(Photo via Crenshawfilm.com)

The battle over the fate of South LA’s Crenshaw High School is now over, but a new documentary film from a UC Santa Cruz grad student takes a fresh and hard-edged look at the bitterness and anger that was unleashed when the LA Unified school board voted to reconstitute the school in 2013.

The film, “Crenshaw,” is the graduate thesis project of Lena Jackson, who shot footage in 2012 and 2013 as the debate over Crenshaw’s future was being determined. (See a trailer for the film below.) 

In Jan. 2013, with the support of former superintendent John Deasy, the school board unanimously approved a plan to break Crenshaw into three magnet schools, firing all of the teachers and staff in the “reconstitution” process and making them reapply for their jobs. Deasy argued the school was one of the lowest performers in the distict and in need of drastic change. About half of the staff got their jobs back and the three schools opened the 2013-14 year as magnets.

As the film notes, many in the community viewed the reconstitution as a stripping of South LA’s cultural identity, as well as an unfair targeting of a community with fewer resources to fight the reconstitution than others.

One African-American parent in the film, pointing at the school board during a meeting, says, “You wouldn’t do this in Beverly Hills. You wouldn’t do this in the Valley. But because this is the last predominately black school in LA, you think that it’s OK? Look at these people behind me. It’s not OK. You reconstitute Crenshaw? We’re going to reconstitute you.”

Her remarks encapsulate the sentiment of the film, which focuses on the outrage some students, parents and teachers experienced during the reconstitution. It’s not so much an examination of the pros and cons of reconstitution as it is a look at the resentment invoked in those that opposed it and the insensitivity they perceived from district leaders.

“Sadly, the community ended up being not strong enough to ward off this battle,” Jackson told LA School Report.

Jackson, who is from Washington D.C., earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown in international relations before attending UC Santa Cruz’s graduate film program. Between her time at the two schools, she lived in Los Angeles and had a roommate who was a teacher at LA Unified, which is how Jackson became interested in the district’s issues and Crenshaw.

As part of the graduate program, Jackson spent a year editing, and the film is just now making the rounds. There have been screenings at campuses and other venues in California over the last month, including screenings at Dorsey High, STEM Academy Hollywood, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) headquarters, UCLA and UC Berkley.

Jackson said UTLA President Alex-Caputo Pearl, a former Crenshaw teacher, has been a key supporter of the film, helping her get access to meetings and interviews, as well as helping promote the film. He also spoke at a recent screening at Montague Charter Academy in Pacoima.

“Alex helped me along the entire way. We’ve been in contact every week for the last two years,” Jackson said.

The film features interviews with Caputo-Pearl, as well as Deasy and several Crenshaw teachers, students and parents. At the time of their interviews, Caputo-Pearl was not yet the union president, although he was an active and outspoken union leader.

Caputo-Pearl was one of the teachers who lost his job at Crenshaw, something that ultimately led him and other teachers to file an unfair labor practice charge against the district and Deasy, claiming the reconstitution was really an attempt to get rid of union leaders at the school who posed a threat to Deasy and the district. The film also features the teachers’ complaint, and testimony in the case is still ongoing. 

In the film, Deasy makes the case that Crenshaw had long been one of the lowest performing schools in the district, and the reconstitution was an aggressive effort to help the students. “This is not something that occurred out of the blue,” Deasy said.

While the film ultimately sides with Caputo-Pearl and others that opposed reconstitution, Jackson doesn’t shy away from that fact.

“This side of the story is often not told, the side from the students’ perspective, from the teachers’ perspective, from the parents’ perspective. And I felt committed to trying to bring that to the screen,” Jackson said. “So yes, it may be a little unbalanced but there is a reason for that.”

Jackson also said that other than Deasy, leaders in favor of reconstitution, including late board member Marguerite LaMotte, would not speak to her. Crenshaw is located in the district LaMotte represented for a decade, and the film does feature an emotional speech she made at a school board meeting to a group of Crenshaw parents and students, promising them that the community was “going to get a good school” as a result of the reconstitution. LaMotte passed away in December of 2013.

Jackson said that audiences have had a positive reaction to the film, but also that most are already familiar with the Crenshaw reconstitution. She is considering trying to get the film in festivals around the country and is curious to see the reactions of crowds not as familiar with Crenshaw.

Jackson also said more screenings in California may happen, and she may make the full film available online. Anyone interested should keep an eye on the film’s website for updates.

Crenshaw parent Loutrisha Swafford addressed the crowd at Monday’s event

Even unusually cold temperatures couldn’t dissuade a group of more than 65 Crenshaw High School parents, faculty, staff and students who showed up to rally in front of the school Monday afternoon, many hoisting signs that read “Resources not Reconstitution.”

In a controversial move scheduled for a vote at Tuesday’s Board meeting, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has proposed discontinuing the school’s current “Extended Learning Cultural Model” in order to convert the school into three different magnet schools.

Daryl Narimatsu, LAUSD’s Administrator of Operations for ISIC, observed the rally from a distance and would only say that LAUSD Public Information Officer Ellen Morgan would be issuing a press release.

Those who oppose the plan say current Crenshaw teachers would have to reapply for their jobs.

“Teachers reapply? We’re not going to tolerate it,” said Loutrisha Swafford, a member of the Crenshaw High School Coalition of Parents whose son is a student at the school. “They want to bring three proposed magnet programs on us. We didn’t know about these. They were pushed on us.”

Amid chants of, “We want justice for all students,” and “Black and brown students rising up,” some beat drums while others stomped and swayed to the beat as they made their voices heard.

Swafford, who said she also has nieces and nephews at the school, was one of many who took to the microphone to tell the crowd they have an obligation to speak out.

She and other parents in attendance said they found out about the proposed changes at the school from their children.

“We must stand and stand for the betterment of our kids’ education.”

Anita Parker, a Crenshaw High School senior, spoke of the school’s lack of resources, including “broken lunch tables” and classrooms filled to the brim with students forced to learn while sitting on the floor.

Another student, Avrie Blackwell, said she was disheartened by Deasy’s proposal.

“It kills everything we’ve worked for.”

Christina Lewis, a special education math teacher at the high school, said she was  concerned about what reconstituting the school would mean for teachers and said she was “so afraid for these students who have made so many strides.”

Angelita Parker stood on the sidelines shouting out chants with others in the crowd. She was one of the parents on hand who was outraged about the plans for the school’s future and said even though her daughter is a graduating senior, “I’m thinking of the other students that are still here.”

Some members of the community with no direct ties to the school also showed up, including Carol David who relocated to the area from the Westside and pointed out that “I’m here because we need public schools.”

A vote on the issue is scheduled to take place at Tuesday’s board meeting. The coalition from Crenshaw planned to carpool from the high school in order to show up in force at the LAUSD board meeting.

The rally was called by a group called the Crenshaw High School Coalition of Parents, whose efforts were aided by a press release sent out by the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

For additional reading:  Los Angeles Wants to “Reconstitute” Pioneering High School Despite Major Gains (Labor Notes), Parents Challenge Crenshaw High Shake-Up (LA Times), Parents to Hear About Future of Crenshaw High School (KPCC), In Los Angeles, a Promising and Progressive School Reform Plan Is Under Threat (Dana Goldstein)

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