Troubled L.A. Campus May Be Taken Over

A successful Los Angeles charter schools operator is moving to take over troubled Jefferson High School and convert it into several smaller campuses with higher-paid teachers and a more rigorous educational program.

The proposal by Steve Barr, founder of Green Dot Public Schools, would offer an aggressive alternative to improving the city’s struggling high schools and could threaten the school district’s centralized power structure and the teachers union.

Barr’s plan faces significant hurdles, including a resistant school board and teachers union. If turned down, Barr said, he was prepared to appeal to the state Board of Education. He said he would announce at a news conference today a community campaign aimed at rallying Jefferson teachers and parents.

“Over time, we are going to change this school, one way or the other,” Barr said.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they were open to discussing converting Jefferson to a charter campus but bristled at what they said were Barr’s strong-arm tactics.

“We want to cooperate with the charter school community. We need them to help with our schools, and I look forward to that collaboration,” said district Supt. Roy Romer. “But what I do not look forward to is a hostile takeover.”

The president of the teachers union flatly dismissed Barr’s plan. “I’m not in favor of charters,” said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. “As far as I’m concerned, they are just private schools in a different suit or a fancy dress.”

Charters are publicly funded, independently run schools. They are granted greater flexibility in exchange for a promise to improve student achievement. Local school boards generally approve or deny charters, but operators can appeal a decision to the county and state.

Barr’s plan calls for the overcrowded, 3,000-student school to be divided into as many as eight small, autonomous campuses, including some new facilities near the existing one in South Los Angeles. The new program would begin in the fall of 2006 and be fully implemented within four years.

Each school would be organized around a different theme but would follow common principles, much like the five Green Dot charters Barr runs.

No school would be larger than 500 students; each would offer a college-prep curriculum to all students and require parental involvement. Campuses would spend a higher proportion of budgets on teachers and classroom activities, and make their own decisions about textbooks and other matters. Schools would remain open until at least 5 p.m.

Barr, hoping to build on the successes of his campuses, formed a political coalition -- the Small Schools Alliance -- this year to push for more attention to education issues in the mayor’s race. He has called for mayoral control of the Los Angeles school district, and now is using the alliance to build community support for his plan at Jefferson.

The school has long struggled as one of the district’s lowest-performing and most overcrowded campuses. For five years, it has scored at or near the bottom of state school rankings and has consistently failed to meet federal achievement requirements. In 2004, for example, nearly 92% of Jefferson students tested below proficient on standardized math exams.

The school’s troubles deepened last spring when a series of melees erupted between Latino and black students. The violence brought heavy public and political scrutiny, forcing district officials to replace the principal and increase safety measures.

Barr’s proposal comes at a sensitive time for the district as it scrambles to improve student performance at Jefferson and other large, underperforming high schools.

Last year, Romer announced a districtwide initiative to divide high school campuses into several smaller, more personalized academic programs. He balked at Barr’s call for the district to relinquish control of Jefferson but said he welcomed the idea of integrating one or more charter schools into the plan to restructure his lowest-performing high schools.

School board members reacted coolly as word of Barr’s plan spread, expressing frustration with his decision to turn to parents and teachers without first trying to join with the district. Barr said that he had tried to work with the district, but that he grew frustrated with its “top down” management style.

“The only way this is going to work is if all the stakeholders at the school are on board: the teachers, the parents, the students and the district,” said school board member Mike Lansing, whose district includes Jefferson.

“What I don’t want is a lone ranger coming in and trying to pull something off,” Lansing said. “Then we’ll just have more conflict at a school that has already had enough.”

School Board President Marlene Canter said her colleagues shared Barr’s “sense of urgency about improving our low-performing schools.”

“But sometimes when you don’t fully look at the impact of what you’re doing, your impatience can work against you.”

Canter said she and Lansing had urged Barr to call off today’s news conference and to “slow down.” She said he refused.

Several community activists who already have joined Barr’s campaign said they were desperate for immediate improvements.

“I’m all for it,” said Tesra Jackson, whose son is a senior at Jefferson. The district, she said, has not done enough to improve the school’s academics, instead focusing mainly on safety issues.

“My biggest concern is that we get these kids up to where they should be academically, get them ready to go to college and not continue to give them a substandard education,” said Jackson, who said she would add her signature to the 2,500 the alliance hopes to collect.

Noreen McClendon, executive director of Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles, said she too wanted quicker results, which she believed the plan could produce.

“It’s no secret that the district is not performing,” McClendon said. “And it’s not rocket science that smaller schools work ... and Steve Barr’s schools have a track record.”

State charter school laws require Barr to gather signatures from at least half of Jefferson’s permanent teachers before he can petition the school board to convert the school.

Barr said he would begin soliciting teachers immediately. But Duffy, of United Teachers Los Angeles, countered, saying he planned to meet with faculty members today to encourage them not to support the charter plan.

Duffy also rejected Barr’s call for him to grant exceptions to the teachers contract. Barr said it would be necessary to get contract waivers to increase teacher pay and change limits on working hours and other conditions.

“I’m not signing off on any contract waivers,” Duffy said.

The state Board of Education, where Barr has allies, is familiar with Green Dot schools.

The board granted Barr a charter for his Inglewood Animo Charter High School five years ago after the Inglewood Unified School District turned him down. Last month, when the local board balked at renewing the charter, the state board voted 7 to 0 to keep Animo going.