KPCC News In Brief

Troubled Locke High School re-opens as charter school under Green Dot

Administrators outside one Los Angeles public high school put out a new sign for the first day of school yesterday. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez says its message is “Under New Management.”

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez: Teachers’ frustration over low test scores, poor maintenance, and student fights at Locke High School last year led to a revolution. Most of the faculty voted to secede, and to reorganize Locke as a charter school under Green Dot Public Schools.

Math teacher Fernando Avila, who’s worked at Locke for nine years, says people at the school have urged changes for a long time.

Fernando Avila: I remember when I was here, maybe my second and third year, the state would come by and threaten and say, “If the API doesn’t improve, we’re going to take over the school.” And there would be a few number that would be like, “You know what, bring it on, come on in, get rid of everybody, rehire, start new, start fresh, let’s give these kids a better education by getting rid of a lot of the teachers that weren’t doing their jobs.”

Guzman-Lopez: Uniforms are mandatory for students. More security personnel patrol the campus. Green Dot has divided the 2800-student school into six semi-autonomous campuses. The company runs small start-up campuses in working class neighborhoods. This is the first large campus Green Dot’s converted into a charter.

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• September 8, 2008 7:08 PM
• Categories: Education