L.A. Schools Embark on New Effort : Districtwide Committee Gears Up for Bold Try to Restructure System

Planning for changes that educators, parents and community leaders hope will dramatically improve education in the Los Angeles Unified School District began in earnest Thursday at the first meeting of a powerful new districtwide committee.

Meeting at the 32nd Street Performing and Visual Arts Magnet School near USC, the 24-member Shared Decision-Making and School-Based Management Central Council discussed goals and organizational needs as it geared up for what many observers say is the district’s boldest effort ever to restructure schools.

The council’s co-chairs, Deputy Supt. Sidney Thompson and United Teachers-Los Angeles Vice President Helen Bernstein, sat side-by-side in a display of cooperation that both said could never have transpired four months ago, when teachers went on a nine-day strike for higher pay and more authority to run schools.

Settlement Element

The Central Council, a key element of the teachers’ contract settlement in June, will oversee the district’s move toward placing more authority and responsibility for improving education at the local school level, with administrators, parents and, in particular, with teachers.

The contract also provides for new local councils at each of the district’s 800 regular and adult schools that eventually will have the power to make sweeping changes affecting curriculum, hiring and other aspects of school life.

Los Angeles is following the example of the Dade County, Fla., and Rochester, N.Y., school systems, which pioneered similar decentralization efforts a few years ago. Supporters of the approach hope it will produce happier teachers, more involved parents and better schools--critical goals in Los Angeles with its 39% dropout rate and chronically low test scores.

“Whatever we’re doing now is not working,” Bernstein said. “The future of the district depends on what this (Central Council) does.”

Accountability Issue

Said Central Council member Joseph Duff, president of the Los Angeles branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People: “The biggest question is whether we can bring accountability into the (school) system.”

As set out in the contract, teachers make up 50% of the Central Council and the individual school councils, while parents, community leaders and administrators make up the remaining half. Principals will not have veto power over local council actions.

Bernstein said the main task of the Central Council will be to train the local school councils and draft guidelines for them to follow. The local councils this year will begin to make decisions regarding student discipline policies, spending of certain funds, scheduling, even access to the school copying machine.

The Central Council will meet twice a month, with the next meeting set for Oct. 12.

SCHOOL DISTRICT COUNCIL

Here are the members of the Los Angeles Unified School District Central Council on Shared Decision-Making and Site-Based Management: SUPERINTENDENT’S APPOINTEES Deputy Supt. Sidney Thompson, Central Council co-chair. Richard Riordan, partner, Riordan and McKinzie. Mel Mares, principal, Fulton Junior High School. Alan Tomiyama, director, district operations. Judy Burton, principal, Martin Luther King Elementary School. UNITED TEACHERS-LOS ANGELES APPOINTEES Helen Bernstein, Central Council co-chair, UTLA vice president. Marvin Katz, UTLA vice president. Frances Haywood, UTLA vice president. Denise Rockwell, teacher, Westside Alternative School. Day Higuchi, teacher, Griffith Junior High School. Becki Robinson, teacher, 1st Street School. Edgar Cowan, teacher, Adams Junior High School. Irene Illueca-Mechem, counselor, Reseda High School. Gary Garcia, teacher, Hamilton High School. Al Fox, teacher, 32nd Street/USC Performing and Visual Arts Magnet School. Susan Schoettler, teacher, Bell High School. Nina Greenberg, teacher, Graham Elementary School. BOARD OF EDUCATION APPOINTEES Henry Gutierrez, post-doctoral fellow, Occidental College. Joseph Duff, president, Los Angeles chapter, NAACP. Estelle Lit, president, United Nations Assn. of the San Fernando Valley. Rev. Horacio Quinones, Hispanic Urban Center. Marion Hogue, chairperson, school-based management committee, 10th District PTA. Cecelia Mansfield, president, 31st District PTA. Olivia C. Fernandez, community representative.