School System

Two dozen high-performing Los Angeles schools are seeking to become charter campuses in search of more money and increased flexibility. The list reads like an honor roll of academic excellence. Every school has surpassed the state's target score of 800 on the Academic Performance Index, which is based on standardized tests. Although many of the schools considered the move in hopes of greater funding, campus officials said they also began to see the benefits of increased freedom over such things as curriculum, testing and schedules.

Two dozen high-performing Los Angeles schools are seeking to become charter campuses in search of more money and increased flexibility. The list reads like an honor roll of academic excellence. Every school has surpassed the state's target score of 800 on the Academic Performance Index, which is based on standardized tests. Although many of the schools considered the move in hopes of greater funding, campus officials said they also began to see the benefits of increased freedom over such things as curriculum, testing and schedules.

One week after the Compton Unified School District narrowly escaped a state takeover, residents will get a chance to question school officials about the school system and its future. The Compton branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People will sponsor a community forum on local schools at 6:15 this evening in the board room of the district headquarters, 620 S. Tamarind Ave. The topic will be "The Direction of Education in Compton: Where Do We Go From Here?" said Royce W.

No one, it seems, is lukewarm about Michelle Rhee; she's a pass-fail figure, inspiring or polarizing. In the name of reforming public schools, the onetime Teach for America teacher, depending on your viewpoint, either trailblazed or bulldozed her way through Washington, D.C.'s school system as its chancellor, closing schools, firing people and raising student scores -- and questions about the tactics. Now she is extending her agenda nationwide with StudentsFirst, which supports culling bad teachers, school choice for parents and tightfisted budgeting - all of which she sums up with the word "accountability.

John Lindsay, the mayor of New York City in the late 1960s, used to say that he had the second toughest job in America (after, presumably, the president). Today the toughest job outside of the Oval Office might be superintendent of a big-city school system. Caught between a public demanding change and a school system built to resist it, the average big-city superintendent now holds the job for only 2 1/2 years. Even baseball managers last longer.

I am encouraged by the emergence of organizations like the Education Alliance discussed in a front-page article in The Times on March 17. The tone of the article suggests that you oppose its objectives. For the average voter, identifying candidates for school boards who are truly committed to a conservative agenda is almost impossible. All of the brochures include the same bland statements. I hope that the Education Alliance will help us to select candidates who are truly interested in reform.

After suffering through a winter of sky-high natural gas prices, a Pennsylvania school system has decided to drill for its own. The school board in Penn Hills, 10 miles from downtown Pittsburgh, has struck a deal with Penneco Oil Co. to sink as many as 10 natural gas wells under the district's eight schools. The school system would get 12.

I attended the City Council meeting April 11 in Rolling Hills Estates in regard to the expansion plans for Peninsula Heritage School (formerly advertised as Wingrock School). The City Council with the patience of Job listened to the pros and cons, and with infinite wisdom and good sense decided to follow the General Plan set out in Rolling Hills Estates Resolution No. 685, adopted June 13, 1973, which states that "the primary objective of the City is to preserve and enhance the rural character and single family nature of the community."

A Long Beach native and local school administrator will be the next superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District. Carl Cohn, 46, will be the first black superintendent of the state's fourth-largest school system. The school board selected Cohn Thursday afternoon and will formally approve the decision at a special board meeting Monday, officials said. Cohn is one of five area superintendents. Polytechnic High School and its feeder schools were under his jurisdiction.

Giving Bibles to a public school class violated the constitutional separation of church and state, the American Civil Liberties Union alleges in a lawsuit against a school system. Carolyn Hill, a parent named in the suit, contends that Alan Joshua's constitutional rights were violated March 4 when he and 34 fifth-grade classmates were given Bibles at Paris Elementary School in the southeastern Idaho town of Paris.

In a dramatic move to quell parents' fears, Los Angeles school officials said they will temporarily replace the entire staff of an elementary school south of downtown Los Angeles, where two teachers have been accused of lewd acts against students. Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy announced the action at a tense public meeting Monday evening in which Miramonte Elementary School parents chanted "cover-up!" and accused the school system of failing to protect their children.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials are fashioning a plan to reduce the number of regional headquarters by nearly half, The Times has learned. The plan is still under development, but probably would reduce the offices, which are spread throughout the sprawling school system, from eight to four. A fifth division would oversee campuses that merit especially close attention, such as persistently low-performing schools or those with a non-traditional structure. Cutting down the number of regional offices has been a longtime demand of United Teachers Los Angeles, which argued that such a move would save money and reduce unneeded bureaucracy within the nation's second-largest school system.

Even by Beverly Hills standards, the idea is rich: Raise $1 million in one week to bail out a tiny public school system that is thriving but still lacks immunity from the financial ills plaguing California's schools. The fundraiser, which kicked off Monday, is meant to spare Beverly Hills Unified about two dozen layoffs. So far, Beverly Hills has been able to maintain class sizes of 20 in the early grades and 29 in the upper grade levels; neighboring behemoth L.A. Unified, which has laid off thousands and is poised to lay off thousands more, passed a budget that calls for 30 students per class in the lower grades and numbers that move sharply upward from there.

It's not often that schools across the country look with envy at Los Angeles' public schools, where monumental budget woes, potential widespread teacher layoffs and a long list of hurdles confront the sprawling, diverse school system. But in the Academic Decathlon — a grueling intellectual high school competition — the Los Angeles Unified School District has become the best in the nation. L.A. Unified schools have won the national Academic Decathlon competition 11 times since 1987, more than any other school district.

Los Angeles schools will remove high-sugar chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk from their lunch and breakfast menus after food activists campaigned for the change, L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced this week. Deasy revealed his intent, which will require approval by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education, during an appearance with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday night. The policy change is part of a carefully negotiated happy ending between the Los Angeles Unified School District and Oliver.

Cathie Black, the high-profile magazine executive hand-picked by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to run the nation's largest school system, resigned Thursday after three tumultuous months on the job. The departure — Bloomberg said it was by mutual agreement — marked one of the more embarrassing episodes of the billionaire's three terms in office. Bloomberg, heralded by himself and others as a manager's manager who had brought business discipline to government, installed Black with virtually no consultation or any sense of political support.

Members of the Little Hoover Commission sharply criticized state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig for alleged lax administration over the state school system Tuesday during a contentious hearing into fiscal accountability.

As my daughter makes her way through the Los Angeles school system, I've been thinking of junior high in southern New Jersey in the 1960s, a memorable time for me. The standards were tough--I was once sent home because I didn't do my math homework--and the teachers were tougher. But everyone had their eyes on the ball, and the ball was learning. Learning was the main mission at Ventnor Junior High. One of the highlights came in the fall.

I'm sure glad I don't live in the grown up world, thought Savannah, as she trudged to the bus stop. It was only Tuesday but it felt like Monday all over again. Savannah had already dropped her books all over the place, and when she went to dive for them couldn't get up. That's how slippery her winter parka was. Before that, she had missed breakfast. And before that, she found her homework eaten by the family's dog Nani. Of course, Nani was just being a big puppy. But how had she reached Savannah's home work?

Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef who is beating the drums for a school lunch revolution, received a warm reception this weekend from hundreds of the people who make and serve food to children every day. It's the Los Angeles Unified School District that isn't so welcoming. "I'm going to be honest. I'm actually petrified," Oliver said as he started his keynote address Saturday at the annual meeting of the California School Nutrition Assn. at the Pasadena Convention Center. Perhaps he feared the "lunch ladies" might not be happy to hear from the man who clashed with their colleagues in Huntington, W.Va.