The Echo

In contrast to recent events in Rhode Island, the LA school board voted last night to turn over management of 30 schools to non-profit education groups, including some that are comprised of parents, teachers, and administrators already in place.  Of note, the school board was instrumental in creating a mechanism by which communities could propose plans for the operation of their schools.  And the board resoundingly, with the superintendents recommendation, reaffirmed many of those plans. In a small number of cases, the board chose operaters other than those recommended by administration.

 Here's the latest: from http://www.dailybreeze.com/.  Click on the story to link back.

The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday approved a plan to turn over the operation of 30 campuses to nonprofit educational groups, but most of the groups are led by teachers and administrators already in place.



After a 4 1/2-hour meeting that featured nearly 50 speakers, the board approved most of Superintendent Ramon Cortines' recommendations for 12 of the district's most problematic schools and 18 new ones for the 2010-11 academic year.


The vote represented the first round of Cortines' plan to turn over about a third of the district's schools to nonprofit groups with the goal of boosting student achievement.


The groups were selected from among 85 proposals submitted to the district under the Public School Choice Program adopted last year.


"Today we launch a new era at LAUSD of quality, of leadership and accountability - something that this board had the courage to elevate and make real," said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who last year introduced the School Choice Program resolution.


"Today we are no longer the insular institution we once were," she said. "But more important, what today represents is that mediocrity is not OK, and that we place high value first and foremost on quality education for all students."

In most cases, members backed Cortines' recommendations, but at some schools - such as Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy, Esteban Torres High School and Griffith-Joyner Elementary School - the board selected different operators.


"We need to act now for all our students to succeed," Cortines said at the start of the meeting. "We must ensure our students are successful from pre-K to adult schools."


After several weeks of review, Cortines last week made his recommendations for each of the affected campuses - with the proposed operators including charter school companies; collaborations of parents, teacher and local district administrators; and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.


"This has been a process of inclusion, collaboration, transparency and transformation at all levels - within the staff rooms, community centers and living rooms of everyone involved," Cortines said.


The plan to allow outside groups to govern individual campuses angered some education advocates, including the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles. On Tuesday, about 200 teachers and parents protested outside the board meeting.


But given the board's approval of the process, UTLA helped some groups of teachers and local school administrators submit management proposals, and those groups make up the bulk of Cortines' recommendations.


UTLA President A.J. Duffy said last week he was pleased that Cortines had recommended that the parent/teacher/administrator teams operate more than three-quarters of the schools up for bid. But he called on the school board to reject the superintendent's recommendation that outside operators, such as charter school companies, be given control of some campuses.


"We want the school board members to review all the teacher/parent plans the superintendent did not recommend," Duffy said. "Local communities wrote plans. Parents made their choice. Both of these should be respected."

The board's vote was preceded by dozens of speakers lobbying for their own particular group. Most were supportive of the concept of allowing different groups to operate schools in hopes of bringing new ideas into the district.


"I always hoped this day would come," teacher Roberta Benjamin told board members.


The school choice program "is the first step to breaking down the wall between charter public schools and non-charter public schools," she said.


Former teacher Yvette King-Berg said that no matter which side you were on, "the bar is being set higher" by allowing outside groups to manage certain campuses.


Former U.S. Rep. Esteban E. Torres, whose name graces an East Los Angeles high school, said the principal goal of the Public School Choice program is to develop the kind of schools "the community wants."


Although there was disagreement among some groups over the operators of particular schools, board member Steven Zimmer said he was impressed with all the proposals that were submitted.


"This is not about politics," he said. "It's not about pressure. It's not about power. It's not about land. It's not about facilities. It's about our children and our families and this could be about hope. Because there was hope in the living rooms and classrooms and community rooms where these plans were being written."