'Priority' plan is latest to remake failing L.A. Unified schools
Annie GIlbertson/KPCC
Jordan High School in Watts is under massive construction. Administrators hope improvement to academics will be equally as dramatic.
On a recent Friday morning at David Starr Jordan High School, students wander in from their Watts neighborhood one and two hours after the morning bell. Some show up for a class or two, then head back out to the streets.
Even in class, it can be hard to stay on track, said freshman Matica Marcel, who blames her classmates.
“There are like a couple of them – two or three, you could say – that don’t really do their work," she said. "But they are boys, you know."
Freshman Cody Brown points the finger at school leaders for Jordan's poor performance.
"They don’t have good teachers, and it’s in the ghetto," Brown said as he wandered in to school late one recent morning. "We live in the housing projects.”
It’s hard to remember a time when officials weren’t trying to resuscitate Jordan high. Fewer than 60% of its students are able to read and do math well enough to pass the high school exit exam. Even fewer graduate.
For decades, veteran educators have seen turnaround teams come and go from the campus, next-door to the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts.
As the Los Angeles Unified School District starts a new school year with a new contract with the federal government to fix persistently failing schools, 27 of its most poorl
