Ed Equity Lab students at All City Leadership Secondary School in Brooklyn, New York (Michael Quinones)

L.A. Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho wants to dramatically increase the number of high schools offering prestigious online college courses for the fall to boost enrollment and increase pathways to college — but so far the goal is elusive.

In an interview with LA School Report in early May, Carvalho said he was confident 30 schools will offer classes in partnership with the National Education Equity Lab — a not-for-profit program that brings remote classes taught by professors and facilitated by high school teachers to low-income schools across the country.

As of last week, 15 LAUSD high schools had signed up, according to officials at the National Education Equity Lab. But an LAUSD spokesperson said just 10 schools are registered to offer the classes.

“Now that we have an established footprint, we can rapidly scale up,” Carvalho said early last month. “And I see no problem with actually reaching that goal … considering the needs and demands so far, [the] goal of 30 is a very tangible goal and aligned with our strategic plan goals that are rapidly expansive, high-level choice opportunities for students.”

When Carvalho first arrived in 2022, seven schools offered National Education Equity Lab courses, he said. This past semester, classes were offered at nine schools, said John Dixon, the National Education Equity Lab’s senior director of high school partnerships.

High schools have until the end of June to sign up to offer the classes, said Dixon.

Last year, Carvalho said he planned to “forcefully” expand the district’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab. At the time, he lauded the partnership as a way to bring families back into L.A. Unified and boost enrollment. For the 2022-2023 school year, enrollment dipped by nearly 2% — a continued decline from recent years but not as bad as the 4.1% drop that was projected.

Carvalho told LA School Report he sees the partnership as a way to guarantee students have increased graduation rates, opportunities for academic enrichment and post-secondary success.

“National Education Equity Lab provides just that,” he said. “Our students really have an opportunity to catapult ahead through meaningful, high-level, rigorous coursework. It also allows them to experience and visualize what their post-secondary careers can be through college instructors through the support of Los Angeles Unified staff.”

At the Miami-Dade County school district, Carvalho doubled the number of schools in partnership with the National Education Equity Lab from 11 high schools to more than 20.

LAUSD’s partnership with the not-for-profit began in 2019, but was formalized last November with a contract that will expire in 2025. Five different courses were offered through the partnership last year including “Introduction to Computer Science” through Stanford University, “Map of the Modern World” through Georgetown University and “Introduction to Microeconomics” through Barnard College.

Earlier this year, the National Education Equity Lab announced a partnership with the University of California system.

Now that the contract is in place, there is a formal process for incorporating National Education Equity Lab courses into school schedules for students to choose from and receive high school and college credit, according to Dixon.

Prior to the contract, there had been issues with classes not being offered in some master course lists or during the school day, leading to the most motivated students signing up and some teachers being the ones to select their own students.

Last year, LAUSD and National Education Equity Lab officials promised that all partnership classes in the 2022-2023 would be held during the school day in order to be accessible to all students. However, at Santee High School courses remain outside of school hours, according to Dixon.

“The expectation at the lab is that 100% of our schools are going to offer the courses during the school day,” Dixon said. “Depending on if there are some challenges with teacher capacity or teacher shortages, there are times when we might have to make an exception … that was the case for Santee, but we are working with the district and with the school to ensure that all of our schools in LA are running the courses during the school day.”

Carvalho said the early scheduling kink, which was partially there because of time zone differences, has been worked through.

“We were able to iron out those challenges and we have not had a challenge since then,” he said.

Dixon said that one of the major obstacles the district and National Education Equity Lab have had to work through is ensuring that university timelines for approving courses align with when students need to select courses and enroll. Carvalho said the district’s ability to scale up the program is limited only by the slots available from partnered universities, but he hopes it becomes a major facet of the district’s strategic plan.

“It is ultimately our goal to ensure that every single high school students in every single high school has an opportunity to enroll in high level, rigorous coursework that allows them to graduate on time but also simultaneously earn college credit — whether that is through dual enrollment programs here locally, through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or the National Education Equity Lab offerings,” he said.

Earlier this year, an LAUSD senior enrolled in a Stanford computer science course through the National Education Equity Lab earned the highest score in the nation and received college credit she will use in her plans to enroll in a university next fall.

“At the end of the day, what this comes down to is really helping our scholars see themselves and the opportunities that they have available to them and expanding what they know to be possible for themselves, for others within their communities,” said Ariel Murphy Bedford, the chief academic and impact officer at the National Education Equity Lab. “Ninety-nine percent of our teachers who we’ve surveyed have mentioned that offerings have prepared their students to be ready for college level work.”

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She studied journalism and sociology.

Bridgette Donald-Blue/Facebook

Since being named a 2023 California Teacher of the Year, Bridgette Donald-Blue said kindergarteners she has never taught have eagerly approached her in the hallways at Coliseum Street Elementary School.

They will say, “Hey Ms. Blue, you’re a teacher leader, I have you as a screensaver on my iPad, we watched your video at home,” she said. “For them to know my name, to walk up to me and give me that information … that’s been amazing.”

Donald-Blue’s teaching career started over 30 years ago, when she graduated from Howard University and joined Teach for America. The job took her to Compton, California, where she expected to stay for two years before attending law school. 

After her two years were up, Donald-Blue decided to stay. Since then, she’s taught first through fifth graders, served as an adjunct professor at UCLA and California State University and is now helping students at Coliseum recover math learning loss. 

“If you would ask my students about Ms. Blue, I think they would say that I’m tough. They would say that I believe in them wholeheartedly,” Donald-Blue said. “But more than anything, I expect them to rise to the occasion because I know that they can, and I know that whatever it is that has to be done, that is challenging, that there’s a standard that has to be reached, they can absolutely reach it. Absolutely.”

In an interview with LA School Report, Donald-Blue recounted the triumphs and philosophies of her teaching, as well as what this award means to her and her school. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you initially enter Teach for America? And what is it that made you stay?

In the fall of senior year [at Howard University], I had a professor who said “I know that you all are going to do great work. You guys are going to be amazing. So what I want for you all to do is not just simply write a check, but get involved in your community, get involved in changing the world. And so I thought about that and when [Teach for America] had a group of people who came to campus one spring day, I thought “Oh I could do this for two years and then I’ll go off to law school.”

Having the opportunity to work with students, it was just rewarding to jump in and be a part of a community … after a third year, I just decided I would stick with this. 

What are some of the greatest highlights of your teaching career?

The greatest work is done when you have a partnership with the parents. My great successes have always come when the parents and I are true partners. I remember there was a gentleman who got custody of his son and he did not know for the first five years that his son existed. And when his son was eight years old, he ended up in my second grade classroom. And his child was at a kindergarten level when he got him. And so I just said “You know what, let’s work together.” 

I was sending home index cards and other flash cards and things for him to work on … And I just told him “You know, we’ll do this in the classroom, and then you’ll do this at home and we’ll just work that way.” And when he left me … I was able to hand him off to a colleague … And she was like, “No problem, I got it.”

And so when he graduated from our school in sixth grade, he was on grade level. And that was a huge success … Yes, we put in the work. Yes, we were in partnership with him. But we could have never reached that level of success without communication, without collaboration and definitely without having the parent on board.

What are some of the greatest challenges you’ve encountered throughout your teaching career?

The things that always are challenging are the things that children have absolutely no control over. When children are homeless, or when there’s poverty that’s so impactful to their day to day. During COVID, we saw that for some kids the ability to connect to school just wasn’t there. That was really painful, but we saw where we had to step out and do more. 

I was on the sidewalk of the school with art baggies because I was trying to teach art on Zoom and people didn’t have pencils or tables or desks to put things on … I came to campus and put together gift bags that I could send out on the street. We were six feet apart and we would air hug … and not just my fourth graders. They would come by and bring siblings, so I always had extra packs. 

When it’s just the kids and us without all of those extenuating circumstances, there’s amazing things that happen. Truly amazing things. 

What’s one lesson you want your students to take away from your classroom?

One takeaway would be that this is an incredible, remarkable journey – just show up and participate. Don’t sit on the sidelines … I want my students to be active learners, to understand that you are just as amazing and intelligent as anybody around [them].

I want my students to know to be present, to engage, to show up for themselves, for their family, for their community, because they are the next leaders. I know in my heart that the next leaders of our world are sitting in our classrooms right now. Sitting in the Coliseum right now. We just have to make sure that they move forward and do their best so that they can represent where they came from in such an amazing way.

What values are most important in your classroom?

Integrity. Integrity is huge for me because if you present yourself with integrity, other people will respond to you with integrity … And I tell kindergarteners when they go “Integrity?” and I’m like “Yes, you follow the rules, you do what you’re supposed to do, even when nobody is looking.” And that’s the biggest one, when no one is looking. 

What’s something you would tell your younger self during that first year of teaching? 

My very first year of teaching I taught first grade. I had somewhere between 32-36 kids the entire year. I was supposed to have an aid — I did not. And I was the only person in my class who did not speak Spanish. That year, I caught chicken pox … I had strep throat twice, I had the flu more times than I needed. I felt like I was sick the entire year. So definitely what I would tell my younger self is that this is going to be an amazing journey. You’re going to learn so much. 

And that students come in with amazing gifts and they have gifts waiting, ready to give to you — just be ready for them. They’re funny. They’re more resilient than I could have ever been at their age. And they’re inspirational. Because even when they have traumatic situations at home, things that would sideline some adults, including myself, they still come every day and they still try their best.

What does this award mean to you?

It’s really special — more than for me, but what it means for my school. We’re not a high profile school. We’re not a school that you always hear about in the news. And so you know, when I go places, people go “Oh, you’re from the Coliseum, where’s that?” In the words of one parent, when it first happened, she said, “Coliseum has a California Teacher of the Year? Look, we’re doing big things here now.” 

So for me, it means that for the last 30 plus years, I’ve been working hard on a craft,  sharpening a saw, and someone peeked in and took a look and said, “Hey, there’s great things going on.” So that’s been amazing. 

I have two daughters. Just to do something that hopefully makes them proud of their mom, because they’re the number one people in my life, that’s important. It demonstrates a value on the teaching profession, and that’s important. For me, it would be amazing for every teacher to feel what I have felt.

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology. 

Los Angeles Unified senior Yanxi Rodriguez (LAUSD)

For Los Angeles Unified senior Yanxi Rodriguez, there was no sign the school day would deviate from any of the others that had passed in January — until her computer science teacher told her to check her email. 

“Mr. Flores told me, ‘Congratulations, did you see your email?’ And I’m like, ‘What email? I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ ” said Rodriguez, a senior at Reseda Charter High School.

Rodriguez checked her email. She found out that out of over 220 high school students enrolled in an online computer science course through Stanford University, she had earned the highest score in the nation. 

“It was really shocking, so I didn’t have much of a reaction,” she said. “I was happy of course, but out of everyone on top it was very surprising … I’m pretty proud of myself for everything. I’m thankful to everyone who supported me — my teacher, my friends.”

The course is part of the National Education Equity Lab, a program launched in 2019 bringing courses from colleges to low income public high school students across the country. Currently, eight LAUSD high schools are involved, offering classes in geography, computer science and microeconomics from Georgetown University, Stanford University and Barnard College.

There are plans to expand the National Education Equity Lab partnership this semester and in the fall, although the district is still completing paperwork and finding schools and courses that are the right fit, said Micaela Vazquez-Hahn, the LAUSD college readiness coordinator.

Last year, superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he wanted the program to expand in an effort to draw families back into the district and boost enrollment numbers. As Miami school superintendent, he doubled the number of schools partnered with the National Education Equity Lab from 11 to more than 20.

Presently, the eight participating schools are: East Valley High School, John C. Fremont Senior High, Huntington Park Senior High, Thomas Jefferson Senior High, Reseda Charter High School, Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences, Venice High School and Wilson High School.

Because Rodriguez scored in the top 20 percent of all National Education Equity Lab students, she is now part of the program’s honor society. Her membership unlocks access to college mentors and academic resources. 

But she’s also unlocked something else: a new goal. 

While Rodriguez does not yet know where she will attend university next year, she hopes to major in computer science and explore game design. Prior to taking the course, she had never touched code. She knew she liked math, but she also liked art and writing, even dreaming of publishing a book. Now, she’s found her interests overlapping in a new way.

“That can tie into games as well, because if you want to make a story based game you need to know how to write the story in the first place and storyboard it,” she said. 

In the future, she sees not only herself tackling the STEM field, but more girls doing so too. At Reseda, she’s part of the club Girls Build LA. The group presents to their classmates about skills and opportunities in STEM, ultimately hoping to support girls as they explore the field.

Girls supporting girls has been central to Rodriguez’s STEM experience so far. Of the 16 students enrolled in the Stanford computer science course at Reseda, only five were girls. 

“We were already friends beforehand, so it just brought us closer together because we helped each other study for exams and helped each other understand the process if we didn’t understand how to do something,” Rodriguez said. 

Mario Flores, the Reseda teacher who helped guide the students through the course, said this is what made Rodriguez and her friends stand out. 

“They would help each other and figure it out together. It felt kind of like just one big team,” Flores said. “They just wanted to learn and own their own education.”

Other LAUSD students who participated in National Education Equity Lab courses have found success, too. An additional 25 students were welcomed into the honors society.

“With those kinds of numbers, with only [three] courses being offered last fall, I think we can tell that LA Unified students are very interested in challenging themselves and being part of this rigorous course taking,” Vazquez-Hahn said.

Rodriguez wants to encourage other students to give coding a chance — especially girls.

“Definitely do it. We need to be represented,” she said. “I don’t think you should be put off by how hard the work is or if you think that’s a problem. I went into computer science not knowing anything about it or how to program, and once you get going, you should be fine.”

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology.

Gonez, who raised $500,000 and major endorsements including the United Teachers Los Angeles, declared victory last month, garnering 51.27% of the vote. Marvin Rodríguez, an LAUSD teacher of 17 years with no previous political experience or major endorsements, raised just over $11,000 and trailed closely behind with 48.73%. In a message to his supporters, he all but conceded last week.

LAUSD parents, politically active Angelenos and education policy experts have suggested several reasons why Gonez’s Board District 6 win was so narrow, including her support from charter advocates and dissatisfaction with mask mandates, lengthy school lockdowns while Gonez served as school board president. 

Many of the reasons trace back to a shared theme — that her clear advantages may not have worked fully to her benefit. It’s the money that supported her and her experience on the school board that turned off some voters.

“The most interesting thing is, this is a situation where she’s getting fire from both her left and her right,” said Rob Quan, an activist and founder of Unrig LA. 

On the left, Quan said, there are those who are more inclined to support public schools and had concerns about Gonez’s position on charter schools. On the right, he said there have been two primary concerns — her position on COVID-19 protocols and her vote to scale back police presence in LAUSD schools. 

The anonymous founder of LA Parent’s Union (@UTLAUncensored), a parent advocacy group with nearly 5,000 followers on Twitter, said the group endorsed Rodríguez because “he’s an outsider, right?” 

“So many people in L.A. are feeling like a career politician and the establishment is really just looking out for their own next seat and to keep their group in power,” the founder said.

They also said that for many parents in Board District 6, support for Gonez dropped when she voted to reduce school police. Many parents saw it as a threat to their childrens’ safety — a type of “political grandstanding” they also saw in her leadership through one of the longest Covid-19 school closures and mask mandates in the nation, UTLAUncensored said. 

Wavering faith in Gonez’s alliance with the people stemmed from her hefty funding, too. 

Billionaires Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, and businessman Bill Bloomfield, donated $1.68 million to the re-election of both Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin (who was re-elected to represent Board District 4) through the PAC Kids First. 

“I do think voters are paying attention more and more to who is supported financially by the people and who is financially empowered by the very rich,” said Kris Rehl, who voted for Rodríguez. “I believe that Marvin Rodríguez wants to be on the LAUSD board because he wants to make the lives of students and teachers better. I can’t say that I think Kelly Gonez is only running for this position for those same reasons.”

Gonez’s support from pro-charter advocates, like Hastings, as well as her support from the California Charter School Association in 2017, when she was initially elected to the seat, has some skeptical about her resolve in holding charter schools accountable. 

Although Gonez, a former charter school teacher, has attempted to distance herself from the stance of her pro-charter donors in interviews, apprehension remains. Rehl said the primary reason he voted for Rodríguez was his strong anti-charter stance. 

“I really feel like LAUSD needs bold leadership that doesn’t cave into special interests like the charter school association, and I’m a strong supporter of UTLA, so I was really disappointed to see UTLA endorse Kelly Gonez, who in the past has been pretty friendly to the charters,” said Arturo Gomez, a tenant defense attorney.

The Board District 6 race was not the only LAUSD election where the politics of public school versus charter schools came to a head. In the Board District 2 race, candidates Rocío Rivas and Maria Brenes, who ran on similar platforms, vied to represent parts of central and east L.A.

Rivas, who was backed by UTLA and has been more outspoken in her anti-charter stance, won with 52.49% of the votes. Brenes, backed by SEIU Local 99 — LAUSD’s second biggest union — as well as Bloomfield and Hastings’ PAC, had 47.51% of the votes. 

Gomez said he voted for Rivas because of her stance on charter schools: “I wasn’t a big fan of Brenes who seemed to have backing from a lot of charter adjacent organizations,” he said. 

On Nov. 23, Rivas took to Twitter to declare her victory, tweeting that “people power wins over billionaire money.” 

“Her message was certainly tapping into a bit of the charter school narrative, that this was charter school money trying to defeat her and that public schools won,” said USC Rossier professor Marsh. “This has happened in the past in LA Unified, that when outside money comes in, or money that’s perceived to be on one side or the other, sometimes it actually does the opposite and motivates some voters to say ‘we’re not going to let this money influence how we vote.’”

Marsh added that both the District 2 and District 6 elections show a continuation of elections “being a proxy war” for teachers unions and charter interests. She also pointed to another takeaway that stood out to her from the November election. 

“Just because you have the funding doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gonna win the votes,” she said. “That stands out to me in both of these races.”

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology.

Marvin A. Rodríguez

Long-time teacher Marvin Rodríguez hopes to apply his classroom experience to a spot on the LAUSD school board where he is on the ballot to represent Board District 6.

In the June primary, Rodríguez tallied 31% of the votes, holding incumbent Kelly Gonez back from reaching a 50% threshold that would have positioned her to win outright. Rodríguez has no known endorsements or past experience on the board, but is a member of the Los Angeles teacher’s union and said his understanding of student needs equips him for the position.

“What I want my students to see, my teachers to see, and the parents to see, is that the person who’s there representing them is one of them. It’s a parent, it’s a teacher, and it’s also a person who was a student at LAUSD for 12 plus years,” Rodríguez told LA School Report.

“That’s what I want my communities to understand, that the person who’s representing them is doing so and with courage, honesty, but with a lot of commitment and transparency.”

In an interview with LA School Report, Rodríguez set out a vision for LA Unified without charters, and includes more community schools with wraparound services, increased parent collaboration and more attention to each student.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why should people vote for you instead of Kelly Gonez, who has had prior experience on the board?

I’ve been teaching for 18 years and I understand what the needs of my students are. I see them every day. I think you’re better equipped at making those decisions when you have a clear understanding of what the needs of our students are … we have to be better at going into our communities and sharing those experiences, because that is how you become more empathetic and more compassionate…” 

When looking at Gonez’s platform, is there anything that seems like a big difference between your vision and her vision?

My main focus is the delivery … I think the big difference between me and her is that I want to engage parents. I look forward to talking to parents, to engaging parents at parent centers and revamping those so that we give our parents access to us. I’m only one person, I love to represent my communities, but I don’t have all the answers and I don’t have all the solutions.

What I look for is to talk to the members of the community, talk to parents, to make sure they share their ideas and they share their concerns and together we can come up with solutions …

You’ve spoken a lot about wanting all schools to fit the community schools model. What are the steps to get there?

My vision is every school becomes a community school model.…the community schools model provides those wraparound resources for our most vulnerable communities, especially students and their families.

We can’t expect our children to be academically successful and perform for us if we haven’t given them all those wraparound resources, if we haven’t given them mental health services, health services, all the support that our children and their families need. 

Do you see any unique challenges for students in District 6, and how would you tackle those challenges?

I think the issues with LAUSD are universal. [Many] of our students are considered low-income, but in District 6 we have a little more of that … Historically, some of these schools have struggled academically and have struggled to deliver for our children meaningful learning opportunities. And that’s why you see in our communities, a lot of charter schools come up, because what charter schools are trying to do is fill that void that our neighborhood schools are failing to provide for our children.

 So one of the things I see in our district is a little more charter incursion, so the way we tackle that is to make sure we protect our neighborhood schools by delivering those resources and the funding to them so they, in turn, can provide the services that parents and students are hungry for.

In my mind, the best educational opportunity for our students has to be in their neighborhood schools. And we do that also by holding charter schools accountable … If charter schools are not performing, we have to make sure that we look into that at the board level and if we must deny charters, we will do so … If they want to come into our communities, we have to have community input. But my vision for the district is we get to a place where our communities are not asking for outside resources or funding to come in. 

So reading between the lines there, in your vision we ideally would not need charter schools?

Yes. Make it harder for charters to want to come into our community, because charters are not meant to support or bring extra resources into our communities, they’re built for one purpose – they’re built to compete with our neighborhood schools. When you’re competing with schools who already lack resources and funding, you’re starving them even more. 

Of course there are many overarching problems contributing to dropping enrollment, but in terms of keeping students in LAUSD or from moving to different schools, what do you see as the solution?

What we have control over is how we deliver meaningful learning opportunities for our children and their families. Again, I go back to that community school model. We have to create that for our students, but I also feel that we need to create for our students, culturally and racially responsive curriculum.

We have to revamp parents centers, make sure parents are back in schools and they want to be part of the school community. 

And we need buy-in from parents and buy-in from students. And I think that’s one of the things that we are lacking in education today. Our students are not buying into the education we’re selling them. I think our education is riddled with too much competition where you either hurry up or stay behind.

That reminds me of your comments about fostering a wholesome student who is confident and empowered to strive for growth. In terms of creating that empowerment and adding more meaning to education, how do you see yourself being able to create this change within District 6?

…we need to provide our students with smaller classroom sizes … it’s easier for teachers to reach [students] when they dedicate more time to them. 

When you’re dedicating more time to a child, that child feels special, feels valued, feels important… We also need to provide training for our support staff… as to how to approach young people.

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology.

LAUSD school board president Kelly Gonez (kellygonez.com)

Backed by both United Teachers Los Angeles and charter advocates, LAUSD school board president Kelly Gonez is on the ballot again — but after tallying just under half of the primary votes last June, Tuesday’s runoff election will determine if she gets to keep her post. 

Gonez has represented the East San Fernando Valley as the L.A. Unified Board District 6 member since 2017. She has served as president since December 2020, taking on the position as the pandemic was beginning. Previously, Gonez taught geometry at an LAUSD high school and served as an education policy advisor during the Obama administration.

Gonez said she hopes to build on past initiatives, such as expanding early education programs and school choice, and will draw on her knowledge of the district and policy expertise to fight for mental health services, better learning opportunities and support for L.A. Unified staff.

“I think for voters it is really about the readiness and leadership capacity to do this work at an important time where our students and schools have overwhelming needs because of the impacts of the pandemic,” Gonez told LA School Report. “And I think that that choice is quite clear.”

In an interview, Gonez discussed her accomplishments in leading the district and future plans for helping students recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marvin Rodríguez, your opponent, is an LAUSD teacher of 17 years, whose campaign is tied to his close connection to LAUSD. How have you found ways to directly engage with people and how would you plan to continue doing so?

This campaign is really focused on the work that I’ve done over the last five years. And I think in terms of experience, there really is no comparison. I have experience as a classroom teacher, so I know the issues firsthand… 

I have deep knowledge of every school in my district … [of the] 125 schools that I represent where I have spent a lot of time in conversation with principals, and teachers and parents and students to learn about the diverse issues that every school faces…I’m [also] a parent of an LAUSD student myself – the only one on the board. 

Do you see any unique challenges for students in District 6 specifically, and how have you tackled/would you plan to tackle those challenges?

There are long standing inequities that impact the East San Fernando Valley. When you look at access to some of the most in-demand and highest quality programming the school district offers, those options just have not been present in Board District 6 in many cases … so I’ve worked really hard… to make sure those opportunities are available to our families and they don’t have to leave their neighborhoods to be able to access them. 

Throughout my time on the board, I have tripled the number of dual language programs that exist in Board District 6, as well as greatly expanded the number of magnet programs, including creating some new and innovative magnet programs that didn’t exist in our community beforehand.

The other piece that I want to highlight is that economic inequality deeply impacts our school communities and our families in Board District 6. When you think about an issue like access to affordable housing, we know that the San Fernando Valley has had some of the highest rates of homelessness among our students compared to the rest of the school district. 

This is why I have been such a proponent of our community schools and having wraparound services at our school campuses, because it’s not enough to just focus on academic instruction. Our families are reliant on our schools for a lot of other areas. And we really have to work hard… and make sure…nutrition and health and mental health and housing … are addressed.

That’s been an area and I have a bunch of work I’ve done in that space. I would specifically note my work around utilizing LAUSD underutilized or vacant properties to build housing and my resolution around expanding services and supports for students and families who are unhoused. That is born directly from my knowledge of what families are experiencing in Board District 6 and the acuteness of that challenge here in my district.

You mentioned the community schools model, which is something Rodriguez is advocating for. Is that something you’re also prioritizing? 

I think the point of comparison here is words versus actions … there’s a number of community schools in Board District 6, which I’m very familiar with and I’ve helped support. I also wrote a resolution, which passed the Board unanimously in June 2021, to actually expand and fortify the community school model, to make sure we have the necessary supports…and to set aside additional funding to continue to grow and support the community schools in LA Unified … I want to see more community schools all throughout the district, but it takes funding and infrastructure to make sure that we can do so successfully and that’s work that I have directly done during my time on the Board.

Of course, if re-elected, you are continuing work that you’ve already been doing, but if re-elected do you have any new first day priorities or shifts in what you envision yourself tackling with the upcoming tenure?

Equity and bringing more funding to my schools in the East San Fernando Valley will always continue to be a priority, but I do think the pandemic and its impacts on students has made me be reflective and think about what areas might we need to prioritize that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Priority number one for me is really creating transformative learning opportunities for our students. So really expanding our arts, music, stem and career pathways programs.

The second priority … is really supporting the whole family and especially the mental health and health needs of our students, families and staff … There’s a lot of work to be done to make sure that our students who most need it can access the services both preventatively but also when they are in crisis.

The last piece I would highlight is really focused on our workforce and supporting our educators. And by that I don’t just mean classroom teachers but all of the staff within LA Unified …I have a lot of concern about levels of burnout among our staff and the ways in which our staff have been impacted by the pandemic, so I am really focused on supporting our workforce.

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. 

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology.   

Illustration by Eamonn Fitzmaurice/LA School Report

Enrollment in Los Angeles Unified schools has been dipping for years, declining even more during the pandemic — but which schools saw the biggest drops and why?

The enrollment drop of close to 6% during the pandemic came from a concoction of factors including families moving out of state, students switching to non-LAUSD schools with looser COVID restrictions, and children having to stay home to care for family members. 

An analysis of LAUSD data by LA School Report showed of the top ten district schools that lost the most enrollment from 2019 to 2021, eight served largely non-white students, while two enrolled mostly white, affluent students. 

While some students left LAUSD entirely, others changed schools within LA Unified. As a result, some LAUSD schools with specialized programs, such as language immersion, saw enrollment increase during the pandemic. 

The overall decline prompted LA Unified superintendent Alberto Carvalho to raise the issue of whether the district will have to shut schools. 

“We will cross that bridge if we need to,” Carvalho said in August. “And if we need to, this will be done in a very careful, cautious way with full engagement of the communities. We’re not there yet.”

An LAUSD spokesperson said in a statement that enrollment had “improved” at many of the ten schools, but declined to provide numbers. In a statement she said the district was focused on “several new strategies to bring kids back into our school system, such as universal transitional kindergarten and increased transportation availability for residential students.”

Here’s what LA School Report’s analysis found on the ten schools with the biggest percentage declines: 

Which schools lost the most students?

Five of the ten schools with the biggest enrollment drops are in the West region of LAUSD and are part of Board District 4, a district that includes many middle and upper middle class students.   

This includes Topanga Elementary Charter, with a predominantly white student population, in the Santa Monica Mountains that lost over 100 students; and Marquez Charter, also a majority white school in the Pacific Palisades that lost 164 students. Both schools belong to the 51 LAUSD-affiliated charter schools and are in areas with median household incomes above $130,000.

District 4 school board member Nick Melvoin said students in his district have proximity to many options — both public and private. In recent years, and more so during the pandemic, families have left LA Unified schools.  

“Within my district, you have Santa Monica Unified, Culver City Unified, Beverly Hills Unified,” he said. “You also have some strong independent charter schools and some private schools. On the west side of the West Valley, where there’s more affluence, families can afford those other options. It’s a competitive landscape.”

Niloofar Shepherd, the parent of a fourth grade student at Marquez Charter, said many parents left Marquez because of COVID restrictions. 

“A lot of people weren’t willing to ride it out,” Shepherd said. “Our experience was that the teachers did the best they could and we didn’t feel at all that our kids were getting short shrift … but the way I’ve heard it is that a lot of people pivoted to private school.”

More than one in four California parents switched their child’s school during the pandemic, with most favoring charter schools, according to a recent poll conducted by the Policy Analysis for California (PACE) and the USC Rossier School of Education. The poll found an 8 percentage point increase in charter school attendance among those who switched schools. 

“Whiter and more affluent folks were especially likely to change their kids’ schools during the pandemic,” said Morgan Polikoff, associate professor of education at USC and co-author of the poll. “If you’ve moved to a neighborhood because of the ‘good public schools,’ but you’re not satisfied with how public schools are handling COVID — and you can afford to — then you would be more likely to move your kid to a private school.”

But Melvoin said not all of District 4 fits this demographic. Lower income, nonwhite families also left the district, unable to afford to stay.

“There are some schools in even District 4 that are high poverty and those are families that are getting pushed out of LA because they can’t afford to live here,” Melvoin said. “There are a lot of kids who are bused into some of those schools and so if they started going to school in their neighborhood, or they had to move even further away from the west side… because of economic factors” they stopped attending District 4 schools. 

Paseo Del Rey Elementary Natural Science Magnet in District 4, for instance, which overwhelmingly enrolls Black and Latino students and is 66% low income, lost nearly half of its students from 2019 to 2021, making it the school with the biggest decline.

LAUSD District 2 school board member Monica Garcia, who represents the center core and East side, also said the families in her district, mostly low income and nonwhite, have been pushed out by job loss, income inequality and unaffordable housing. District 2 includes neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights, Downtown L.A. and East L.A.

But being pushed out of their homes isn’t the only reason families are leaving some LA Unified schools. 

Amanecer Primary Center in East L.A., a school with a 98% Latino student population, had the second largest decline of the 10 schools, dropping from 183 students in 2019 to 100 in 2021 — a 45% decrease. 

García said that for Amanecer, a school that goes up to second grade, the decline is attributed to spots opening up at Rowan Avenue Elementary just down the block, a larger K-5 school that can accommodate bigger families.

“What happens if we consolidate schools? I don’t want to say close, but repurpose a primary center to have all the kids go to the elementary school when they’re very close to each other?” she said. “So now there’s an option for families at some of our elementary schools that grandma or the caretaker or mom or dad, they don’t have to take the kids to two sites, they can take the kids to one site.”

Where schools are seeing growth

Schools that saw increased enrollment offered families educational opportunities most others don’t have. 

Augustus F. Hawkins Critical Design and Gaming STEM Magnet saw a 120% increase in students, jumping from 481 students in 2019 to 1,058 in 2021. Samuel Gompers University Pathways Medical Magnet saw a 76% bump in enrollment, and Charles Drew University Pathways Public Service Academy saw a 48% rise. 

In District 4, enrollment increased by 8% at Cowan Avenue Elementary — a school that offers Spanish immersion and holds a gifted international humanities magnet center. Cowan Avenue Elementary has a predominantly Black student population. 

“I’m a big believer that if you build exciting programs, people will come back to their local public schools,” Melvoin said. “When we have really great exciting programs like dual immersion programs, we actually get kids from those other districts — so people coming in from Culver City and coming in from Santa Monica.”

Polikoff said that adjusting to what parents want will stem some of the enrollment losses.

“It has to start with getting to the root of what’s causing it and seeing which of those factors are malleable,” he said. “And probably a lot of it just has to do with improving the quality or the perception of the education that’s being offered.”

Melvoin said the district will inevitably need to face the reality of the landscape, that the general decline will not magically bounce back up to the levels seen 20 years ago, when LAUSD had 750,000 kids enrolled.

“You have to adapt and look at other uses for school property,” he said. “I’ve been a big proponent of trying to build housing on school property. If the school had 2,000 kids and now it has 1,000, rather than trying to get another 1,000 kids who don’t exist anymore, let’s look at building some housing for families or for educators.”

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology. 

The spotlight was on Los Angeles Unified school superintendent Alberto Carvalho Monday when he delivered his first back-to-school speech, promising “accelerating change” across the district.  

“Community reform by nature does not have to be protracted or slow, it can be quick,” said Carvalho in his prepared remarks at the event titled “Imagine the Possibilities” where he committed to “swift and unapologetic” change to how LAUSD operates. 

 “It is with great pride that I welcome all of you to a new school year,” he said. “More importantly, welcome to a new day.” 

Carvalho promised everything from $7 billion in facilities and classroom upgrades to telehealth in schools (via a robot named Pepper) and new magnet programs in a speech that was both encouraging and rooted in real challenges the district faces.

Carvalho acknowledged LAUSD’s declining enrollment, widespread student mental health struggles and concerns about the district’s long-term financial outlook.

“There are very few urban superintendents who know how to do it as well as he — that is he lays out what are the challenges facing the district and ‘what are we going to do about it?’ ” said Dr. Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. “He struck a good balance between a sobering message of where we are and some inspiration.”

At the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles, there was certainly an air of inspiration and flair.

Before Carvalho spoke, performances from students and student groups, including a marching band and mariachi band, filled the room with proud notes. 

When Carvalho took to the stage, he did not initially speak. Instead, the spotlight shone on him while he took slow steps across the stage, arms crossed over his chest. His walk was accompanied by swelling violins, crescendoing from a video intended to galvanize the audience about the importance of education. 

Throughout his speech — crammed with pop culture references (top contenders: Kylie Jenner’s three minute plane ride and Bridgerton season two) — the @LAUSDSup Twitter account pushed out tweets with main points from the address. 

Some Twitter users expressed qualms in replies, heavily juxtaposing the celebratory tone of the event. 

“Teachers feel discourage[d] because they are used and taken advantage of by parents and the district,” Twitter user @JeanettePanthen said in response to this Tweet.

Others felt more promise from Carvalho’s words, especially when he walked through the five “pillars” — “academic excellence, joy and wellness, engagement and collaboration, operational effectiveness and investing in staff — in the LAUSD 2022-26 Strategic Plan. 

Advocates offered generally positive reactions to the speech, but also wanted more details about how Carvalho’s lofty goals would be achieved. 

“The speech clearly conveyed vision and goals,” said Ana Ponce, executive director of GPSN in a statement. “ How this becomes actualized will be important. We are looking forward to the details of implementation, especially implementation at full scale across the whole district.” 

Here are seven key takeaways Carvalho communicated in his speech and at a press conference: 

1. Education will start early …

Carvalho asserted his prioritization of early education, saying LAUSD will transition from a district with a “K-12 possibility” to a “B-14 promise,” birth through at least two years of post-secondary school.

Starting in October the “Born to Learn” campaign will match more than 100,000 newborns with welcome packages and an LAUSD graduation date, so parents will know when to enroll their child. 

This fall, there’s also a plan for 360 new Universal Transitional Kindergarten classrooms to open up, with spots for up to 19,000 4-year-olds. 

2. … and continue past high school

In-person courses for college credit will be available for 225 recently-graduated students. Adult education vocational and apprenticeship preparation programs will soon be launched as well, including a nursing program producing 15 graduates annually. 

3. Closing the Digital Divide

Through a $50 million investment, LAUSD will bring high speed internet to every student and family that needs it, Carvalho told reporters — a plan rolled out in May that advocates have expressed apprehension about. The investment targets more than 60,000 students who don’t have access to high speed internet at home. 

On the commute to school, children will stay connected, too. Over the summer, Wi-Fi was installed on all buses, a move intended to help over 30,000 students maximize the time they can spend studying and completing homework. 

4. What will the district do about the “lost children?”

LAUSD is grappling with high rates of chronic absenteeism, dipping enrollment and an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 students “lost” and unaccounted for on LAUSD enrollment rosters. 

Carvalho said in the week before school starts on Aug. 15, he, his staff and thousands of other individuals will call and knock on doors to get unenrolled and chronically absent children signed up for the school year. The district is also launching a campaign called iAttend, which will focus on promoting high attendance by eliminating barriers to attending school.

Fifteen schools will now offer transportation for students living less than five miles from school, a distance that has not been included in past bus routes. Mobile laundry services, so families can have clean clothes, will be available in each district one to four times a month.

5. Boosting parent engagement and ties to LAUSD

A new Parent Academy will serve 100,000 parents with webinars and resources to equip them with skills and information to support their children. The Adult Education Virtual Academy will also serve about 1,000 students, including working parents, who may not be able to attend in-person classes.  

6. LAUSD staff will get additional support 

Carvalho said there will be a focus on recruitment, development and retention of staff. Through a partnership with the LA County Office of Education, staff will be provided with free counseling services via telehealth, a 24/7 hotline, referrals, and one-on-one therapy. 

The contract with United Teachers Los Angeles, the district’s teachers union, expired at the end of June. Carvalho said he hopes to soon reach a new contract agreement — although he declined to give an estimate for when. 

Twitter users responded to Carvalho’s tweets from the event with more pressure on contract negotiations:  

In a response to one Carvalho tweet, user @writersgrind wrote: “Thanks for the pep talk. I would love a contract that includes a competitive salary, smaller class sizes … Quality teachers will continue to leave the classroom because we have nothing left to give in these conditions.”

7. Upgrades to facilities and classrooms – including eco-friendly changes

Carvalho announced more than $7 billion to upgrade over 2,000 classrooms and nearly 1,000 schools. Projects are either in design or already under construction, providing earthquake safety, accessibility, and “21st century upgrades.”

A $50 million investment will go toward environmental and sustainability upgrades at approximately 20 schools identified, through a “greening index,” with upgrades such new playgrounds and shading. 

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Cari Spencer is a senior at the University of Southern California, originally from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She is studying journalism and sociology.