"Groups from inside and outside L.A. Unified have been making presentations on how they would operate 12 low-performing and 18 new campuses. The school board will decide before March."
So you think you can run a Los Angeles school? Make your case. You've got 10 minutes.
Would-be school operators are taking part in a kind of Los Angeles Unified School District reality contest, presenting proposals this month at forums on campuses across the district.
It's the next step in an unfolding process through which groups inside and outside the system are bidding to operate 12 low-performing schools and 18 new campuses, serving some 40,000 students.
The Board of Education approved the strategy in August, and the winners for each school will be chosen before March.
Amid intense competition, the bidders are determined to add popular support to their portfolios. Parents will vote for their favorite bidders, although their choices won't be binding on district officials.
At Jefferson High south of downtown, at least 400 people braved last week's storms to hear staff members offer their plans for revamping the campus. They are competing against L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's team.
And at Strathern Street Elementary in North Hollywood, five groups jousted before a standing-room-only crowd of 200 over the $62-million Julie Korenstein Elementary School, scheduled to open next fall in Sun Valley.
Three bidders want to run it as a charter school -- an irony, considering that retired school board member Korenstein was a critic of charters. Charters are independently managed and free from many of the restrictions that govern traditional schools, including union contracts.
Aprende Team Executive Director Rebeca Rodriguez presented her charter group as already expert in teaching the low-income minority students who will attend the school. She heads nearby Montague Charter Academy, a converted traditional school in Pacoima where teachers remain affiliated with the L.A. teachers union.
Magnolia Science brought a founder
So you think you can run a Los Angeles school? Make your case. You've got 10 minutes.
Would-be school operators are taking part in a kind of Los Angeles Unified School District reality contest, presenting proposals this month at forums on campuses across the district.
It's the next step in an unfolding process through which groups inside and outside the system are bidding to operate 12 low-performing schools and 18 new campuses, serving some 40,000 students.
The Board of Education approved the strategy in August, and the winners for each school will be chosen before March.
Amid intense competition, the bidders are determined to add popular support to their portfolios. Parents will vote for their favorite bidders, although their choices won't be binding on district officials.
At Jefferson High south of downtown, at least 400 people braved last week's storms to hear staff members offer their plans for revamping the campus. They are competing against L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's team.
And at Strathern Street Elementary in North Hollywood, five groups jousted before a standing-room-only crowd of 200 over the $62-million Julie Korenstein Elementary School, scheduled to open next fall in Sun Valley.
Three bidders want to run it as a charter school -- an irony, considering that retired school board member Korenstein was a critic of charters. Charters are independently managed and free from many of the restrictions that govern traditional schools, including union contracts.
Aprende Team Executive Director Rebeca Rodriguez presented her charter group as already expert in teaching the low-income minority students who will attend the school. She heads nearby Montague Charter Academy, a converted traditional school in Pacoima where teachers remain affiliated with the L.A. teachers union.
Magnolia Science brought a founder