The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted Tuesday to give control of more than 30 new or low-performing campuses to a variety of groups, including some charter school companies and collaborations of parents, teachers and administrators.

The groups were selected from among 85 proposals submitted to the district under the Public School Choice Program adopted by the board last year.

“Today we launch a new era at LAUSD of quality, of leadership and accountability — something that this board ... had the courage to elevate and make real,” said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who introduced the School Choice Program resolution last year.

“Today we are no longer the insular institution we once were,” she said. “But more important, what today represents is that mediocrity is not OK, and that we place high value first and foremost on quality education for all students. Not one student and not one school should have anything less.”

After several hours of public comment, the board went through the recommendations for each of the campuses — 12 low-performing schools and 24 new campuses.

In most cases, the board backed the recommendations submitted last week by Superintendent Ramon Cortines, but at some schools — such as Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy, Esteban Torres High School and Griffith-Joyner Elementary School -- the board selected different operators.

In the Southeast community, the Maywood Academy High School will continue to be operated by the school team. South Region Elementary School No. 3 will be operated by Bell-Cudahy Partners in Education and South region Elementary School No. 4 will be operated by Aspire Public Schools, a charter school operation.

“We need to act now for all our students to succeed,” Cortines said at the start of the board meeting. “We must ensure our students are successful from pre-K to adult schools.”

After several weeks of review, Cortines last week made his recommendations for each of the affected campuses — with the proposed operators including charter school companies; collaborations of parents, teacher and local district administrators; and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

“This has been a process of inclusion, collaboration, transparency and transformation at all levels — within the staff rooms, community centers and living rooms of everyone involved,” Cortines said.

The plan to allow outside groups to govern individual campuses angered some education advocates, including the teachers’ union, United Teachers Los Angeles. But given the board’s approval of the process, UTLA helped some groups of teachers and local school administrators submit management proposals, and those groups make up the bulk of Cortines’ recommendations.

UTLA President A.J. Duffy said last week he was pleased that Cortines had recommended that the parent/teacher/administrator teams operate more than three-quarters of the 36 schools up for bid. But he called on the school board to reject the superintendent’s recommendation that outside operators, such as charter school companies, be given control of some campuses.

“We want the school board members to review all the teacher/parent plans the superintendent did not recommend,” Duffy said. “Local communities wrote plans. Parents made their choice. Both of these should be respected.”
Jed Wallace, president and chief executive officer of the California Charter Schools Association, expressed disappointment over the vote.

“Today was the best proof that change is very difficult,” Wallace said. “The board’s vote showed that even when schools with excellent track records in providing student achievement submitted quality submissions, and were recommended by the superintendent, that the supporters of the status quo and adult concerns trump making good decisions on behalf of children.”

The board’s vote was preceded by dozens of speakers lobbying for their own particular group. Most were supportive of the concept of allowing different groups to operate schools in hopes of bringing new ideas into the district.
“I always hoped this day would come,” teacher Roberta Benjamin told board members.

The school choice program “is the first step to breaking down the wall between charter public schools and non-charter public schools,” she said.

Former teacher Yvette King-Berg said that no matter which side you were on, “the bar is being set higher” by allowing outside groups to manage certain campuses.

Former Rep. Esteban E. Torres, whose name graces an East Los Angeles high school, said the principal goal of the Public School Choice program is to develop the kind of schools “the community wants.”

Although there was disagreement among some groups over the operators of particular schools, board member Steven Zimmer said he was impressed with all the proposals that were submitted.

“This is not about politics,” he said. “It’s not about pressure. It’s not about power. It’s not about land. It’s not about facilities. It’s about our children and our families and this could be about hope. Because there was hope in the living rooms and classrooms and community rooms where these plans were being written.

“It was not the status quo,” he said. “We did our kids right. Let me be clear, some plans are better than others, but no plan, no plan that I read was about the status quo.”