Crenshaw High, 52 Other Schools Join LEARN Reform Program

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted unanimously last week to allow Crenshaw High School and 52 other 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 in the reform plan, which was devised by a coalition of educators, parents, and business and community leaders known as the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN).

LEARN officials said their reform efforts will be given a boost by the addition of Crenshaw and four other high schools. The program relies on collaboration among elementary, middle and junior high schools so they can coordinate curricula.

Parents, teachers and students from some of the new schools expressed hope that LEARN will improve school maintenance, encourage parental involvement and help students get jobs.

Schools in Central Los Angeles that have been added to the program also include:

Arco Iris Primary Center, Cudahy; Eagle Rock Elementary/Gifted Magnet; El Sereno Children’s Center; El Sereno Elementary; Farmdale Elementary; 52nd Street Elementary; 1st Street Elementary; Grape Street Elementary and Huntington Park Elementary New Site No. 2, Huntington Park.

Other schools added to the program are: Latona Avenue Elementary; Magnolia Avenue Elementary; Murchison Street Children’s Center; Murchison Street Elementary; Ritter Elementary; 32nd Street/USC Magnet and Youth Opportunities Unlimited Alternative.