"A plan to let outside groups bid for control of dozens of long-struggling and new local campuses has unleashed a formidable competitor: Groups of teachers from inside the Los Angeles Unified School District are vying to take charge of their schools.
At every location up for bid -- 12 existing schools and 18 new campuses -- teams of teachers and the L.A. teachers union are working nights and weekends to decide what to offer students and parents and what they would require of them and of themselves.
They are trying to take advantage of a reform strategy, approved in August, that envisioned bringing in privately operated charter schools to set the standard for a school system widely seen as dysfunctional.
The union, United Teachers Los Angeles, also is trying to block charter takeovers through litigation. But rank-and-file teachers, with backing from the union and, in some cases, from the school district, are planning to compete with the charters, and they plan to win."
At every location up for bid -- 12 existing schools and 18 new campuses -- teams of teachers and the L.A. teachers union are working nights and weekends to decide what to offer students and parents and what they would require of them and of themselves.
They are trying to take advantage of a reform strategy, approved in August, that envisioned bringing in privately operated charter schools to set the standard for a school system widely seen as dysfunctional.
The union, United Teachers Los Angeles, also is trying to block charter takeovers through litigation. But rank-and-file teachers, with backing from the union and, in some cases, from the school district, are planning to compete with the charters, and they plan to win."