LAUSD USES VILLARAGOSA AS AN EXAMPLE FOR ANNUAL DROPOUT RECOVERY PROGRAM
BY RICK ORLOV STAFF WRITER, LA DAILY NEWS |HTTP://BIT.LY/R3LLMN
9/23/2011 6:25:22 PM PDT - Using the experience of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as an example, Los Angeles Unified on Friday launched its fourth annual effort to persuade dropouts to return to school.
Villaraigosa dropped out of high school but later returned and went on to graduate from UCLA and law school. His first job as a union organizer evolved into a political career.
"I often say it was Catholic schools that taught me the basics, but it was public schools that gave me a second chance," Villaraigosa said during a news conference at the Santee Educational Complex near downtown Los Angeles.
Santee and other campuses - including Gardena High and Peary Middle School - served as staging areas for LAUSD, City Year and other groups whose volunteers visited the homes of 22,000 youths who had dropped out of the district.