An open letter from four members of the Community Coalition Youth Leaders to the LA Unified school board, which is considering a resolution tomorrow from Mónica García and Steve Zimmer to enhance support for improving the district’s college-ready graduation rate. 

Dear Board Members:

On behalf of the thousands of students in South Los Angeles, we are frustrated and angry. We can’t believe adults are still debating whether or not we should be college-ready.

We can’t believe adults are still saying that “A-G” college-prep classes are too much for us to handle.

We are writing to let the district know, that our “Equity on A-G” resolution, is a step forward towards bringing quality education for all.

Ten years ago the LAUSD school board took a bold step forward by agreeing that all students should be prepared for college. The members’ decision helped move the school district in the right direction, and there has been progress towards this goal. But we shouldn’t give up now, just because the task seems challenging.

You have the opportunity to reaffirm this goal and can implement solutions to accomplish it. Students in school districts across the country receive this college prep curriculum, and there is no reason why we can’t also receive these same opportunities! We strongly urge you to make the right choice on this resolution and allow L.A. Unified to continue moving forward on a path towards equity.

We look at our stories and reflect on how our path towards college has been a fight for justice.

Timothy is a senior at Crenshaw High School. He grew up in a single parent household, and at times his family was homeless, trying to make ends meet. His mother always taught him that education would be the key to his success. But unfortunately, he failed his Algebra 1 class in the 9th grade. When he received his 10th grade schedule, his counselor placed him in geometry with no plan to retake Algebra 1.

Instead of giving him an A-G course, his counselor placed him in Choir, for the second year in the row. An elective course, he did not need.

Luckily for Timothy, he went to the Community Coalition’s after-school program, where he received one-on-one academic counseling. With a counselor, he created a personalized action plan to ensure that he could pass his “A-G” courses. Once he retook his failed course, he received the extra tutoring and coaching to pass.

These are the types of supports we need to see in our schools. Timothy is now on the path to college. But his story is not unique. Timothy’s story teaches us that when we are given the right support, we can succeed.

It’s not fair to say that we are failing to pass these courses. It’s that our schools are failing to prepare us to succeed in them. It’s time that the district takes another bold step by investing in our schools, by providing the resources to pass “A-G” classes. 

We believe the “Equity is Justice Resolution” that was passed last year goes hand-in-hand with this new resolution because it directs more resources to the highest need schools. And it’s in the highest need schools where students are struggling the most to become college-ready graduates.

Tomorrow, we expect a unanimous vote. We need the district leadership to know, that college-readiness is a priority for Los Angles Unified. Our future is at stake. We need adults to believe in us again, and it starts with leadership. 

Thank you to board member Monica Garcia and board member Steve Zimmer for your support and for taking action on our needs.

We call on board members McKenna, Galatzan, Ratliff, Kayser and Vladovic to believe in our potential and vote yes. We will be there with hundreds of our peers, parents and community allies in support. We refuse to wait another decade.

With hope,

Erika Gonzalez, 12th Grader at Fremont High

Christian Moton, 12th Grader at Dorsey High

Timothy Walker, 12th Grader at Crenshaw High

Jathan Melendez, 11th Grader at Manual High

(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.

Board Member Bennett Kayser

At the LAUSD Board meeting this Tuesday, March 19, Board Member Bennett Kayser is slated to introduce a resolution that would create new rules governing how new magnet schools are created — and who has the authority to approve them.

Under the Kayser proposal, a majority of the full-time, unionized teaching staff at a school has to approve of the magnet model before anyone can write a magnet plan.

The resolution comes on the heels of LAUSD’s January reconstitution of the low-performing Crenshaw High School into a collection of three magnets, which Board members (including Kayser) approved 6-0 despite union and community resistance.

Kayser’s chief of staff, Sarah Bradshaw, says that the proposal doesn’t have much to do with what happened at Crenshaw High. “Crenshaw already happened and this is going forward,” Bradshaw said.

Under current procedures like the ones used for Crenshaw, Superintendent John Deasy led the decision, which was approved by the Board with six votes (Richard Valdovic was absent) despite dramatic opposition from certain Crenshaw parents, students, and community members.

The teachers union was another vocal opponent of the switch to magnet schools. After the Board approved Crenshaw’s magnet transition, UTLA sent out a scathing press release that criticized the district for “using police intimidation against parents and illegal, racially-discriminatory anti-union practices against employees to push its destabilization and reconstitution plan.” (See release here.)

Kayser’s resolution, if it passes, would create a more complicated and nuanced approval process for magnets than the one currently in place. It could reduce the number of new magnet schools created because teachers sometimes have to reapply for their jobs when their school becomes a magnet. It’s likely that there are teachers who would be reluctant to approve that kind of change.

Additionally, the resolution proposes that before writing a magnet plan for a school, there must first be a community meeting and a parent survey to get input on whether the community wants a magnet school, and if so, what kind of magnet.

The magnet proposal, which must be written with input from parents and teachers, would then go to the Board for final approval. (See the full text of Kayser’s resolution in the meeting agenda here.)

Superintendent Deasy is also scheduled on the Board’s meeting agenda to give an update on the magnet schools program. LA School Report reached out to the district for more information about this, but we didn’t get any more details.

Previous posts: Crenshaw Reconstituted, Aspire Squeaks By; Crenshaw Protest Heads to Board Decision

24th Street Elementary School the Target of New Parent Petition
Parents at an underperforming Los Angeles elementary school are seeking to wrest control from the nation’s second-largest school system a week after parents in a rural California community made history by taking over a failing school there. Reuters
See also: LA Weekly, LA School Report

Hebrew-English Charter School in Van Nuys Approved by LAUSD
A proposed Hebrew-English charter school in Van Nuys won the approval Tuesday of the LAUSD board, which also OK’d the renewal of two landmark charters and the conditional approval of a third. LA Daily News

Funding Schools Fairly
Gov. Jerry Brown will have to tread carefully if he wants his proposal for revamping education funding both to be fair and to work for the ultimate good of the schools. LA Times Editorial

Arne Duncan Eyes NCLB Waiver for Handful of Calif. Districts
The U.S. Department of Education is giving serious consideration to offering a special, district-level waiver from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act to just a handful of districts in California. EdWeek

L.A. County Supervisors Defer Vote on Storm Water Cleanup Fee
The Los Angeles Unified School District submitted a protest, as did a number of the county’s smaller school districts. LA Times

Budget Dustup Looms Over Prop. 39 Energy Money as Part of School Guarantee
The non-partisan Legislative Analyst raised strong objections Monday to the Brown administration’s plan to build into the state’s constitutional guarantee for schools $450 million in money earmarked for energy efficiency projects. SI&A Cabinet Report

Read below for a rundown of the key votes, quotes, and links — including two Board members’ changed votes on Aspire — or skip below to Twitter updates from the event itself.

Resolutions, Postponed & Approved

Dr. Richard Valdovic was absent from the meeting, apparently the latest victim of the flu. It was perhaps for that reason that Board member Marguerite LaMotte postponed her resolution to limit the school board president’s term to two years (see: LaMotte Proposes Limit to Garcia Presidency), which surely would have needed Vladovic’s vote to pass.

Board member Steve Zimmer also postponed his resolution about teacher evaluations for the umpteenth time, saying that he wanted to wait until after UTLA voted on the new teacher evaluation agreement. Voting is currently taking place, and results should be on Saturday (see: Teachers Set to Vote on Evaluation).

The Board did manage to pass a resolution in favor of speedy dismissal of teachers who “prey on children” by a vote of 5-1.  Board Member Lamotte was the sole dissenting vote.

Charter Approvals*

No less than 20 charter schools were up for approval (Board Preview: Charters, Dismissals, Tenure).Most were approved with little or no discussion.

One that did draw discussion was Extera, which was approved by the Board against the Superintendent’s office’s recommendation. Deasy suggested that Extera, which only recently opened its first school, wasn’t quite ready to expand since it didn’t have enough data to be judged by. But the Board was unmoved by these concerns, and Deasy seemed unsurprised when it voted 3-2 to approve Extera no. 2.

Board member Tamar Galatzan expressed a concern that the board had “created this bizarre policy where if you open your second school before your test scores are in [from the first school], you’re golden.”

Galatzan also expressed reservations over Lashon Charter, a new Hebrew / English dual language school slated to open in the Van Nuys area that Galatzan represents.

Although she said she couldn’t find a reason not to support it, she worried that it would be a “private school masquerading as a public school,” since only one ethnic group – Jewish people – would be likely to apply.

“I just want us to keep an eye on these programs,” she said. “If the only kids going there are white Israeli kids from the Valley.”

In the LA Daily News, she’s quoted saying “This is a choice that parents should make, and it’s called private school.”

Two schools proposed by Aspire charter schools were denied, even though the Superintendent’s office had recommended their approval and Aspire had recently won a federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant from the US Department of Education.  The Board deadlocked 3-3, with Vladovic absent.

*Update: At the end of the meeting, two Board members — Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser — changed their votes, so the two Aspire schools were approved after all.

Crenshaw

The planned protest against the Crenshaw reconstitution drew about 15 parents and students, who chanting things like, “Hey Deasy, it’s easy, put Crenshaw students first,” (see LA Times, KPCC)

But the real action was inside in the meeting, where about 30 parents and students showed up to speak out against the plan. (For more background on the fight, see: Crenshaw Protest Heads to Board Decision).

Parents accused the board of “opening the door for the privatization of our schools,” and demanded to have a say in the future of the school. “This is so wrong what you’re doing,” said one female student. “You haven’t even asked the students.” Said a parent: “You wouldn’t do this in Beverly Hills. You wouldn’t do this in the Valley.”

“This is not about blame, this not about shame,” he said. “Students at Crenshaw have the lowest achievement rate of any school in LAUSD… I visited the school 13 times in last year, and the quality of instruction is nowhere near what it needs to be.”

Parents and students sat stone-faced as Deasy listed various benchmarks which Crenshaw High has failed to meet – attendance, enrollment, graduation and test scores, which unlike the District as a whole are getting worse instead of better. Deasy argued the reconstitution plan was designed to help the school, not hurt it.

“We will put more resources and more personnel into the school and attract more students,” he promised. “Every single student who attends Crenshaw will continue to, and staff will continue [to stay employed]. The most successful model in LA has been the magnet programs.”

Next to speak was Board member Marguerite LaMotte, whose District 1 includes Crenshaw High, and who has often times opposed Deasy, but this time found herself on his side.

“Crenshaw has been a political mystery to me,” she said, sounding truly pained. “There’ve been lies, there’ve been secrets. And I’m angry. Because I live in the community. I want people to say, ‘I want to go to Crenshaw.'”

She continued, speaking directly to the audience: “I’ve never stood against you before, but we’re going to get a quality school.”

The rest of the Board praised LaMotte for her emotional speech, and then voted unanimously in favor of the plan. The audience immediately stood up and chanted, “The fight is not over! We will take over!” as they filed out of the room, while LaMotte watched in apparent dismay.

In the KPCC story on the Board meeting, LaMotte was quoted as saying “I want to know why anybody would want their child to go to a broken school?”

Previous posts: Board Preview: Charters, Dismissals, Tenure, LaMotte Proposes Limit to Garcia Presidency, Controversial Grant Approval Measure Passes, 4-3, School Board Round-Up, School Board To California Voters: Send Money

Parents, Teachers, Students Oppose Crenshaw High Restructure Plan
Parents, students and teachers plan to rally in front of Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters Tuesday in protest of a proposal to restructure low-performing Crenshaw High School. LA Times
See also: KPCC, LA School Report

Districts Preparing Their Own Request for NCLB Waiver
They’re hoping that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be impressed by their size, serving a million schoolchildren, and their willingness to agree to conditions that Gov. Jerry Brown and the State Board of Education rejected. EdSource Today

One in Five of New Charter Schools Are in California
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LAUSD Wants an Exemption From Proposed Water Tax
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A Wing and a Prayer
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Parents and Community Can Play Key Roles in School Success
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How to Keep Talented Teachers From Leaving
New teachers face high-pressure demands, with little support, such that more than half leave the profession within the first five years. These teachers need to see opportunities for career advancement, better compensation, and meaningful evaluation and professional development. Christian Science Monitor

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)

Former San Gabriel Student Hosts Bullying Prevention Day
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Parents Challenge Crenshaw High Shake-Up
Los Angeles school district officials received a frequently skeptical and occasionally hostile reception Tuesday night when they met with parents and others to explain their plans to restructure low-performing Crenshaw High School. LA Times

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County School Board Hears Einstein Charter Proposal
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Ex-Gang Member Says He Survived Shooting to Make a Difference in Kids’ Lives
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Teacher Says District Has Gone Too Far
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Abuse Records Don’t Follow Some School Workers
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LA Unified Building 15 Large Campus Clinics for Students, Public
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Cornerstones of Federal Compliance Called Barriers to Innovation
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The Good and Bad of Changes Coming to Crenshaw High
The pitched battle for the future of Crenshaw High School, one of the last heavily black schools in LAUSD, is both heartening and troubling. KCET Op-Ed

It Is Time for the LAUSD to Create a Trade-Tech Diploma
In recent years the LAUSD has focused its curriculum almost entirely on preparing students for college. While attempting to prepare every student for college is certainly an admirable and understandable goal, it is not a realistic one. Huffington Post Opinion