdida continua de la inscripción de estudiantes en escuelas autónomas.

“Éste no es un plan para todos los niños, ni una estrategia para todos los niños”, dijo Zimmer a LA School Report en septiembre. “Es, de manera muy explícita, una estrategia para algunos niños, una estrategia a través de la cual algunos niños tendrán una mejor educación en una escuela financiada con fondos públicos que asume que otros niños serán dañados por esa oportunidad.”

En el momento de la publicación del plan inicial en el Times – varios miembros de la junta GPSN caracterizó su publicación como una fuga de información –  todavía estaba conectada con la Fundación Broad, una importante fuente de financiación de las escuelas autónomas en Los Angeles.  Desde entonces, se formó GPSN y se hizo cargo del plan de la Fundación Broad y ha estado trabajando para alejarse del plan preliminar.  En noviembre, GPSN anunció que su financiación no sería sólo para las escuelas autónomas, sino también para las escuelas administradas por el distrito.  Siart y varios otros miembros de la junta también le dijeron al LA School Report que ninguno de los miembros que están en la junta actual tuvieron algo que ver con el desarrollo del plan preliminar.

Con la junta compuesta de personas conectadas con varios patrocinadores principales de las escuelas autónomas, tales como la Walton Family Foundation y la W.M. Keck Foundation, y sin que el plan actual dé información detallada sobre cuánto dinero se destinará a las escuelas autónomas en comparación con las escuelas del distrito, no está claro si el plan oficial de hoy va a frenar la crítica y el escepticismo que recibió el plan preliminar del año pasado.

Siart y otros miembros de la junta en repetidas ocasiones recalcaron que el plan preliminar del año pasado no reflejó las intenciones actuales de GPSN.  Siart también dijo que los miembros de GPSN se habían reunido con la Superintendente King y ella expresó su apoyo.

“Nos sentamos con la nueva superintendente y hablamos conceptualmente sobre lo que estábamos tratando de hacer, y de qué manera esto significa mejores escuelas para los niños, algo que ella apoya.  No sé cómo no podría apoyar algo como esto.  Dijimos que no es sólo para las escuelas autónomas, que es en lo que el otro plan se enfocaba. Esto podría ser para escuelas magnet o escuelas tradicionales”.

KIng fue ascendida a superintendente en enero después de fungir como superintendente adjunta a los dos superintendentes anteriores, John Deasy y Ramón Cortines. En marzo, cuando se le preguntó en una reunión en el ayuntamiento sobre la  aparente parcialidad del distrito hacia las escuelas autónomas, ella dijo, “Desgraciadamente tenemos etiquetas, diciendo que éste es mejor que aquél. Tampoco es nosotros contra ellos”.

“Definitivamente creo que el hecho de que usted está escuchando cosas similares de nosotros dos es bastante deliberado”, dijo Castrejon. “Sí representa una nueva manera en la que el distrito intenta extender el impacto de lo que se está haciendo. Mi conversación con la superintendente se ha centrado en hablar en general sobre cómo vemos el papel que esto desempeña. Ciertamente, el interés del distrito en extender el alcance de las escuelas magnet y otros programas innovadores que están dando resultados para los niños y estamos muy alineados a eso”.

A pesar de que no se incluyó en el plan que se publicó hoy, Roberts dijo que GPSN también puede financiar escuelas en el área de Los Angeles que no forman parte del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles, incluyendo el Distrito Unificado de Compton y el de Inglewood.  Roberts también hizo hincapié en que el plan se trata de la financiación de todo tipo de escuelas que tienen éxito.

“Estamos adoptando un enfoque diferente ahora y diciendo que nuestro objetivo es crear escuelas para los niños que han sido marginados. Vamos a crear esas escuelas dondequiera que los encontremos y con quienquiera que desee que funcionen. Así que no se trata de extender las escuelas autónomas. La atención se centra en los niños”, dijo Roberts.

El dinero para las escuelas que quiere duplicar financiará cuatro áreas: participación y enlace con la comunidad, programas de preparación de maestros, conseguir instalaciones adecuadas y subvenciones para la réplica de escuelas.

“Las personas que manejan la escuela autónoma o la magnet tendrían que desear que se duplicaran. Estamos muy entusiasmados si están contentos y satisfechos con lo que están haciendo, pero eso no es algo que financiaríamos”, dijo Siart.

Siart indicó que GPSN está esperando hasta el otoño, cuando el estado publique un posible plan de rendición de cuentas, lo que ayudará a GPSN definir el nivel de una escuela exitosa que el grupo quiera ayudar a expandir o duplicar. Asimismo, explicó que con el fin de recibir subvenciones, una escuela debe tener un historial comprobado de ayudar a los estudiantes pobres a que alcancen el éxito académico y tengan un deseo de extender o duplicar sus operaciones.

El plan publicado hoy no aborda el impacto potencial que pueda tener su expansión de las escuelas de calidad en las escuelas tradicionales de la zona que están teniendo dificultades. El plan hace un llamado para duplicar las buenas escuelas, no mejorar las que están fracasando, pero si esas escuelas con dificultades pierden la inscripción de estudiantes para que asistan a las escuelas que GPSN expanda, parece una conclusión lógica que esas escuelas podrían cerrar o tendrían que despedir personal, lo cual le costaría al Distrito de LA dinero del presupuesto.

“Ésa no es una decisión fácil de tomar [el cierre de escuelas], y es prematuro tomarla en este momento”, dijo Flores. “Nadie merece estar en una escuela que no esté dando buenos resultados. Ni un maestro, ni un director, un niño, ni un padre. Por lo que debemos estar orgullosos de que vamos a eliminar gradualmente las escuelas que fracasan y establecer un entorno escolar de calidad para cada uno de los estudiantes en el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles. Y pensar bien lo que eso significa.

“Tenemos que ser muy conscientes de lo que esto significa para la infraestructura, lo que significa esto para la finalización del distrito y lo que quiere decir que para los empleos y el sustento del personal.  Éstas son preguntas importantes que yo no voy a eludir. Creo que todos tenemos que hacer esto juntos, pero no debemos condenar a los niños a escuelas que no estén dando buenos resultados porque nos preocupamos por esas otras cosas. Hay que preocuparnos por esas otras cosas, pero no a expensas de lo que los niños necesitan para tener una buena educación”.

Myrna Castrejon, executive director of Great Public Schools Now

Myrna Castrejon, who was named executive director of Great Public Schools Now in January, was thrust into the spotlight this week with the release of the organization’s plan to increase access to high-performing schools for 160,000 students it identified as attending failing schools in poor areas.

Castrejon came from the California Charter Schools Association, where she spent 12 years in various leadership roles. In an interview with LA School Report ahead of the plan’s release, Castrejon talked about her guiding principles during her career in education reform and her excitement about coming back to Los Angeles.

She first came to LA in late 1999 to work on a school reform effort called Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project, known as LAAMP, a $53-million grant challenge program funded by the Annenberg Foundation. She now has taken the lead on the latest major reform effort in the city.

What do you hope conversation will be around the plan’s release?

I certainly hope that people see how different this is from prior efforts. And I hope it will catalyze a new set of dialogue and conversation about how do we make this work. As you know, the plan is essentially one where we are landscaping our broad mission and how we will work. In spite of the many conversations I’ve had in the last four months since I was named to this post, we’ve really been taking stock of what’s possible of where the obstacles are and really setting a course. But very quickly this will turn to implementation and execution.

On the lack of details in the plan and differences between the final plan and the draft plan that was published in the Los Angeles Times in August:

First of all, that work occurred more than a year ago. Our landscape continues to evolve, as it continues to evolve moving forward as well. One of the things we’ve been doing in the last four months have been really to listen very closely and to talk to people about what they need and how they can see this work moving forward.

I think it’s important as we get more specific into execution … that we don’t completely bake things in isolation. And so, the lack of specifics I think, it’s very driven by that, the need and the opportunity for us to build this collaboratively.

When do you expect to see first impacts of the plan?

We will be making early grants starting now and the impact will begin when the work begins.

Specifically, on the school replication track, planning and developing new schools is typically around an 18-month process. Certainly we are already working with the district to begin to identify how we might be able to operationalize this. From our conversations with the superintendent’s office, we certainly want to begin the work in earnest this fall. I would expect probably within a year we’ll be seeing the first results of those efforts.

On the charter side, work continues. We’ll be looking for opportunities to strengthen the pipeline as early as possible.

How would you characterize your relationship with LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King?

Superintendent King and I have had an opportunity to sit down and chat very specifically about our joint efforts two or three times in the last four months. I definitely think the fact that you’re hearing similar things from both of us is quite intentional. It does represent a new way for the district to pursue amplifying the impact of what they’re doing. My conversation with the superintendent has been focused on talking generally about how do we see this playing out. Certainly the district’s interest in expanding the reach of magnets and other innovative programs that are delivering results for kids, we’re very much aligned in that.

Why this is happening now and why is this happening in Los Angeles?

It all comes down to the scope and size of the challenge. We know that when you’re looking even at just those 10 neighborhoods we have an aggregate of about 160,000 students who are still enrolled in schools that are not capitalizing on the full potential that those kids bring to the table. We do have a tremendous sense of urgency. There are great things happening across LA, but so much more work needs to happen.

One of the pieces of the story that is consistent throughout, say the last 25 years of school improvement and reform, is the scale of the challenge in Los Angeles is just significantly greater than practically any other area in the United States, and, therefore, the challenge and the urgency are huge. We do see this as an interesting new development, a different path for Los Angeles than has ever been attempted before. The “why now” is because the job’s not done.

We will continue school by school, student by student, making sure that we improve access. And access defined as access to equitable solutions for students.

Could you describe the shift from funding specific programs to the focus on the “whole school” described in the report?

It’s one of the things we have learned about how successful charters have really developed their very strong school cultures. We know that if you simply impact programs, that it isn’t the whole answer. One new reading program or curriculum initiative or things that don’t work holistically within the ecosystem of the school culture and the school that is absolutely mission-driven and aligns its resources, both human and material, to ensure that that mission is accomplished and by mission being accomplished, I mean student success. And that’s something that really works and what’s exciting about this is we have an opportunity to extend that theory of action, if you will, into the district.

The school board took a vote denouncing the draft plan. What have you done to reach out to school board members regarding this plan and do you think they will support it?

I think that the school board’s record in the past few months has really pointed the way towards great forms of intersection here starting with the resolution they passed around increasing the reach of magnets and affording some resource allocation to that replication strategy is certainly a point of great alignment. And that resolution strategy in May to encourage partnerships and continued investments in doing more of what works is also a signal that we are all pulling in the same direction when it comes to our intersection points.

Tell us about your background and why you took this job to come to Los Angeles.

I love Los Angeles. I am absolutely in love with the city. I’ve been in and out since late 1999. And I have been a veteran of school reform efforts in Texas, here in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California since then. I think that the thing that’s really energizing to me about the work moving forward is that it really is an opportunity to continue to build on the lessons learned from prior generations of school reform efforts. Every opportunity that I’ve had to work in school reform only renews my commitment to keep the needs of kids and parents foremost in every effort. There’s a lot about what we’re doing about what we already know has proven successful. Elsewhere and also even within Los Angeles, a very robust charter sector really anchoring what we know is true of Los Angeles kids is that our kids can do better when given the right supports and the right school ecosystem to really make an impact in their lives, and I’m tremendously excited to initiate this work now with the district as a partner.

How long have you been in education and have you always been in the education reform movement?

Yes. My school reform experience started in west Texas, right on the border of Mexico and El Paso where as a doctoral student, I came to El Paso to do my dissertation research. I literally stumbled onto ed reform. Education was not the field I was in. I am trained as a cultural anthropologist but have always been deeply committed and intrigued by the question of how communities act politically and publicly to bring improvement to their surroundings and engage in the political process. I intersected with an emerging initiative in Texas what was called the Alliance Schools Initiative where we were looking at community organizing as a really critical tool for school reform. I was on the parent organizing side and fell in love with the work, and that work provided me with the real north star around how to keep really closely aligned to the hopes and aspirations and challenges of low-income families as they strive for a better future for their kids, and I’ve never looked back.

Is education reform moving past a focus solely on charter schools?

One of the things that was really a cornerstone lesson for me was how fast the work can change, the work of reform, when it’s not anchored in really authentic community work. And where there aren’t important safeguards of autonomy for the schools that are doing the work.

School reform efforts come and go with superintendents and district board elections and yet, what we see can have a really important and lasting impact is when we actually develop institutions. Sort of what I sometimes term as “within these four walls” strategy.
I really haven’t seen too much work that has endured when it’s done top down.

And so I think that one of the things that I hope to bring to this effort as well is a really strong commitment to ensuring that the work of staying engaged with community and ensuring the people on the ground doing the work have the resources and ability to really realize their vision that that’s ultimately what’s going to lead us to greater success.

I do believe that a very important part of the charter success story has to do with the autonomy and the accountability. As we expand into this new work, we also know that success can happen in many different forms. We have to ensure that the schools on the district side that will embark upon this journey, that their plans for growth and replication and sustainability really are anchored in sort of a deep commitment of leaders, school leaders and the teachers that work there and their ability to magnify the good work that they’re doing.

What have charters failed at? What have you learned from charters and what would you say charters’ weaknesses are?

I prefer not to talk about it as weaknesses, but rather as remaining opportunity. I definitely believe you can never do enough community engagement. The reality of it is I think that remains a challenge for everyone, for the district, for charter schools, for everyone.

It’s not just a question of making sure the parents have the right brochures or that parents have “choices.” Choice doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t come with access. The fact there’s a school that perfectly matches your needs that’s 20 miles away doesn’t mean anything if you’re a working, single mother and need to take two buses to work.

We’re going to be working heavily with community partners throughout the city to ensure that parents aren’t just “aware” of choices but that we build awareness and demand for quality outcomes for all schools, regardless of what sector they’re sitting in.

What will the rest of the nation learn from LA? What is the most significant thing they’re going to see?

Certainly I hope that one of the take-aways from the work in LA, and obviously we’ll be judged by our outcomes and whether we’re successful, is in changing this conversation about what is a zero-sum gain around the charter sector and the traditional school sector. I don’t think that there need to be winners and losers because it’s not really, to me, about one sector winning over the other, but in kids winning.

I do think that given the scale of the charter sector and the opportunities ahead for LAUSD, it’s going to be a very interesting and broad conversation about how is it that we can break away from the old way of thinking.

How were the four areas of focus in the plan — community outreach and engagement, teacher and leadership pipeline and support, facilities and school replication grants — chosen?

It could have been 10 more or it could have been just one, but the reality is as we talked to people across LA and these are the things that we know that are impacting them more significantly in terms of their ability to do good work.

With the economic downtown and coming out of the recession and the paucity of school funding, we know that in many ways we may have lost a generation of young and idealistic teachers that were just beginning their careers. We need to band together and make sure that we are making teaching an attractive and valued and valuable proposition for the next generation of young professionals.

We know that school replication and growth can’t work without the individuals. We also know that charters can’t continue to do their work if they don’t have the right places to seat their students, and that is a multi-pronged effort as well. Facilities is a very complicated question across Los Angeles. We also know that this work has to remain authentic and tethered to the needs and aspirations of community members.

Are there other areas where we could be doing work? Absolutely. And maybe some will emerge as we launch into the work. For now, we’re simply being responsive to what people are telling us are their most critical needs.

What is your response to critics who might say because of the lack of details in the plan that it is still about the expansion of charter schools?

If you build an organization and work on strong fundraising and work collaboratively and you set out a plan and people still don’t believe you, I think the only thing that is going to change people’s minds in the end is going to be our outcomes.

How much have you fundraised so far and what is your fundraising goal?

We are continuing with fundraising efforts that’s a continuing evolving figure. To be really honest, the fact that no matter what we say or do, we now formed a new organization, we now have a board, the press continues to quote the figure ($490 million) from the planning document. And so, whatever figure we put out there is going to be the one that cements in people’s heads and we don’t really want to go there.

Can you get to an end-game where the needs of all students are addressed?

The challenges that are ahead of us, they’re not going to be solved by a single solution or a single source of funding or a single initiative.

What we hope GPSN will do is to carve a path that can augment success across all public schools. We certainly have no intention of being a silver bullet. And frankly, it will probably open up other opportunities, different avenues for other folks to do their own work. I think that it’s very important to have a clear sense of the challenge, but I also think it’s unrealistic for us to think we are going to be the single-source solution for every single problem that arises.

UTLA members protest Great Public Schools Now’s charter expansion plan

The new executive director of Great Public Schools Now says a hostile LA Unified board resolution, angry union leaders or public opinion will not threaten the group’s goal to create successful schools, whoever’s in charge of them.

If anything, said Myrna Castrejón, the widespread opposition to her organization, its plans and founder, Eli Broad, are providing her a megaphone to “change the conversation” about public education in Los Angeles.

“Business as usual is not an option for anybody, charter schools included,” she told LA School Report, referring to district efforts to address the needs of under-performing schools. “It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. We want to define success as students define success, through one successful school at a time.”

Castrejón, a former lobbyist for the California Charter Schools Association, comes to GPS Now at a time of heightened scrutiny, skepticism and outright animus from district officials and parents growing fearful of the financial impact of more charter schools in the district. They’re also not too crazy about any connection to Broad, a philanthropist who has investing heavily in education reform.

Officials of the teachers union, UTLA, have accused the group of attempting to “dismantle” public education in Los Angeles, and just this week, the school board went on record opposing the GPS Now plan, of which few details are actually known. Most criticism is directed toward an early draft, which said it wants to spend $490 million to open 260 new charter schools in the district. 

UTLA has been especially critical among the district’s labor partners, pointing to the number of jobs and programs that could be lost with every new independent charter within the district.

Castrejón said much of the early draft no longer reflects the organization’s goals, which, themselves, are a work in progress.

For one thing, she said, the group is not focusing solely on the creation of more charter schools, pointing out, “This is not a charter-only effort. We’re interested in replicating what works, replicating what’s successful in LAUSD.”

She also said one of her first priorities will be to meet with board members, the new superintendent, Michelle King, and the UTLA president, Alex Caputo-Pearl, to discuss ways the new group could be helpful to the district.

Shannon Haber, the district spokeswoman, said King “is open” to meeting with Castrejón.

“The opportunities to coalesce are there,” Castrejón said. “We are certainly planning to extend our goodwill to listen carefully and craft a path forward together. In the end, we’re all measured by our success, and if it’s a tough conversation, I’m fine with that, but I’m energized by the opportunity.”

In the weeks ahead, Castrejón said the focus of the group will be to create a board of a dozen or so beyond the current members — chairman Bill Siart and a seat reserved for a representative of the Broad Foundation — to finalize a mission statement and to start raising money.

As far as dealing with critics, the plan is to engage them as much as possible to the degree she can.

“I don’t worry about detractors or what people say can’t be done,” she said. “I’ve never organized my life that way, and this is no exception.”

Myrna Castrejón

Great Public Schools Now, the Broad foundation spinoff organization with plans expands charter schools in Los Angeles Unified, today named Myrna Castrejón as its first executive director.

Most recently a senior lobbyist and political strategist for the California Charter Schools Association, Castrejón will led the new group’s investment in “high-quality public schools” to reduce the number of children attending under-performing schools.

“I am excited to be part of Great Public Schools Now, and help shape its plans to ensure that every student has the option of a high-quality public school in his or her neighborhood,” Castrejón said in a statement. “I look forward to building a strong working relationship with our new Superintendent Michelle King at LAUSD, as we seek to improve education for all students throughout the District.”

Bill Siart, Chairman of Great Public Schools Now, said, “Myrna brings decades of experience in education to Great Public Schools Now, especially the ways that charter schools have helped to improve educational outcomes for students in need. She shares our sense of urgency in bringing more and better educational options to Los Angeles.”

The announcement of Castrejón’s hiring comes just two days after the LA Unified board passed a resolution denouncing the Great Public Schools Now plans to add more charter schools to a district that already has more than any other in the nation.

The expansion plan, first revealed six months by Eli Broad, has endured withering criticism from charter school opponents, including several members of the LA Unified board and union leaders, who fear additional charter schools would drive the district closer to bankruptcy by pulling away students from traditional district schools.

Most of a school district’s revenue derives from per-pupil spending from state and federal agencies.

As its mission was first revealed by Broad, Great Public Schools Now intended to open 260 new charter schools within eight years, the result of $490 million in planned investments.

Later, the mission was revised to investing in a variety of schools, including traditional district schools, to help improve academic performance across the district.

But no details have been announced. Nor has the group revealed progress in its fund-raising efforts.

Castrejón served with CCSA in various key leadership roles since its founding in late 2003, working on issues such as local advocacy, school development and achievement and performance management. Earlier, she worked for school reform efforts in El Paso and in Los Angeles as a consultant to the state-funded Urban Education Partnership/LAUSD where she helped to develop eight innovative early education service centers in high-need neighborhoods.

She also served as Vice President of School and Family Networks for the Los Angeles Alliance for Student  Achievement and the director for family engagement for the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project.