Markham Middle School

Targeting a South Los Angeles school plagued by gang crime, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Thursday that he was assigning a prosecutor to Markham Middle School to help identify and eliminate gang problems in the surrounding neighborhood. The prosecutor will coordinate enforcement efforts against seven local gangs as well as oversee sweeps for truants and parole violators in the area. "Hopefully, we can make the neighborhood in and around Markham safer," Delgadillo said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has taken his lumps lately: The budget's a disaster, layoffs loom, the City Council defied him when he tried to sell off city parking lots and the Fire and Police Pensions board shrugged off his plea that it not increase city pension contributions. But the mayor remains in the fight, and nowhere is that more evident than in his commitment to the 21 schools he and his office help oversee. Early in his first term, the mayor tried to take control of Los Angeles schools; the Legislature gave him part of what he asked for, but the courts balked at even that.

Five years ago, unschooled in the ways of the neighborhood to which he had been transferred, the new principal called an evening meeting for parents. About halfway through, the sun set and parents began streaming out the doors. "What have I said?" wondered John Miller. "How have I offended them?" Turned out he hadn't done anyone wrong. It was getting dark; most of the parents had come on foot and they didn't want to be caught outside after dark.

Sitting in the library during a break, two veteran teachers at Edwin Markham Middle School rattled off the names of principals who had been sent to fix the chronically low-performing school in Watts. There was Kimbell, Miller, Norris and Borges. Then came Mir-Rivera, Miyahara, Stroud, Sullivan. This year, Hernandez arrived ? the ninth in 20 years. Each came with a long list of remedies, they said, and most left after a few years with little to show for it. For those two decades, Markham has been considered one of the worst middle schools in California,  despite the best efforts of those principals and an army of well-intentioned reformers, including big-hearted volunteers, private foundations, corporate sponsors, the city attorney's office and ?

Senior Los Angeles school officials, including the district's police chief and its former chief operating officer, knew of sex allegations against a school administrator months before he was transferred to a Watts middle school, where he allegedly molested two students, officials said Monday. District officials have been heavily criticized for allowing former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney back into a school after he had been accused of sexual contact with a student.

All of a sudden, Markham Middle School, a habitually violence-plagued campus that sits amid seven street gangs, can boast of some surprisingly homey touches: a washer and dryer to clean students' clothing; new furniture in the teacher lounges and the police office; board games and foosball for students in the multipurpose room. And the students -- all 1,600 -- are wearing coordinated uniforms with new, matching white sneakers. They're wearing the shoes to play basketball during lunchtime, which used to be marred by constant fights.

Even in these difficult times, many teachers would rather remain jobless than work at Markham Middle School. The school is located in a crime-plagued Watts neighborhood that encompasses the Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens housing projects and their rival gangs. Its test scores are among the lowest in Los Angeles, and during the 2006-07 academic year, more than 500 students were suspended, at least half of those for "attempted physical harm," including 19 assaults on staff members. Its reputation was further tarnished after an assistant principal, Steve Thomas Rooney, was arrested on charges of molesting students.

When the Los Angeles Unified School District laid off thousands of teachers last spring, the school where I teach, Markham Middle School in Watts, was decimated. Already one of the lowest performing in the state, Markham lost more than half its teachers. The number was so high because inner-city schools like ours tend to have a disproportionate share of teachers just starting their careers, and in last year's layoffs, the most recently hired were the first to receive pink slips. But at Markham, many of those teachers were extremely dedicated and hoped to build a career at the school.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has taken his lumps lately: The budget's a disaster, layoffs loom, the City Council defied him when he tried to sell off city parking lots and the Fire and Police Pensions board shrugged off his plea that it not increase city pension contributions. But the mayor remains in the fight, and nowhere is that more evident than in his commitment to the 21 schools he and his office help oversee. Early in his first term, the mayor tried to take control of Los Angeles schools; the Legislature gave him part of what he asked for, but the courts balked at even that.

A Los Angeles assistant principal who already faces charges of lewd acts against one student was charged Monday with molesting two others, broadening a case that has caused outrage in the South Los Angeles community in which he worked. Assistant Principal Stephen T. Rooney was transferred to Markham Middle School in South Los Angeles last year, even though he was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student at a previous school, Foshay Learning Center.

When the Los Angeles Unified School District laid off thousands of teachers last spring, the school where I teach, Markham Middle School in Watts, was decimated. Already one of the lowest performing in the state, Markham lost more than half its teachers. The number was so high because inner-city schools like ours tend to have a disproportionate share of teachers just starting their careers, and in last year's layoffs, the most recently hired were the first to receive pink slips. But at Markham, many of those teachers were extremely dedicated and hoped to build a career at the school.

Even in these difficult times, many teachers would rather remain jobless than work at Markham Middle School. The school is located in a crime-plagued Watts neighborhood that encompasses the Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens housing projects and their rival gangs. Its test scores are among the lowest in Los Angeles, and during the 2006-07 academic year, more than 500 students were suspended, at least half of those for "attempted physical harm," including 19 assaults on staff members. Its reputation was further tarnished after an assistant principal, Steve Thomas Rooney, was arrested on charges of molesting students.

Senior Los Angeles school officials, including the district's police chief and its former chief operating officer, knew of sex allegations against a school administrator months before he was transferred to a Watts middle school, where he allegedly molested two students, officials said Monday. District officials have been heavily criticized for allowing former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney back into a school after he had been accused of sexual contact with a student.

A Los Angeles assistant principal who already faces charges of lewd acts against one student was charged Monday with molesting two others, broadening a case that has caused outrage in the South Los Angeles community in which he worked. Assistant Principal Stephen T. Rooney was transferred to Markham Middle School in South Los Angeles last year, even though he was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student at a previous school, Foshay Learning Center.

All of a sudden, Markham Middle School, a habitually violence-plagued campus that sits amid seven street gangs, can boast of some surprisingly homey touches: a washer and dryer to clean students' clothing; new furniture in the teacher lounges and the police office; board games and foosball for students in the multipurpose room. And the students -- all 1,600 -- are wearing coordinated uniforms with new, matching white sneakers. They're wearing the shoes to play basketball during lunchtime, which used to be marred by constant fights.

Targeting a South Los Angeles school plagued by gang crime, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Thursday that he was assigning a prosecutor to Markham Middle School to help identify and eliminate gang problems in the surrounding neighborhood. The prosecutor will coordinate enforcement efforts against seven local gangs as well as oversee sweeps for truants and parole violators in the area. "Hopefully, we can make the neighborhood in and around Markham safer," Delgadillo said.

Sitting in the library during a break, two veteran teachers at Edwin Markham Middle School rattled off the names of principals who had been sent to fix the chronically low-performing school in Watts. There was Kimbell, Miller, Norris and Borges. Then came Mir-Rivera, Miyahara, Stroud, Sullivan. This year, Hernandez arrived ? the ninth in 20 years. Each came with a long list of remedies, they said, and most left after a few years with little to show for it. For those two decades, Markham has been considered one of the worst middle schools in California,  despite the best efforts of those principals and an army of well-intentioned reformers, including big-hearted volunteers, private foundations, corporate sponsors, the city attorney's office and ?

Five years ago, unschooled in the ways of the neighborhood to which he had been transferred, the new principal called an evening meeting for parents. About halfway through, the sun set and parents began streaming out the doors. "What have I said?" wondered John Miller. "How have I offended them?" Turned out he hadn't done anyone wrong. It was getting dark; most of the parents had come on foot and they didn't want to be caught outside after dark.