Monday, January 16, 2012

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD WITHOUT BORDERS: What if the District erased attendance boundaries? + smf’s 2¢

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD WITHOUT BORDERS: What if the District erased attendance boundaries? + smf’s 2¢:

LAUSD WITHOUT BORDERS: What if the District erased attendance boundaries? + smf’s 2¢


A district without boundaries might be impractical. But such big-sky ideas are worth discussing.

LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL | HTTP://LAT.MS/XPX0YN

Los Angeles Unified school board President Monica Garcia, center, is seen on June 23, 2009 along with the Board of Education.

Los Angeles Unified school board President Monica Garcia, center, is seen on June 23, 2009 along with the Board of Education. (Los Angeles Times)

January 16, 2012 :: All too often, a child's ZIP Code is his destiny.

In Los Angeles, it is possible to discern from that five-digit number alone not only whether he lives in a safe neighborhood or whether there's a nearby park — poorer areas of the city are notably lacking in public green spaces — but also his chance, and his children's chances, of living in a different neighborhood at some point in the future. That's in large part because such children often attend low-performing neighborhood schools where the likelihood of earning a diploma hovers around 50%, and the odds of upward mobility are worse.

Los Angeles Unified school board President Monica Garcia is now asking whether all that might be changed, not by continuing