The Argonaut: Green Dot Public Charter School Founder...

Green Dot Public Charter School founder to speak at Neighborhood Council about education reform
by Gary Walker

Westchester academic reform advocates will have the opportunity to hear another alternative to improving their schools and increasing local control at 7 p.m Tuesday, August 28th, when Steven Barr, the founder and chief executive officer of Green Dot Public Charter Schools, is scheduled to speak before the Westchester Playa del Rey Neighborhood CouncilEducation Committee.

Green Dot bills itself as "the only organization with a proven track record of successfully serving secondary students, the highest-need student population of Los Angeles."

In May, the charter school company became embroiled in a highly publicized clash with the Los Angeles Unified School District board over its entry into Locke High School in South Los Angeles, which had been underperforming for years. Green Dot hopes to set up ten smaller reform-oriented schools at Locke by next fall.

The move was heralded by many teachers and parents at the high school, who are desperate for a new method that will increase their children's chances of improved graduation rates and improved academic performance.

Locally, parental education advocates, including the Westchester-Playa del Rey Education Foundation, have also been lobbying with community groups to change the way that children are being taught in Westchester schools. While the elementary schools have performed quite well, Orville Wright Middle School and Westchester High in recent years have not.

"It's another option to consider," said Kelly Kane, the education foundation's president, who has been at the forefront of the push for autonomy at Westchester schools. "We're not saying that [Green Dot] is necessarily the kind of reform that we want, but we all recognize that there needs to be a change in the way that the district has been functioning, and [the district] has been very close-minded about changing its ways."

Barr, in a recent interview, stated that the purpose of his discussion at the Westchester council meeting will not be to advocate for his charter school, and he says Green Dot enters schools that are willing to work with them.

"We only go where we're wanted," he said.

He said that both Kane's organization and the Westchester Neighborhood Council invited him to address the education committee. "I think that they are getting restless, and they want to hear another approach," Barr surmised.

On another front, Los Angeles Unified School District teachers have selected a charter-like reform model that they believe will fit their goals of having more localized control while maintaining teacher benefits.

The new model "encompasses the entire [union] contract," said A.J. Duffy, the president of United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA).

While Green Dot teachers are union educators, teachers at Locke, for example, would need to re-apply for their jobs to principals hired by the charter school. The current UTLA contract would become invalid.

Read entire story here: http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2007/08/23/news_-_features/westchester/w1.txt