Parentella

The purpose of the California Department of Education (CDE) is no mystery. They make and implement the state’s education policies. These policies are then handed down to localities. Seems like a fairly simple task, except our state is the most populous in the nation, with millions of students in K-12.

Luckily (theoretically), all politics is local. Perhaps too local? Consider this. In 2001, my school was (to be kind) in an abyss. Test scores were low, student and staff morale was non-existent, and the school was the face of “failing” urban public education. A ninety-six percent minority population in a socioeconomically-challenged area, rampent with gangs and poverty. In came the CDE.

For anyone who doubts that the CDE is capable of analyzing and fixing such a problem, think again. A “joint-intervention agreement” with the CDE and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) contained close to 200 points of “necessary change.” And so it came. After a lengthy process of evaluation, our school was transformed into a winner. Less than four years later, First Lady Laura Bush came to the school to praise the turnaround.

She wouldn’t recognize the place today. As I have written in this blog, our school has been targeted by the Los Angeles Unified School District as a Public School Choice (PSC) target. That designation doesn’t come from high achievement; it comes from failure. So, how did the state let the “big one” get away (I use the term “big one” because of the magnitude of what needed to be done and the following success)?

The answer lies in what I believe is a tremendous problem with inner city schools: staff turnover. Since 2001, our school has had: five principals, almost thirty different administrators, four different local superintendents, and four superintendents. I stopped counting teacher turnover a long time ago. This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, in Los Angeles, there have been lawsuits to stop the teacher layoff process from further worsening the turnover rate–in terms of retention of “qualified” teachers. Surely, the CDE is aware of these lawsuits.

At the faculty meeting we had to discuss PSC, I brought my worn copy of the joint-intervention agreement. I brought it not so much as a piece from which to make a blueprint (after all, it was a blueprint–and a mighty successful one) but rather to make a point: the ball had been dropped. Of those almost 200 recommendations, they had nearly all been forgotten, dismantled or discarded. Well, kind of. It’s hard to forget something you don’t know about.

It’s difficult enough to come up with solutions to many of today’s problems in our public schools. You’d think that a winning formula would be treated like the Holy Grail. I intend to send a letter to Jack O’ Connell, the State Superintendent of Education, will include a picture of Laura Bush, and a big question: how did you guys let this one get away? If Mr. O’ Connell would like the answer, I’ll gladly tell him.

____________

Mr. Franklin is a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is an eleven year veteran and has won District and County Teacher of the Year awards. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Bank of America Community Hero award. Before teaching, he spent five years at Learning Forum, which runs summer camps designed to increase student academic potential. It is a world-wide program.