Much done, much to do at the L.A. charter school

Teenagers never look more innocent than at their high school graduation. That was certainly true of the graduates of Locke High School, which a year ago was one of the most troubled schools in one of the nation's most troubled school districts. Off campus, many of them might wear gang colors, but on Wednesday they were draped in baby blue robes, perfectly behaved as they slow-marched in rows of four around the athletic field.

These youngsters were at the forefront of a daring effort to show that dismal schools can be transformed. They were given a taste of how education could look. But even a charter takeover could not change Locke enough, quickly enough. Not in one year.

A daunting challenge

Jeremy Zuniga wasn't about to give in. His history students pestered him to administer the final exam early because many of them wouldn't be attending school the last couple of weeks. Never did. They'd worn the reviled uniforms all year; they'd kept the graffiti down. But just because Green Dot was running things now, that didn't mean they would give up this longtime Locke practice.

Many teachers caved. Zuniga didn't. But neither did a number of his students. He asked the ones with solid B averages, why flunk after months of hard work? Their only answer: We just don't come to school the last couple of weeks.

Green Dot Public Schools is ending its first year at Locke with solid accomplishments, some of them striking in comparison with the lethargy that prevailed in previous years. Most students say the school improved greatly as a charter, and those who disagree object to the very things that make the transformation so appealing to adults: the uniforms, the security guards who made sure they didn't cut class. Locke took on new energy as a cadre of idealistic teachers mapped out instructional plans to grab their students' attention. Attendance was up significantly. Troublemaking -- fights, tagging, arson fires and the like -- decreased dramatically.

Yet the makeover of Locke proved far more daunting than Green Dot or its teachers anticipated. This attempt to turn around an existing large and troubled school was unlike anything it had attempted before, marking the first true test of whether a charter's formula for success might be applied to regular public schools. At its start-up schools, Green Dot controls enrollment and attracts motivated families from across attendance boundaries who must agree to its rules. The result is small charters with high graduation and college attendance rates. At Locke, Green Dot took the risk of operating under the same conditions that hobble many public schools -- accepting all the students within the attendance boundaries, whether or not they wanted a charter school, would follow its rules or even understood what the change was about.