Parent Revolution

The Locke Revolution

We are now coming to the end of the first year of the new Locke High School, post-revolution. For those of you who haven't been following this story, in May 2007, following years of the kind of neglect, patronization, and disrespect to which Los Angeles school parents are commonly subjected, the majority of the tenured teachers at Locke decided they were fed up and weren't going to take it any more: they circulated and signed a petition that ultimately freed them from the clutches of district bureaucrats. Next week Green Dot Public Schools, which took over the management of Locke, will be hosting its first graduation ceremony at a school that some will hardly recognize.  (You can read more about this year at Locke and their upcoming graduation here from today's LA Times).

At the old, LAUSD-managed Locke, students by the dozens would freely circulate during class time, stomping on classroom doors kept shut by teachers in a desperate attempt to preserve some teaching time. At least, this was true of those teachers who were trying to teach; others were essentially retired on the job, for example watching World Cup soccer in French during a U.S. History class while their students videotaped them on their cell phones. District administrators were generally powerless to remove these non-performers nor even to maintain anything beyond a bare minimum of order on campus, being bound by an enormous, out-dated compilation of regulations and contract stipulations that made satisfactory school improvement virtually impossible. A group of us saw how hopeless the situation was, and took action to create change for our students.

Today those changes are readily apparent. The campus is orderly, even serene during class time, a word old Locke hands would not have believed possible to truthfully apply to this school. Eight days ago I witnessed one of the most amazing things I have seen in 16 years of involvement in education: due to a variety of circumstances (Sigalerts, graduations, illness, professional development, and so on), a single principal with only one campus aide succeeded in getting all students, including the late ones, into class in an orderly manner within 20 minutes of the start of the school day. In the past 13 campus aides and 7 administrators could not achieve this, yet under the new order, with every adult on campus genuinely concerned about our students and believing in a Green Dot core value, "An unwavering belief in all students' potential", what the naysayers said wasn't possible suddenly is.

What can parents learn from our experience? That a few determined individuals- whether parents or teachers- with a will to make a difference can. That all children can learn. And that when campuses are competently and professionally managed, with accountability but also with far less intrusive oversight, there really is hope for all of our children in Los Angeles.  And with the Parent Revolution, now YOU have the power to create transformative change at your child's school.

Bruce Smith taught English at Locke High School for seven years.