53 Schools Added to Reform Program

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to allow 53 more schools to join its community-based reform program, a year-old effort to shift power from the district’s central bureaucracy to local schools.

The schools will join 34 campuses currently piloting the reform plan, which was devised over two years by a coalition of educators, parents, business and community leaders called the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN).

Calling the plan a national model for school change, LEARN President Mike Roos lauded the 87 schools whose faculties, parents and staffs have voted to adopt the reforms.

“This is powerful in terms of the undaunted attitude on the part of the schools and the people they represent,” Roos said. “All of us need to be asking the question, ‘What can we do to make you succeed?’ ”

LEARN officials said their reform efforts will be given a boost by the addition for the first time of five high schools. The program relies on collaboration among elementary, middle and junior high schools so that they can coordinate curriculum for their students.

Parents, teachers and students from some of the new schools expressed hope that LEARN will do everything from improving school maintenance to encouraging parental involvement and helping students to get jobs.

The first group of LEARN schools have been planning their reforms for the past year, and an evaluation of their efforts to date will be presented to the school board next month.

On Monday, some board members cautioned that involvement in LEARN cannot deliver improvement, but merely provide schools with the flexibility to improve themselves.

“LEARN is a process to deliver higher achievement, but it is not an instructional program,” said board member Barbara Boudreaux.

Parents, teachers and administrators receive training funded by the district and private donations, but the LEARN schools themselves receive no extra money.

New LEARN Schools

The Los Angeles Board of Education has accepted 53 new schools into the LEARN reform plan, which empowers principals, teachers and parents to make more school decisions. The schools will receive intensive training over the summer on how to run their campuses.

Addams Continuation High, Granada Hills

Aliso High, Reseda

Arroyo Seco Alternative, Los Angeles

Arco Iris Primary Center, Cudahy

Atwater Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles

Avalon Gardens Elementary, Los Angeles

Bassett Street Elementary, Van Nuys

Bellagio Road Newcomer Center, Los Angeles

Brockton Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles

Camellia Avenue Elementary, North Hollywood

Canoga Park Elementary

Caroldale Avenue Elementary, Carson

Columbus Middle School, Canoga Park

Cooper Opportunity High, San Pedro

Crenshaw Senior High, Los Angeles

Eagle Rock Elementary/Gifted Magnet, Los Angeles

Eagles Center Options High, West Hollywood

El Oro Way Elementary, Granada Hills

El Sereno Children’s Center, Los Angeles

El Sereno Elementary, Los Angeles

Farmdale Elementary, Los Angeles

52nd Street Elementary, Los Angeles

1st Street Elementary, Los Angeles

Francis Polytechnic High, Sun Valley

Frost Junior High, Granada Hills

Glenwood Elementary, Sun Valley

Grape Street Elementary, South-Central Los Angeles

Harding Street Elementary, Sylmar

Huntington Park Elementary New Site No. 2, Huntington Park

Kittridge Street Elementary, Van Nuys

Latona Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles

Loreto Street Elementary, Los Angeles

Loyola Village School and Magnet Center, Los Angeles

Magnolia Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles

Melvin Avenue Elementary, Reseda

Miguel Leonis High, Woodland Hills

Murchison Street Children’s Center, Los Angeles

Murchison Street Elementary, Los Angeles

Nightingale Junior High, Los Angeles

9th Street Elementary, Los Angeles

Palisades High and Charter, Pacific Palisades

Paseo Del Rey Fundamental Magnet, Playa del Rey

Pomelo Drive Elementary, Canoga Park

Reed Junior High, North Hollywood

Ritter Elementary, South-Central Los Angeles

Santa Monica Boulevard Elementary, Los Angeles

Serrania Avenue Elementary, Woodland Hills

Strathern Street Elementary, North Hollywood

32nd Street/USC Magnet, Los Angeles

Vena Avenue Elementary/Magnet, Pacoima

Vinedale Elementary, Sun Valley

Wilson High, Los Angeles

Youth Opportunities Unlimited Alternative, Los Angeles

Source: Los Angeles Board of Education