When 51% Isn’t Needed to Pull a Trigger
My public middle school in South Los Angeles was labeled as a “failing school” almost 12 months ago making what is already a tough job even more difficult due to the Los Angeles Unified School District corporate inspired reform program called Public School Choice. In short, if you are deemed a failing school, any organized group can submit a plan to take over your school and as a result, many public schools have been converted to charters in the last two years. Brand new multi-million dollar buildings were handed over to corporations such as Green Dot and ICEF, and my school is on this dread list.
In this blog I have outlined the pressures we have faced as a “failing school” which include even more adherence to district curriculum initiatives, more planning meetings, time away from the classroom for plan writers, and a lowering of morale resulting in a mass exodus of personnel to other more “successful” schools.
We were in the middle of celebrating a marked increase in test scores (48 point increase on the A.P.I.) that