By Peter Jamison

Charter-school founder Steve Barr will run for Los Angeles mayor in 2017, opening up a potentially challenging front for incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti in what has so far shaped up as an all but uncontested re-election bid.

Barr, a Silver Lake resident and darling of education-reform advocates who has not previously held elected office, said he has grown impatient with what he sees as Garcetti’s passivity in the face of a worsening public-education crisis.

He said that though he plans to draw attention to other measures of urban decline, such as L.A.’s rising crime rate and growing homeless population, the focus of his campaign will be innovation and improvement in the nation’s second-largest school system.

“The school district – and I’m saying this as a big fan of the school district, as a parent in the school district – in some ways is a little bit like an alcoholic who hasn’t bottomed out yet,” Barr said. “It’s getting better, but we can’t afford as a city to just let this thing linger out there, because it’s not just affecting them anymore. It’s affecting our city and it has for a long time.”

Barr said he would file paperwork to run Monday. His entry into the race is likely to revive debate around a recurrent theme in Los Angeles politics: the relationship between the Los Angeles Unified School District and City Hall. L.A.’s mayor, unlike those in Chicago or New York City, has no formal authority over the school district.

To read the full story in the Los Angeles Times, click here. 

Steve Barr (Photo credit: Kris Krug / via Flickr)

By Caroline Bermudez

When Steve Barr founded Green Dot Public Schools, a network of charter schools in the Los Angeles area, the district had gone more than 30 years without creating a new high school even as enrollment skyrocketed. And he did so in a no-holds-barred fashion. For example, in 2008, after the school district refused to let Green Dot turn around Locke High, a struggling school in the Watts neighborhood, a New Yorker profile of Barr described his effort as “the first charter group in the country to seize a high school in a hostile takeover.”

Green Dot has since grown to 18 schools in Los Angeles, outperforming neighboring schools on every metric, from attendance and test scores to graduation and college enrollment.

Although Barr left Green Dot in 2012, he has remained involved in education. He founded Future Is Now, which organizes teachers to become leaders in changing schools. He has also partnered with United Teachers Los Angeles to create schools and helped to build Green Dot New York, now University Prep, with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

In a wide-ranging conversation displaying his trademark outspokenness, Barr talked about his possible entry into the political fray—this time as a potential mayoral candidate. Although he has worked on political campaigns since graduating college, Barr has never run for public office. He also talked about his frustrations with education reformers and how his wife’s nascent teaching career informs his efforts to tackle California’s teacher shortage.

Tell me about what drives you in this work.

My dad left when I was 2. [Barr’s mother] should have gone to college, but she entered a horrible marriage. I don’t think my mom ever made more than a thousand bucks a month. I was a foster kid for a year. The first time I had health insurance was when I got a job at UPS at age 18.

When I was 14, my mom moved my little brother and I from San Jose schools to Cupertino schools up north, so I could go to high school with the same people who became Hewlett-Packard engineers. All of a sudden, I was around kids who talked about going to college as if it was their birthright.

That high school we went to, still about 2,500 kids — and back in that time we were still a manufacturing-based society — I would hear teachers say, “Twenty percent of you are going to do great, go on to college and become lawyers and doctors, … and the vast majority of you, as long as you can read and write, there’s plenty of jobs where you can raise a family and buy a home.” I had one of those jobs at UPS. The biggest financially tough decision I ever made in my life was leaving UPS and going to college.

My first two weeks at UC Santa Barbara — and I’ve gotta bring in (my stuff) in my Hefty bag and my Rambler station wagon— and somewhere in the second week of living in the dorms, having kids with gold cards and brand new cars, I had this epiphany. And this epiphany was I realized that I had put these kids on a pedestal subconsciously.

I thought they were better than me because they had dads or they were wealthy. I came to the realization that I’m not only as good as they are, I’m in a lot of ways better because I’ve come farther and by myself.

Why are you considering a mayoral run?

The mayor [Eric Garcetti] doesn’t even know there’s an education problem and will openly tell people that it’s not his problem.

The ultimate transformation in a city like this has got to be led not by seven school board members elected by less than 9 percent of the voters, or Eli Broad, but it’s got to be a mayor pushing it, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be mayoral control.

The mayoral elections are so boring; they’re about nothing. “I don’t have any opinions or I’m not going to touch it because it will wreck my future career.” Wow, I mean how undynamic is that? The most dynamic city in the country, and you have the most undynamic leadership. It’s brutal.

What frustrates you about education reformers?

One of the things we miss as reformers is when you have a successful school, there’s one basic ingredient: great teachers. And great teachers go to where work conditions are best. They’ll put in their year or two, but they’re either going to leave the profession or they’re going to go seek employment where they’re valued.

LA’s a little bit different than almost all of the other cities. All of the reform here has come from the bottom up. I think the problem now is that there’s not a lot of activists doing it, it’s becoming very donor-driven. So Eli Broad puts out a plan instead of somebody in the field and everyone’s got to fit into that plan — it’s OK, it’s nice that there’s support out there, but I think if you go to the troops, they’re a little beaten down.

I get excited when charter school people run for stuff. I hate it when I talk to somebody who does this work and they go, “Yeah, I like all the schools, I just don’t like the politics.”

So charter schools are bad at politics?

First of all, they think they invented everything. What they’ve invented is usually a singular vision you can buy into and really great work conditions. There’s an arrogance we’ve created. All I did was find good people and make sure they were taken care of. When I watch my wife, what she goes through, it’s the opposite. The least important person in LAUSD is the teacher.

Your wife is a teacher? How does she like teaching?

My wife used to be a reporter and took 10 years off to have kids, and at mid life, at age 37, says she’s going to become a teacher at LAUSD. She’s a first-year middle school teacher in Huntington Park.

She loves the kids, she loves the teaching part, just the lack of support is overwhelming. She hates [that].

Nobody’s going into teaching and it’s not because of the political fighting, it’s because the work conditions suck, the training sucks. Those are both fixable.

Do you have any possible solutions to address the shortage?

So I wrote a bill — which was fun because I’ve never written a bill [SB 933] — to create the California Teacher Corps. I know a lot of people like to yell at each other about tenure. We’re not going have anybody to fire pretty soon. If you want better teachers, grow them. Don’t blame the ones on the front lines.

The way you learn to become a teacher is you’re a resident or apprentice for a year under a master teacher. And they’ll pay you half salary and benefits and we’re going to give you $10,000. The $10,000 fits perfectly into a Cal State [teacher] practitioner-based degree.

Then you have to commit to three or four years of service. The district would look at their 10-year outlook for the profession — this is forcing them to think long-term, which they don’t do. They would put up a third of that roughly $40,000 to $50,000 bid to pay for the apprentice, the state would put up a third, and the federal government would put up a third.

The good thing about the local and the state [contributions], it’s already been outlaid in Prop. 98 money and Title II money. There’s $7 billion already outlaid for this. We’re asking for $100 million over the first five years. [State Sen.] Ben Allen’s carrying it, I’ve got reformers, I’ve got CTA [California Teachers Association] signed off on it.

The next bill I’m writing right now is the California Principals Corps. We need 100,000 new teachers, we also need 20,000 new school leaders. School leaders are a bigger problem than teachers. Let’s provide housing subsidies. This will create the biggest residency program in the country.

And in the spring, when it passes, [we’re] going to get on a bus … barnstorm every university and any military base and recruit the first class of the California Teacher Corps. Let’s really target men of color. How do you make California a place to teach?

Caroline Bermudez is Education Post‘s senior writer and a former reporter at Chronicle of Philanthropy.

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Steve Barr’s Quest to Save a New Orleans High School (and Create Pilots in Los Angeles)
Barr is working in a behind-the-scenes manner in Los Angeles (not his usual modus operandi) to get approval for “pilot schools” that he supports in the district. EdWeek

What Makes a Good L.A. Mayor
Being a good politician is essential for winning a mayoral election. But the qualities that make a good politician are not necessarily those that make a good mayor. LA Times Editorial

Black Students’ Learning Gaps Start Early, Report Says
African-American public school students in Los Angeles County demonstrate significant learning gaps by second grade; those gaps widen with age and lead to the highest school dropout rate among all races, according to a report released Monday. LA Times

A Push Toward More Computer Science Education
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High School Graduation Rate up Sharply, but Red Flags Abound
For the first time in decades, the United States is making steady gains in the number of high school students earning diplomas, putting it on pace to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, according to a new analysis released Monday.  But the good news comes with a big asterisk. Reuters

Rebranding Public Schools as New Charter Schools
Charter schools are a silver bullet for urban education. But not for any of the reasons you might think. EdWeek Commentary

Pediatricians Oppose School Suspension, Expulsion
A group representing pediatricians says disciplining students with out-of-school suspension or expulsion is counterproductive to school goals and should only be used on case by case basis. LA Daily News

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I had the chance to watch the first two episodes and I have to say that I liked it — not because it’s necessarily accurate or even particularly new or original (Locke High School, anyone?) but because it’s a good reminder of the day-to-day struggles, the retail work of making a broken school better.  This is messy, one-kid-at-a-time work done by teachers, counselors, and administrators, and so many of the real setbacks and successes have nothing to do with learning geometry or American history. The fact that it’s a charter conversion — and that so few charter operators get involved in school turnarounds — may be distracting or even troubling for some.

The show opens like any show set in New Orleans these days — street scenes from Treme, muted trumpets, etc. And some of the opening credits are similarly familiar to those of who’ve watched a lot of urban school documentaries (or reality television): sweeping shots of the new principal (baby-faced 48-year-old Dr. Thompson), standing cross-armed in front of the school.

The new teachers include both the stereotypical blonde first-year teacher from Duke (of course she’ll cry, but will she last?) and the somewhat less stereotypical Ms. Campbell, who graduated from the school and helps explain the kids and the culture to the outsiders on the faculty (and among the viewers).

The school is extremely small — 370 students — though the building seems much larger.  The security guards are armed, in khaki uniforms.  The kids are big and often seem immature until you learn what they’re dealing with or where they’ve come from. A lot of the action is in the halls and the counselors’ offices.

Having written about the Locke High School rescue effort, I’m jealous of the access that the camera crew seems to have gotten — including closed circuit TV footage — and can’t help but feeling a sense of deja vu.

There’s the ‘worst school in America” rhetoric, and the charter conversion.

There’s Steve Barr, the eternal outsider, with his baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes.  The chunky black Clark Kent specs are new, but the rhetoric is the same.

There’s Dr. T — a tough if flawed leader who sometimes lets his temper and his need for respect from students get the best of him — in place of Zeus Cubias, the Locke High School administrator who’s great with kids but sometimes loses track of his role as instructional leader (and has since departed from Locke).

What’s different from the Locke story is that there aren’t so far any teachers left over from the “old” school.* Roughly a third of the teachers at Locke were holdovers from the previous regime.   A veteran teacher shows up mysteriously in the second episode and there’s a JROTC guy who might be a holdover, but that’s about it.

And of course, we still don’t know if the McDonogh turnaround will work.  Locke was recently renewed after five years, but I have no idea how closely the Oprah show tracks with what was actually going on in New Orleans during the time period  (Fall 2012) being depicted, or whether things have gotten better or worse since then.

The show trailer caused a lot of concern and upset from the community when it was aired a few weeks ago.  For a little more about that, here.

For some, the absence of unionized teachers will be distracting or even dismaying.  What if Dr. T. makes a bad decision and nobody questions him?  Who’s looking out for the teachers?  What happened to all the teachers who were there before?

For others, the show will highlight the lack of charter operators willing to get involved in turnarounds — that Barr (and Green Dot) are doing dirty work that almost none of the other charter operators are willing to do.  Charter advocates strut around talking about no excuses as if what they’re doing is some sort of educational SEAL Team Six, but they don’t want to risk their reputations or funding to do the hardest job out there.

I’m hoping to talk with Barr and with the producers of the show to get more information about how the story was shaped and how it compares to Locke.  Meantime, check it out on Saturday — it comes on right after the Beyonce show.

*Barr says that while it isn’t made clear in the early episodes I viewed, 7 of the 24 teachers from the old version of the school were kept on.

Previous posts:  Oprah Channel to Feature LA Reformer, Movie Trailer Inflames Charter Meeting, Steve Barr: Beyond Charters,

One key aspect of the emotion-filled event was the first public showing of a trailer for the forthcoming Oprah Winfrey Network reality series, “Blackboard Wars.” You can read all about it at The Lens.

The three-minute video begins with dramatic footage (a 2003 incident in which suspects brought an AK-47 into the school and began shooting), as well as scenes of fistfights and security takedowns. the implementation of school uniforms and tuck-in requirements. There are dramatic graphics  (“Nobody believes he can do it.”) Also depicted: overwhelmed teachers, a strong-willed new principal, angry community members — and glimmers of improvement.

Previous post: Oprah Network Features NOLA Turnaround Story

• California Teachers Association, a powerful force in Sacramento: The LA Times goes long on the power and influence of the CTA:

The union views itself as “the co-equal fourth branch of government,” said Oakland Democrat Don Perata, a former teacher who crossed swords with the group when he was state Senate leader.

The article is highly recommended. LA Times

• Charter school group’s chief blamed for 2010 cheating scandal: Two separate investigations have concluded that John Allen, founder and head of Crescendo schools, asked principals and teachers to show students the state standardized tests before taking them. The Times calls it “one of the most brazen cheating scandals in the nation.” LA Times

• Mayor hopes his Partnership for Schools survives his exit from office: Antonio Villaraigosa’s tenure as mayor is almost at a close, just as his set of schools ends its first five-year term. He hopes the schools will be made permanent, and be overseen by the next Mayor. UTLA President Warren Fletcher isn’t so sure. Daily News

• Teachers on the defensive: A Frank Bruni column in the New York Times focusing on school reform and the upcoming film, “Won’t Back Down,” is mediocre but redeems itself with two good quotes, the first by Mayor Villaraigosa about the unions: “The notion that seniority drives every decision — assignments, promotions, layoffs — is unsustainable.” The second is by AFT President Randi Weingarten about the recent antipathy towards teachers unions: “We bear a lot of responsibility for this… We were focused — as unions are — on fairness and not as much on quality.” New York Times

• How to keep good teachers from leaving: Grand View Elementary teacher Sujata Bhatt writes, in an LA Times op-ed, that good teachers need to be brought into leadership roles within schools in order to get them to stay. The Times neglects to disclose that Bhatt is on the design team for Steve Barr’s new group of pilot schools, which aims to do just what Bhatt is advocating. LA Times

• Long Beach charter could close after “fun” curriculum leads to lackluster test scores: Note that the fun is in quotes. KPCC

• Alahambra Unified helps students make a fresh start: A nice profile on the “Fresh Start” program, a three-hour-a-day summer course that prepares students for high school. KPCC

• LAUSD truancy-diversion program keeps violators out of the courts: A new program will, according to Barbara Jones, “shift the focus from punishing troubled students to resolving the problems that result in them frequently skipping school.” Daily News

Steve Barr

There was a time when Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr — the man responsible for the 2008 hostile takeover of Locke High School and a frequent critic of the teachers union and the Board — was seen by many as the barbarian at the gate.

Now, Barr has a daughter in 2nd grade at Ivanhoe Elementary, one of the better public schools in the city, and it seems as if he and LAUSD have met halfway. He and a small group of UTLA teachers will partner with the district to start one or more pilot schools – schools that will have more autonomy than normal public schools but remain within the district.

“My theory of change was that charter schools could be good research and development for what a district could be,” Barr said in an interview earlier this week. “It was always about changing LAUSD– not just creating a bunch of charter schools.”

Kathy Haggerman teaches AP World History and health at Fairfax High. She and another teacher are working with Barr to put a new pilot school on the Fairfax campus.

“I come from insurance industry,” Haggerman told me the other day. “I look at teaching, and I’m horrified. It’s not necessarily a model that rewards excellence.”

At first, Haggerman started talking to Barr about turning Fairfax High into a Charter, just like he did with Locke. But then she decided she’d rather work within LAUSD.

Her shcool would hire UTLA teachers, but under a different contract, one that would have to be renewed every year. There would be no tenure.

“We don’t have to keep anyone that is ineffective,” said Haggerman. “Most teachers are great, but the ones that are terrible can wreck a school.”

There are two other groups like Haggerman’s that are working with Barr to start new schools– one on the Eastside (Silver Lake or Los Feliz, near Ivanhoe), and one on the Westside (Venice or Mar Vista). They are still in the early design phases, meeting with teachers and community members, but Barr hopes that one or more of them will open in the Fall of next year.

Sujata Bhatt, a teacher at Grand View Elementary, is on the design team for the Westside school. She wants to design a school with an entirely different approach to curriculum.

“I think it’s time to rethink our schools,” she told me. “Traditional textbook-based instruction isn’t really serving our kids. Kids are growing up in a video game world They need to be engaged in a different way.”

Teachers like Bhatt and Haggerman see no reason why charters should be the only schools doing the innovating.

Placing the new schools in middle class neighborhoods is something of a new strategy for Barr, who placed most of his Green Dot schools in lower-income areas. He pointed to his own neighborhood, where parents love Ivanhoe (housing prices are famously at a premium near the school) but don’t have any comparable choices when it comes to middle school and high school– unless you count charters or private schools.

“People can’t afford private,” he said. “The district has got to be more proactive or else theyr’e going to be swallowed up by charters.”

There are already a handful of charter schools– Larchmont, Citizens of the World, and Los Feliz– that attract middle-class parents.

But Barr has a more ambitious goal: to make sure the middle class has an incentive to invest in public education.

“We’re looking at tax initiatives to turn the system around,” he said, “if you don’t have the middle class involved, I don’t know how you’re gonna get public buy-in. I don’t know how the system changes without the middle class.”