TURNAROUNDS: Graduation Day At Locke High School

This afternoon is the graduation for Locke High School's first class of seniors under Green Dot.  Hard to believe that just over a year ago this place was locked down and full of riot police.

The big news will be the number of kids graduating this year, which is up, and the colleges they're going to.  There are definitely many success stories to tell, along with a few notable setbacks and hard lessons. The LA TImes has a slew of stories out this morning to help us undestand it all:

A year of steady and promising changes at Locke High
Subtle signs of a turnaround on a troubled LA campus
Green Dot hopes starting early will improve academic culture
Shared control of special education proved problematic

It'll be interesting to see what Steve Barr has to say, fresh off his whirlwind trip to DC for the charter schools conference and to NYC for the signing of the Green Dot NYC contract agreement. Meantime, there's so much planning for summer school and next year that it feels like the future has already started even before the seniors are out the door.

LAUSD: One Step Closer To Armageddon Parent Revolution

He threatened the district with "Armageddon" and called dibs on Fremont High School in the recent New Yorker article, but I guess Cortines and Villaraigosa didn't respond the right way.  Now Steve Barr's Green Dot charter schools organization is turning up the heat even more, reviving the "parents union" idea and allying with other charter school organizations in LA to hold a rally and get parents to sign petitions that will help them take over their schools.  The threat of a conversion - or of parents leaving district schools en masse - is supposed to make the parent petition effective.  Click below to read about the parent revolution.  Meanwhile, the countdown to graduation at Locke continues.

REFORM: Green Dot Reactions Vary Widely

Reactions to the Green Dot article range widely, as you can see:

Green Dot Rising Kevin Carey 

The article doesn't paint Barr as a miracle worker, or Green Dot as a source of fantastic new pedagogy and world-beating teaching.

LA Story Fordham
For free-market types, and even for charter school devotees, though, the narrative will disappoint, as Barr makes it clear that charters and choice are hardly the answer.

Could There Really Be a Green Dot America? Witness LA
As we talk about the issues of layoffs and teacher tenure, this story about the Green Dot charter model seems particularly timely.

A New Kind Of School Huffington Post (mine)
If and when the expansion of Green Dot happens, the New Yorker article will have helped Barr conjure it up.

Susan Ohanian's Testing Outrages
Steve Barr, head of Green Dot, the first charter-school-management organization in the country to seize a high school, is profiled/fawned over in the May 11 New Yorker.

Linda Darling-Hammond Didn’t Play Basketball Perimeter Primate
Luckily for him, Steve Barr played basketball in high school and playing hoops is still one of his main hobbies.

Sunday is the one-year anniversary of the "riot" at Locke.

LOCKE: Shooting At Locke High School

Things have been going really well at Locke High School this year, by and large, in terms of both academics and school safety. 

But yesterday morning a student was shot in front of the school just before school started.  

Locke High School shooting  LA Times

Meantime, 32 children and teens have been killed in Chicago this year -- almost all of them outside of school. I don't know the national stats for the year. 

LOCKE HIGH: Marching Towards Spring Break

I'm back out at Locke high school again for a few days, checking in on how things are going.  (I'm certainly not alone covering the story.  There's a New Yorker reporter who's been around, plus Howard Blume from the LA Times and others.)

It's nearly halfway through the second semester -- two weeks before spring break.  I can't tell you everything I've seen, but it's no secret that things continue to go well -- though not perfectly.  It's been that way for a while now.

GREEN DOT: Back To Locke High School

Over all, things seem like they're going pretty well at the school -- though of course there's lots of school left and there remain a lot of things they want to improve. 

It's the second semester, so kids are once again walking around with schedules in their hands. Most everyone --kids and teachers -- seems to be back.

There's some new fabric covering the cloth barrier that -- in theory -- keeps the black shirts away from the white shirts. The original must have gotten tagged or ripped.

I saw a new student being shown his classes and waiting for a lunch card.

A police helicopter made tight circles over a sunny after-school soccer game, looking for whoever fired shots on Avalon Avenue right next to the school.

LOCKE: More Coverage Of The Locke "Transformation"

 Inside Locke High KCET (tonight at 8)
KCET producer Angela Shelley chose three representative students and allowed them to tell their own stories. 

Locke High School's progress LA Times
Three months into the school year, a troubled high school is making strides as a Green Dot charter.

Last but not least, the LA Times' editorial board reveals what's long been known on campus -- which starlet donated the olive trees that now make the school look so good.

Hey, it could have been worse.

LOCKE: Fox News Updates Locke HS "Turnaround" Story

Wondering what I've been up to lately? 

Here's a Fox News four-part report on Locke High School, the place where I've been spending so much time this fall (Promises to Keep Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four). 

The picture I'm seeing of the school is perhaps more mixed than the rose-colored version presented here, though no one would argue that there aren't several enormously positive things going on. 

My story / book /miniseries won't be out for a while now, so in the meantime you should check this out. 

SCOOP: Big Changes At The Green Dot Home Office

Perhaps the biggest news that I can report from my time in LA at Locke High School last week is that Green Dot announced a reorganization of its top executives during its board meeting a week ago. 

As you can see from the attached letter from Barr, the reorg moves founder and head honcho Steve Barr into a strategic planning - rainmaking - political role, leaving CEO duties to Marco Petruzzi.  Barr remains Chairman of the Board.  A former Bain consultant, Petruzzi was originally a board member and has been President and COO for the past couple of years.  The reorg also moves Cristina De Jesus, a former Green Dot principal and VP for Curriculum, up to the job of COO. 

Some may be surprised at the changes but my sense is that these moves were a long time in coming and suit the talents and energies of everyone involved.  Starting and growing a new organization is a very different beast than growing and managing an established one.  Most organizations wait way too long to realize this. As long as Barr doesn't wander off and start a band or show up at Burning Man too often, things will probably be fine.  Green Dot now has 600 employees and a $61M budget. 

Can The "New" Locke Stick Together? So Far, So Good.

Twelve months ago, the LAUSD board of education finally approved the handoff of Locke High School to Green Dot. 

But instead of things getting better at the school, things got even worse last year.   Much worse. 

Last week, however, the new year finally started for the "new" Locke, and from what I could see it was a strong if occasionally bumpy start. 

Click below to read more.