Green Dot

Six California charter schools are receiving more than $48 million in grants from a 2002 state bond, the first time that such money has been allocated to pay for construction on campuses of the independent but tax-supported schools.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides was at the Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood on Thursday to announce that the school had received $5 million to fund the construction or purchase of a permanent campus. The school now rents space, which it shares with a law school.

The money was awarded through Proposition 47, which voters approved in November 2002 for modernization and construction of schools and public colleges and universities. The $13-billion bond earmarked almost $100 million for charter schools.

To receive money from the state, a school also must either take a loan in the same amount from the state — from money included in the Proposition 47 allocation — or raise local matching funds.

Steve Barr, Animo's founder, said the school, whose academically rigorous campus serves mostly students from Spanish-speaking immigrant families in Lennox, is taking a $5-million matching loan and the $5-million grant to procure a permanent high school campus.

"We have seven spots identified: some are open, some are places that we would rehab," Barr said. The 500-seat school's first choice, however, is to buy the property from the law school and add facilities there.

Other charter schools that received grants from the state were Montague Charter Academy in Pacoima ($8.8 million); Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana ($14.3 million); two schools in the Aspire charter organization, in Oakland and Stockton, (a total of $18.5 million); and Wheatland Union High School District's Academy for Career Education in Yuba County ($1.3 million).

Diane Pritchard, principal of Montague Charter, said she hoped her school would be able to use the money to relieve an overcrowded facility; put students on a longer, one-track school year; and build a primary center of the performing and visual arts for students in grades K-2. The school, which is in its seventh year and serves about 1,250 students, also plans to take a matching loan from the state, Pritchard said, adding that they will set up a capital committee to do some fund-raising.

"We've been moving slowly," Pritchard said. "Now we're stepping out of the box, and doing different things."

A spokeswoman for the treasurer's office said that they hope this will not be the final state grants for charter school construction. A $12-billion state education bond on the March ballot includes an additional $300 million that would be allocated for charter school construction.

Publish Date: 10/31/03

"Welcome, ambassadors," says Jose Urias to ninth-graders entering his classroom at Animo Leadership High School in Los Angeles. "The Organization of American States is now in session."

Seated in roundtable formation, students take turns describing the problems in their respective countries and offering historical perspective.

"Our problem in Peru is cocaine production," says Mayra Campos. "They grow cocaine because they get more money for this than growing cocoa."

Her project partner, Nelson Palamo, points out that the problem won't be solved until farmers can make enough money to feed their families by growing legitimate crops.

The students, nearly all of them Hispanic, are enrolled in a class on the History of the Americas, co-created by their 27-year-old teacher, Urias. Last year the course was accredited by the University of California system as meeting a world history requirement.

By giving teachers the freedom to design their own curriculum, pick their own textbooks and teach the way they want to, Animo, a charter school that is proud to treat teachers as professionals, is attracting teachers in flocks. Teachers also enjoy the small campus with approximately 400 students.

"Teachers have a lot of input when it comes to decision-making here," says Urias. He and Mario Alcala are co-presidents of the Asociacion de Maestros Unidos chapter of CTA.

"We are given a lot of autonomy and treated like professionals. We are provided with assistance and do not have a top-down management structure.

"What we do have here is AB 2160," he says, referring to the CTA-sponsored legislation that would have allowed chapters to bargain procedures by which teachers could have a say in the selection of curriculum, textbooks and professional development. As it is, such critical decisions are left solely in the hands of administrators and school boards.

Animo Leadership Charter High School opened in 2000 and is one of two college-prep schools operated by Green Dot Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school developer. In 2002, Green Dot opened its second campus, Animo Inglewood Charter High School.

Both schools begin with freshmen and add one grade level per year. They serve mostly low-income minority students, many of them English language learners. Green Dot founder and CEO Steve Barr plans to open 100 high schools in the Los Angeles area over the next decade. Animo Leadership, chartered by the Lennox Elementary School District, got a 4 on the API, but received a 10 when compared to similar schools.

While some charter schools exploit teachers, Barr says his vision of a charter is a "teacher empowerment act." This, he explains, means "putting more dollars into the classroom where they belong - and into teacher pockets." The school receives approximately 90 percent of the amount per pupil as the Los Angeles Unified School District, but pays teachers 10 percent more. And Green Dot has already built up a cash reserve of $300,000 even though it has to rent facilities. Part of the reason is that Green Dot schools have less bureaucracy than a typical district.

When faculty members told Barr they would like to be part of CTA, Barr said fine. "A lot of people in the charter school community said, 'What the hell are you doing?'" he recalls. "But teachers need to know they have some stability. And if you are bent on systemic change within the urban school environment, the biggest player is the teachers union. I want us to be partners with the union at all our schools."

"The best thing about being part of CTA is that it brings credibility to the school," says math teacher Rob Clifford. "Sometimes we meet teachers from traditional schools who are suspicious of us. We tell them we are a public school and a union school. We have a contract."

"Working for Green Dot Public Schools has the feel of working for a startup company," says Clifford, noting that teachers are given cell phones and laptop computers, and that students have access to laptops. "I don't feel like I am working for a large, institutionalized facility. I know every student here."

He says he feels pushed to be creative. "Some teachers here get competitive. It's like, 'Wow, you're doing something really exciting. I better do something exciting, too.'"

In one of his class projects, students studying probability and statistics surveyed all students regarding elective courses they would like to see. As a result, a drama teacher, Craig Robinson, was hired last year.

Since Animo Leadership, which shares space with a law school, did not have a stage, Robinson and his students built one.

At Animo, all but one of the teachers are under age 30. At lunchtime, they can be found playing volleyball with students, strumming guitars or sitting with students on the lawn. Many work after school with students in clubs or sports, and frequently take students on field trips - sometimes across the country - to look at colleges.

"We really push the idea of going to college," says English teacher Lisa Flores, one of three instructors who took students to Boston colleges over spring break last year. "In fact, one of our graduation requirements is that students must apply to three colleges. These kids are 98 percent Latino, and a large number of them will be the first member of their family to graduate from high school. A lot of the teachers here come from similar backgrounds and want to show them they can succeed."

Flores brings energy and enthusiasm to Animo. Recently, her students brought music to play for classmates and had to explain why the lyrics could be considered poetry.

She meets with parents regularly and arrives an hour before school each day to coach the cheerleading squad.

"Working here is not for everybody," says Barr. "Teachers must work very hard and become leaders immediately. Nobody hands them curriculum and tells them to teach seven periods and leave at 3:30.

"But I am pleasantly surprised over and over again. I have found that if you treat teachers with respect, pay them well and challenge them, wonderful things happen."

Publish Date: 10/03

By Renee Moilanen
DAILY BREEZE

The students at Animo Leadership High School aren’t old enough to vote.

Nevertheless, these Lennox teens were on the front lines of the political scene Monday night when former President Clinton and Gov. Gray Davis stopped by their campus to drum up support for the November election.

“I’m overwhelmed,” said Hugo Guerrero, 14. “If someone like Bill Clinton comes to a school like this, it must be really important.”

Hundreds of people turned out for the Democratic Party’s get-out-the-vote rally on the Animo campus, chosen because of its outstanding student achievement, said founder Steve Barr. Animo is the South Bay’s first charter school, a public school free of many state mandates, and draws its students from the impoverished Lennox community.

Davis used the backdrop of Animo High — which he, at one point, referred to as “Amino Charter High School” — to tout his record of expanding college scholarships, increasing public school accountability and fending off school voucher attempts.

But clearly the students — and the crowd — had come to see Clinton, who elicited howls of praise when he lauded California’s commitment to public education.

“In California, instead of vouchers, we have charter schools, like Animo,” he said, sweeping his hand across the stage to show off rows of Lennox teens.

The Animo teens, who rubbed elbows with federal representatives and political hopefuls during the splashy, music-filled event, said they appreciated the extra publicity for their 400-student school, now in its third year. “It’s a way to get our school known,” said Andrea Morua, 15.

The rally also reinforced Animo’s own get-out-the-vote effort.

For the last few weeks, students have walked door to door in their neighborhoods, urging voters to get to the polls on Nov. 5.

The students do not campaign for any particular position.

Animo Leadership High, as reflected in its name, requires students to make a difference in the community.

“For us, it’s making connections to show why the election is important,” Barr said.

Having a large-scale get-out-the-vote rally in their back yard, complete with well-known political faces, bolstered the school’s efforts, students said.

“It’s good publicity, because we’re just kids and people barely listen to us,” said Delbert Dungca, 15.

“But if they hear it from someone important, it’ll mean more.”

And the rally gave some students a chance to see their political idols up close.

“I’m a Bill Clinton fan,” Morua admitted, grinning.

Publish Date:October 29, 2002

Hometown hero Oscar De La Hoya returned to Boyle Heights on Wednesday to fight for education with a $1-million donation for a new charter school named after him in the Eastside neighborhood.

The boxing champion - a graduate of Garfield High School - has donated the money and the land to the Oscar De La Hoya Animo Charter High School, which is scheduled to open in August with 140 students in temporary trailers and will eventually enroll 500. It is the third in the chain of charters run by the Green Dot Public Schools organization, which previously opened campuses in Lennox and Inglewood.

"I want to give students here an opportunity. I want to open doors. Children are the future of this community and California," De La Hoya said in a bilingual speech to an audience that included members of the school's inaugural class. "To all families and students, thank you so much. I'm glad to be a part of this team."

Strolling the grounds and seeking shade during a ground-breaking ceremony for the school, families echoed the same response when asked why they wanted their children at Oscar De La Hoya instead of nearby Roosevelt High School: major oportunidad - better opportunity.

"They'll have fewer students per class, and a better chance of getting into college," said Maria Cruz, whose daughter, Cindy Gomez, will attend De La Hoya High in the fall.

"I think it's a great opportunity for more unity between teachers and students," said Cindy, 14, an incoming freshman.

Charter schools are funded with tax dollars, but are free of most state regulations and allowed to operate independently of a school district. They are expected to offer programs that differ from those at traditional schools.

There are more than 300 charter schools operating in California, mainly with the approval of their local districts. The Los Angeles Unified School District gave the go-ahead for the new Eastside charter.

"The hardest part of this job was finding the property for this school," said Steve Barr, founder and chief executive of Green Dot Public Schools, which targets areas with underperforming, overcrowded campuses.

"We couldn't have done this without Oscar De La Hoya. Now East L.A. will show the rest of Los Angeles how schools should look," Barr said. He added that he plans four new schools next year, including two more in Boyle Heights.

Initially, the school - on South Lorena Street - will operate out of trailers on property that also houses a technology center and boxing gym built by De La Hoya. Its officials said that they plan to start construction of a permanent building there in the fall of 2004 but that they first need to raise several million dollars more.

Green Dot started Animo Leadership Charter High School in Lennox in 2000, nad ithe Inglewood Charter High School in 2002. The early track records of those schools - which boast high attendance and retention rates as well as better test scores than surrounding regular public schools - impressed Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Roy Romer, who attended Wednesday's ceremony.

Romer has said he supports the establishment of otally new charters but he is wary about allowing public campuses to convert to charters, as for exampled, Granada Hills High School is doing.

He praised Green Dot's culture of smaller class sizes and dedicated parents, teachers and students.

"This is a package that really can work. They're public schools. They're our schools," Romer said.

The program limits classes to one teacher for every 22 students and follows a college preparatory curriculum. Students are chosen by lottery, and parents are required to complete at least 30 hours of community service per year in partnership with the school.

Publish Date: 7/10/03

Speaking to 1,000 fans at a get-out-the-vote rally outside Animo Leadership Charter High School, Clinton said California's policies toward labor, minorities and the environment under Davis serve as "Exhibit A" for why voters should elect Democrats rather than Republicans.

"Gray Davis has broken new ground every single year, and California is leading America toward an environmentally responsible future," Clinton told the enthusiastic crowd. "There's not a state in the country that has done more progressive things when it comes to education, when it comes to health care, when it comes to balancing the needs of working families, when it comes to the rights of working people and women and minorities and gays than the state of California."

Davis thanked Clinton, calling him "the best president in my lifetime." He told the crowd he has expanded insurance and college scholarships for minority groups, and he said his support for expanded gun control and abortion rights contrast with Republican Bill Simon's positions. "My opponent is out of step, out of touch and out to lunch," he said.

The governor made no mention, in his speech, of court papers released Monday in which former California Coastal Commissioner Mark Nathanson asserted that Davis as a state assemblyman and controller had sought to link commission actions with campaign contributions.

But Simon, seeking to cut into Davis' lead eight days before Election Day, seized on the release of the documents.

Calling a press conference on a public beach at Malibu, Simon said the onus was on Davis to disprove the fund-raising allegations made by Nathanson, who went to prison in a bribery scandal disclosing that he had sought payments from individuals with business before the commission.

Simon called on Davis to release his calendars and schedules dating back to the mid-1980s, detailing all telephone calls or meetings with Nathanson, developers or any Coastal Commission permit applicants. "The governor owes more to the people of California than just dismissive denials," Simon said.

"Did he solicit them for contributions? Did he in fact receive contributions and did he brag of his relationship with Mark Nathanson in any conversations?" Simon continued. "If he did not do what Nathanson alleges, he should have no fear of answering these questions."

Prosecutors discredited Nathanson's claims a decade ago and refused to cut him a deal in exchange for them. But Simon -- a former federal prosecutor -- said he would not dismiss the allegations outright. He also refused to say whether, in the final days of the gubernatorial race, he planned to run negative ads alleging impropriety.

"Mr. Davis obviously is worried, having sent letters to many television stations, that we might," Simon said, referring to letters that Davis' campaign attorneys sent to television stations last week, suggesting the campaign might sue them if they ran unsubstantiated ads related to Nathanson's claims.

The Davis campaign, meanwhile, released an ad of its own intended to inoculate the governor against any Simon attack on the issue. The ad draws on criticism Simon faced earlier this month for falsely accusing the governor of violating a law by accepting a campaign check in a government office building.

The site of Davis' rally, Animo Leadership, was established three years ago in a mostly Latino neighborhood with the mission of steering children of uneducated immigrants toward college.

But African Americans made up the majority of the crowd at Monday's rally, including students from a sister charter school in its first year, Animo Inglewood. Many in the audience said they came to see Clinton, widely regarded as the most popular president in history with African Americans.

Some said they would have voted for Davis, whether or not Clinton encouraged them to do so. But others said they were doing so with reservations, that they blamed Davis for the state's energy crisis and were supporting him largely because they preferred him to Simon.

Jeffrey Williams, 49, of Inglewood said he attended only because he admired Clinton. An MRI technician at a local hospital, he said he and his co-workers were likely to face layoffs because of budget cuts -- and he blamed Davis. A registered Democrat, Williams said he planned to vote for Simon in protest.

After the rally, the former president was scheduled to headline a $100 apiece Hollywood studio fund-raiser with Davis for about 700 supporters.

By Renee Moilanen
DAILY BREEZE

With the waiting list for its only high school 100 students deep, the Lennox School District was desperate to expand its secondary school offerings.

Friday, district officials got their wish.

The elementary school district received a $450,000 state grant to create a second charter high school in the impoverished Lennox community. The district also sponsors Animo Leadership Charter High, an alternative to the low-performing Centinela Valley Union High School District that most Lennox teens attend.

The proposed math, science and technology charter high school is expected to open next fall, Superintendent Bruce McDaniel said.

“It’s really exciting,” he said.

With Animo and the new charter school, the district should be able to accommodate about half of its high school-age students, McDaniel added.

The new charter school will be run directly by the Lennox district, unlike Animo, which is overseen by the nonprofit group Green Dot Public Schools. Charter schools are public schools free of many state regulations.

Animo founder Steve Barr said he looks forward to collaborating with district officials to create a top-quality high school experience.

“The idea that the Lennox School District would step up and do its own school for the students in Lennox is such a home run for us,” Barr said. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do, to use a tool (charter schools) to serve the families of Lennox.

“Hopefully, it’ll influence Centinela Valley . . . to start looking at the results and saying, ‘All public schools should look like this,’ ” he said. The new charter school will hold about 140 students in the first year, gradually phasing in students each year until it reaches near 550.

During the next few months, the district expects to hire a principal, set up a community advisory committee and start planning the curriculum. It is not known yet where the school will be, McDaniel said.

The Lennox charter movement is part of a larger effort to break up the Centinela Valley Union High School District, often accused of having low test scores, campus crime and poor management.

Four elementary school districts feed into Centinela Valley.

Two of them — Lennox and Lawndale — have charter high schools. Another, Hawthorne, is collecting petition signatures to become a unified school district, so it can offer its own high school.

And the last, the Wiseburn School District, has a petition pending before the State Board of Education to secede from Centinela Valley.

Publish Date:November 17, 2002

The state board's 9-1 vote gave the green light to Steve Barr and his Green Dot Public Schools, founder of a pioneering high school that serves nearby Lennox.

Barr wanted to repeat that success in Inglewood. But Inglewood Unified School District board members rejected his application earlier this year, saying they wanted to try their own reforms. So Barr turned to the state board, which also can grant charters. "I'm thrilled. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and provide a first-class high school for Inglewood," Barr said after the state board vote. He added that he planned to call the Inglewood superintendent today and seek to work with the district in fashioning the new school.

Charter schools are public institutions funded with tax dollars that are freed from most state regulations and allowed to operate independently of a school district. They are expected to tailor programs to succeed with students in ways that traditionally governed schools have not.

More than 300 charter schools operate in California, the vast majority approved by their local districts; only a few have obtained their charters from the state.

Inglewood Supt. James Harris was not available for comment.

Students Thrive at Animo High

Barr went to Sacramento armed with evidence that Lennox students at Animo Leadership High School, now in its second year, have thrived. For example, Animo students did far better on the state's new high school exit exam than their counterparts in the Centinela Valley Union High School District, where most would have been otherwise assigned.

Fifty-four percent of Animo's freshmen passed the math portion of the exam--which students must pass before getting a diploma--and 74% passed the English language arts portion. In the Centinela district, just 20% passed the math and 42% the language arts part.

Animo students, the majority of whom are from Spanish-speaking immigrant families, also surpassed state and Los Angeles County passing rates, while Inglewood students scored substantially lower.

Barr said he soon will begin a search for a principal and a location and plans to open the Inglewood school in August with a freshman class of 100 or more.

The new campus will be modeled in large part on Animo, which has a rigorous curriculum based on University of California entrance requirements and is in session from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Students are chosen by lottery, and parents must promise to volunteer time to help the school. Bus transportation and laptop computers are provided for each student.

Board member Susan Hammer cast the lone dissenting vote.