A chance at redemption
Jefferson High hopes to turn things around. So does one of its students.
Jorge Garcia represents the past, the present and, potentially, the future of long-struggling Jefferson High School.
As a freshman in 2006 at the South Los Angeles school, he failed all his classes and was kicked out after starting two fights, one of them especially violent. Since then, he's survived five bullet wounds, dealt with his father's fatal illness and become a parent himself.
This year Jorge, 17, returned to Jefferson -- to set an example for his son.
Like the school itself, Jorge wants to turn things around. And like Jorge, Jefferson suddenly has a chance at redemption.
Last month, the Los Angeles Board of Education could have turned over the job of improving Jefferson to an outside operator. Instead, it chose a plan created by Jefferson's teachers.
With new authority, staffers at Jefferson have taken on the crucial test of whether they can fix one of the most historically troubled, low-achieving campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
For decades, Jefferson, with its iconic 1930s Art Deco architecture, served a predominantly African American community and produced such figures as diplomat Ralph Bunche, dancer Alvin Ailey and football standout Woody Strode.
The school, like the area around it, has become a hub for working-class Latino immigrants.
Neighborhood tensions spilled onto the Jefferson campus in 2005, through racially tinged campuswide fights. That year, its test scores were second lowest among L.A. Unified's high schools. The dropout rate jumped to 58% in 2007, according to district records.
Juan Flecha was named principal after the unrest. He restored order, raised test scores somewhat and made key
