Newsletter

The Green Dot Spotlight: February 2008

The Green Dot Spotlight
The latest news and events about Green Dot Public Schools

February 2008

In This Issue

Ánimo Students Show Work at MOCA

Green Dot Schools Score Among the Best

Ánimo Playoff Game Rocks with School Spirit

Spotlight: Principal Julio Murcia

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Learn more about Green Dot

For more information about Green Dot, our students' successes, and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles, visit our website:
www.greendot.org

Interested in learning more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Ánimo Justice Students Display Their Art at the MOCA

Ánimo Justice students showed off their artistic talents recently at not one but two art centers: L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown L.A.
The exhibits Justice Students with Art

were a first for the students.
"I've never done anything like this," says 15-year-old Myra Islas. I was really proud."
The students' exhibit at the MOCA was part of the museum's "Teens with MOCA" program. Ánimo students worked on anime and studied the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami whose collection was recently exhibited at the MOCA. Justice Student Art3

"The kids really got into Murakami's work with anime," explains Melissa Berrios, Ánimo Justice's art instructor. "Their backpacks are completely decorated with anime work."
The teens also studied the work of Emory Douglas, an African-American artist, well known for his linocut posters of the Black Panthers. "It was really powerful for the kids to see Douglas' work," says Berrios. "Most of them didn't know or understand anything about the Black Panthers until seeing this."
The students focused their linocut art on issues in the U.S. that they would like to see changed. For many boys it was ending violence among their peers. For several girls it was changing how society defines beauty.

Green Dot Schools Perform Among Best of Schools With High Minority Populations

In a recent study by Just for the Kids, an affiliate of the National Center for Educational Accountability, Green Dot's Latino students ranked among the highest in performance on the state Algebra I test in schools with 50% or more Latino students.
The study, published earlier this month, examines performance specifically among schools with minority enrollments of 50% or more. In this case, it looked at how Latino students performed on Algebra I statewide standards.
Five Green Dot schools were among the top-100 scoring schools in the state-Ánimo Pat Brown, Ánimo Inglewood, Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo, Ánimo South L.A., and Ánimo Venice.
Ánimo Pat Brown tied for first in the state, with 47% of Latino students ranked proficient in Algebra I. This score is especially remarkable considering that over 96% of Latino students at the school were tested, as compared to only 11.2% of Latinos tested at the other first-ranked school. This is also based on data from Ánimo Pat Brown's first year of operation!!!
Ánimo Inglewood and Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo both ranked fourth, with 42% of Latino students at each of the schools ranked proficient. Ánimo South LA was 20th with 27% of its Latino students scoring proficient. Ánimo Venice had 14% proficiency among its Latino students.

Battle of the Ánimos Playoff Game Draws Huge Crowd and Shows off Students' School Spirit

More than 1,000 cheering Ánimo students, teachers, parents, and fans crowded USC's Galen Center last month to w bball game

atch the Ánimo Venice Pirates take on the Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo (ODLHA) Boxers in a basketball playoff game that is one for the record books.
Athletic directors from both schools created the playoff game to capitalize on a good-spirited rivalry that has been growing for the past year.
Held in late January, the game was the sporting (and school spirit) event of the season for the two Ánimo schools. Tickets, sold more than a week in advance, nearly sold out. Both schools held pep rallies and tailgate parties. Cheerleaders practiced their routines for weeks. And the players were pumped.
"This was a sensational game," says Devin Holveck, Ánimo Homeboy Fieldtrip (ODLH)

Venice's athletic director. "We had such an enthusiastic, raucous crowd. It was neat to see the kids really develop a sense of pride for their schools."
Students donned t-shirts bragging about their respective team's skills. A few devoted fans painted letters on their chests to show off school pride.
"The kids were really fired up for this game," recalls John Sanchez, athletic director for ODLHA. "The crowd, the game, the entire experience shows the progress our sports programs have made and how much the students really love their Animo venice bball players

schools."
Holveck and Sanchez even bought a huge basketball trophy, named the "Ánimo Golden Basketball". The trophy has the names of both schools, but only one has the engraved title of "winner" for each year a game is played. This year Ánimo Venice claimed that title with a 55-37 victory over ODLHA.
"Win or lose, this game was really about the kids feeling great about their school," Holveck notes. "We definitely accomplished that."

Green Dot Profile: Ánimo Leadership's Julio Murcia
Living the Green Dot Model

Julio Murcia has faced a host of barriers in his life, but he has never let one of them stop him from achieving his goals. "I lived the Green Dot philosophy before we had Green Dot schools," Murcia says.

Coming to America
Murcia immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia at age 11 with his parents and two siblings. He learned English in school here while battling dyslexia.
As a student in Santa Monica High School, he wanted to attend a fou julio murcia

r-year college, but the only advice he got from his high school guidance counselor was that he shouldn't set his sights beyond community college and that was only if he did well. "She was completely discouraging," Murcia recalls. "She instilled despair, not hope or aspirations."
Murcia went on to attend Santa Monica Community College and then Cal State Northridge.

Heading Down the Administrative Track
While tutoring students during college Murcia found his calling in teaching. He planned on being an elementary school teacher. His mentor, Robert Adams, then a dean at Santa Monica College, had other plans.
Adams introduced Murcia to the head of counseling at Loyola Marymount University who instantly enrolled Murcia in the university's counseling program, where he received his master's degree.
Murcia then spent the next decade working in various administrative positions: a guidance counselor at Santa Monica High, establishing a Latino center for the Clark County community college system in Las Vegas, assistant principal at Santa Monica High, a guidance counselor and bilingual coordinator at Daniel Webster Middle School, and starting a series of small learning communities as assistant principal at Locke High School. It was while at Locke that Murcia learned about Green Dot, and the principal position at Ánimo Leadership. He tossed his hat in the ring and emerged the victor.

Ánimo Leadership's "Walking Principal"
The transition to lead Ánimo Leadership wasn't easy. The staff was very self-reliant, Murcia recalls. "I really had to establish relationships and norms with teachers with a gentle touch," he says. "It was a long, but helpful process of building relationships."
Now, in his third year at the helm, Murcia is seeing amazing successes at the school. It has sent its graduates to some top-notch schools and was recently featured in U.S. News & World Report's issue of America's Best High Schools.
"This has been a wonderful journey," Murcia says of his experience in education. "I absolutely love what I'm doing."
Students, teachers, and parents at Ánimo Leadership refer to Murcia as the "walking principal." He is either walking the halls, poking his head into a classroom just to check out what's going on, or visiting students' homes to check in with families.
For Murcia, everything he does is about building relationships and making educational experiences better for all students.
"None of the students at this school will experience what I did with my high school guidance counselor," Murcia says. "They will be pushed to excel. They will believe in the best of themselves. This is what I can give to them, what I was meant to bring to them."

News to Know
Ánimo Schools Receive Accreditation

Ánimo Jackie Robinson and Ánimo Pat Brown recently received initial accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). WASC is one of six regional associations that accredit public and private schools, colleges, and universities in the U.S.
The accreditation establishes a level of credibility for the two high schools because it means they have met various criteria that show they are viable educational institutions, says George Bronson, associate executive director of operations for WASC.
The initial accreditation is a major step toward gaining full accreditation, a process that involves multi-day visits from education experts. To prepare for a full accreditation visit, the schools have three years to compile a report documenting their philosophies, goals, student performance, delivery of curriculum and instruction, and more.
Three Ánimo schools have received full accreditation by WASC: Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo, Ánimo Leadership, and Ánimo Inglewood.

Green Dot in the News

Green Dot Public Schools received a "Rising Star" mention as part of Fast Company magazine's 2008 Social Capitalist awards. To read more about the Social Capitalist awards just click here.

For more news stories about Green Dot, visit our website.

The Green Dot Spotlight: January 2008

The Green Dot Spotlight
The latest news and events about Green Dot Public Schools

January 2008

In This Issue

Green Dot's Fund for Enrichment Programs

Ánimo Featured in Stanford Study

Melinda Gates Visits Ánimo Pat Brown

Ánimo Student Wins Posse Scholarship

Spotlight: Ánimo Teacher LaTesha Thomas

Green Dot on NPR

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Learn more about Green Dot

For more information about Green Dot, our students' successes, and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles, visit our website:
www.greendot.org

Interested in learning more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Green Dot Makes 2008 Resolutions and Celebrates a Great 2007

In the spirit of New Year's resolutions, Green Dot continues to strive towards and reshape its high goals of academic success for 2008.

These are the goals that we aim to reach in the upcoming year and the near future:

- 70% of all graduating seniors will be accepted to 4-year colleges, and more than 25% will go to community colleges

- At least 80% of entering 9^th grade students will graduate on time

- Less than 5% of students will leave Green Dot schools for any reason other than moving out of the area

- Each Green Dot school will reach a score of 800 API by its 8^th year of operation.

- Green Dot will open a new school in New York in September 2008!

- Green Dot will open at least four new schools on or around the Locke High School campus in September 2008

We are proud of Green Dot's accomplishments in 2007:

- LAUSD approved Green Dot's plan to transform Alain Leroy Locke Senior High School into several small, safe, college-prep Green Dot schools. This is the first time an outside organization has been allowed to run a traditional public school in Los Angeles.

- Ánimo Leadership was ranked #31 among the best high schools in America by US News and World Report, and as the #4 charter school in the country!

- Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School graduated its first class in June 2007. 92% of seniors graduated, and 71% were accepted to four-year universities!

- U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings visited Ánimo Inglewood in May. She praised Green Dot for creating public charter schools that are "saving lives with major miracles..." She said, "You are proving that we can do this work. The [small schools] movement is something that can be replicated."

- After only one year of operation, the Green Dot's five Jefferson Transformation Schools on average outscored Jefferson HS by an incredible 171 points on the API.

Thank you for all of your support this past year! We look forward to working with you to better public education in 2008!

Green Dot Announces $100,000 for Student Enrichment Programs

Green Dot has committed new funding to award our educators' creativity in providing a well-rounded environment for students. The funds will support enrichment programs at all twelve Green Dot schools and Locke High School, which Green Dot will begin operating this July. The funding program allows our

schools to provide programs to students over and above what is already in their budgets.
       "This is a really exciting opportunity for Green Dot schools," said Green Dot Founder Steve Barr. "Educators had so many great ideas for student programs that we felt we had to help pay for them even if their budgets were fully allocated."
       Green Dot awarded the first allocation of the enrichment program funds in December. Recipients' projects ran the gamut from building a dance studio at Ánimo Inglewood to creating a journalism program at Ánimo Pat Brown and starting a Capoeira club at Ánimo South L.A.
       Green Dot is delighted with the number of applications for programs our schools submitted for the first round of awards. 17 out of 21 applications were funded, with seven projects fully funded and the remainder partially funded. The average request was for $5,715. Green Dot gave an average of $1,600 per request. In all, over $141,000 was requested and $24,255 was allocated for this first quarter, with the rest to be allocated between now and June.   To see all of the results, please go to the website.

Ánimo Inglewood in Stanford University Study

Ánimo Inglewood was one of five high schools in the state featured in a recent Stanford University report that studied high schools that are beating the odds and successfully graduating low-income minority students. "High Schools for Equity: Policy Supports for Student Learning in Communities of Color" was conducted by Stanford's School Redesign Network and Justice Matters, a non-profit organization in San Francisco.
       The study focuses on five urban, public high schools from across the state that represent approaches needed to close California's educational achievement gap and to enable students to be successful in college. The goal was to hone in on the methods and practices of Ánimo Inglewood and the other schools in order to integrate those practices statewide for greater systemic change in educating high school students.
       "The work the schools in our study are doing is exceptional and occurs against the odds," says Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond. "Their successes can be replicated, but only if California implements substantive policy changes."
       Darling-Hammond noted that each of the schools in the study include small, personalized learning environments; rigorous and relevant curricula that provide authentic learning and assessment opportunities; and extensive, regular opportunities for teachers to collaborate and learn with one another to improve their practice.

Melinda Gates Visits Ánimo Pat Brown

Ánimo Pat Brown got a special visit from Melinda Gates in November. It was the second visit a co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made to a Green Dot school in recent months. In October, Bill Gates Sr. visited Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo.
Ms. Gates toured Ánimo Pat Brown for a first-hand look at the progress Green Dot schools have been making. The Gates Foundation has committed nearly $10 million to help Green Dot carry out the Jefferson and Locke Transformation Projects. Ánimo Pat Brown is one of the five schools in the Jefferson Transformation Project. Green Dot will use funding for the Locke project to build up to 10 new schools to serve the Watts community.
Ms. Gates was impressed with the staff and students at Ánimo Pat Brown and said her tour "served as an important reminder of what is possible for students everywhere." She added that Ánimo Pat Brown, like all Green Dot schools, has "tremendous promise."

Winners Circle

Ánimo South L.A. Senior Wins Posse Scholarship
Leotinae Layton has won the prestigious Posse Foundation scholarship and, in September, will be attending Grinnell College tuition-free. The Ánimo South L.A. senior was one of three finalists from Ánimo South L.A., which had the largest number of finalists from any L.A. high school. She beat out more Homeboy Fieldtrip (ODLH)

than 900 other students for one of 10 coveted scholar slots in the L.A. area.
       "This is a really great program and I'm so excited about it," the 17-year-old said.
       The Posse Foundation selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "posses." The idea is that if a student has his or her posse for support, that student is more likely to thrive in college.
       Leotinae knows attending school in Iowa will be a dramatic change from life in L.A. "I had never heard anything about Iowa except for cornfields and cows," she said. "It'll be a culture shock, but it's a culture shock I'm willing to embrace."

***

Ralph Bunche Students Honored by LA School Board President
The hard and consistent work of several Ánimo Ralph Bunche students was recognized in style as the students, and their parents, were honored recently by Los Angeles School Board President Monica Garcia. Students from 16 schools attended the award ceremony held at the Santee Educational Complex. Garcia's office organized the event to bring the educational community in the Santee High area together and to applaud students' and parents' work. Ánimo Ralph Bunche teachers nominated one student from each grade for the awards. Administrators nominated parents. Garcia praised the Ánimo students for their exemplary academic performance and diligence and she commended Ánimo parents for their active participation in the high school. Those honored are:
Superior Academic Performance-Alma Velásquez and Eric Aguilera (grade 10), Paul Lazcano (grade 9)
Outstanding Academic Effort-James Ventura (grade 10), Melisa Saucedo (grade 9)
Parent Participation-Felissa Fuentes & Patricia Delgado

Congratulations to all of our winners!!

Green Dot Profile
Ánimo South L.A. Teacher Doubles as Journalist

When she's not helping her ninth-grade English class find the methaphors and iron in classic novels and rap songs, LaTesha Thomas is rubbing elbows with, and writing articles about, some of the music industry's top hip-hop and R&B artists.
Thomas, 30, is a part-time journalist, who has published articles in a number of magazines, Web sites, and newspapers. And she's a radio producer. And she can act and sing.
"I have a lot o

f different interests and I've tried a lot of different things," says the Ánimo South L.A. teacher. "I think it's good to explore all possibilities and to stretch yourself."
       Thomas, a native Texan, always had a passion for teaching, but didn't explore it until after a career in journalism, public relations, and the arts.
       She attended a performing arts conservatory in high school and in college worked for campus radio and TV, while doing some writing on the side. After college she interned, and then worked full-time, at the NBC affiliate in Fort Worth in the public affairs office. There, she wrote anything and everything her boss would give her, and it was a lot.

A Passion for Teaching
She went on to work for radio personality Tom Joyner' foundation and then left for L.A., where she landed jobs at KJLH radio and CBS. Her dream was to become a producer. But the desire to teach kept tugging at her.
       "The idea of being able to give back to these students and to let them know they can make it and be what they want to be--that really moves me," says Thomas.
       She eased her way into the classroom, starting last year as Ánimo South L.A.'s step team coach and then, in July, as a teacher for Green Dot's Summer Bridge program. In September, she began teaching ninth-grade English at the school.

Dual Careers: Mixing It Up
But she didn't abandon the entertainment industry for good. For the past eight months, Thomas has been writing part-time for BASIC, a bi-monthly hip-hop and R&B magazine. She's covered awards shows and profiled musical notables such as singer Mary J. Blige. She recently started writing for a new hip-hop magazine called Cover, which will debut in July.
       Thomas likes to describe herself as a teacher in the entertainment business. "Teaching comes first," she explains. "When I finish at school I may go to an awards show or do an interview, then I'm back to preparing lessons for my students."
       The mix has been helpful, for Thomas and her students. Thomas teaches her curriculum based on state standards, but she also mixes things up for students, like dissecting a rap song to uncover the poetry or themes within it. She'll examine the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the poetry of Langston Hughes as examples of good writing.
       Near the end of the school year, Thomas uses free-verse writing with her students. The class picks a theme and then has a certain amount of time to write whatever and however they want. "You'd be amazed at what they come up with. That freedom to let go really allows them to get their thoughts out," she says.
       Thomas believes she'll always do something in entertainment. "I used to want to have my own radio show and teach," she says. "That was my ultimate goal. That might happen."
        But, Thomas says, she'll never leave the classroom. "I get too much from teaching these kids."

News to Know...

Ánimo Watts II Students Head to College
Ánimo Watts II students gave a new twist to gaining i Watts at USC

nsight on what it takes to get into college during recent visits to USC and UCLA. Instead of sitting in a room to listen to a speaker, the Ánimo students were divided into teams and sent on scavenger hunts for information. They had to interview college students and college representatives, sit in on classes, take photos of various places, and complete a campus visit book. The goal of the visit was part college prep, part team-building among students and between students and teachers, and part academic connections. Students linked what they learned at both campuses to the work they are doing in their Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) class. "The visits were a real success," said Ánimo Watts II Principal Vanessa Morris. "Students were excited to learn about college life and to connect it to their lessons at school. It really had an impact on all of them."

Green Dot Names CFO and VPs
Green Dot is pleased to announce several promotions on the management team. Sabrina Ayala has been named Chief Financial Officer. Hoa Truong is Vice President of Operations, overseeing knowledge management, IT, and facilities. He takes over for Dan Chang, who is now Vice President of New School Development, focusing on community organizing, real estate development, and facilities for our existing schools, including all issues related to the Locke Transformation. Finally, Alma Márquez has been named Vice President of External and Government Affairs. To read the bios for the entire management team, click here.

Green Dot in the News

Check out NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered to hear recent stories about Green Dot's efforts to transform L.A.'s public schools.

For more news stories about Green Dot, visit our website.

The Green Dot Spotlight: December 2007

The Green Dot Spotlight
The latest news and events about Green Dot Public Schools

December 2007

In This Issue

Ánimo Leadership Among the Best

Bill Gates Sr. Visits ODLHA

New Facilities for Ánimo Schools

Green Dot Model to be Used in New York

Winners' Circle

Spotlight: Cicile Taliaferro

Green Dot Ball a Success!

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Interested in learning more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Learn more about Green Dot

For more information about Green Dot, our students' successes, and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles, visit our website:
www.greendot.org

Dear Green Dot Supporters:
As we wind down from the excitement of our first, and very successful, Green Dot Ball, we are getting revved up again about all the great strides we have been making to transform public schools here in Los Angeles.
        Our schools are as successful as ever, garnering praise from visitors such as Bill Gates Sr. of the Gates Foundation and the Los Angeles Times. We recently embarked on the first phase of our plan to transform Locke High School in Watts. And, we are close to receiving approval for a Green Dot charter high school to open in New York City, a joint effort with the local teachers union, United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
        As always, we thank everyone who supports our important work to make all public schools in L.A. small, safe, and successful at graduating kids and sending them to college.
       And, we wish all Green Dot supporters, parents, staff, and students a safe and happy holiday season.

Steve Barr
Founder and CEO

Make Sure You Get Green Dot's e-mails!

Stay up to date with Green Dot's growth and successes. Add "info@greendot.org" to your contacts and your "safe senders" list. To unsubscribe, see the instructions at the bottom of this email.

Ánimo Leadership Among Nation's Top High Schools

Ánimo Leadership ranked 31 among the top 100 high schools in the country in U.S. News & World Report's first-ever listing of America's best high schools. The magazine, known for its annual ranking of best U.S. colleges, analyzed more than 18,000 high schools in 40 states. It reviewed state test scores, college-level coursework, and progress of each school's disadvantaged students. Nearly 1,600 high schools made the cut, the top 100 of those noted as gold medal winners.
   Ánimo Leadership is one of 23 California high schools to receive gold-medal status, meaning that it met all three criteria of the magazine's review. The magazine used a formula produced in collaboration with School Evaluation Services, a K-12 data research and analysis business run by Standard & Poor's. Nearly 180 California high schools were among the overall 1,600 finishers.
    "It is such an honor to be recognized for all the hard work that the teachers and students have done," says Ánimo Leadership Principal Julio Murcia. The ranking "gave teachers the energy to continue doing what they do. Now they are saying 'Next year, we want to be in the top 20 schools.' "
   To read more about the high school rankings click here.

* * *

Ánimo Leadership's APIs On the Rise
Ánimo Leadership was the top-scoring Green Dot school with a 712 API, an increase from 651 in 2006. The increase was driven by across-the-board improvements in California state test scores and by almost every tenth grader passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Great job Ánimo Leadership!

Bill Gates Sr. Visits Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo

Bill Gates Sr., the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and father of Microsoft's founder, visited Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo in October and came away impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of its teachers and students. He met with nearly a dozen teachers and students from the school including senior Paul Sims, junior Elsie Garcia, and math teacher Helene Pao.
"Before I visited Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo school, I knew the stats. ...I was ready to be impressed," Gates told a gathering of business and civic leaders at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles' Corporate Philanthropy Roundtable. "And then I met the students, and the teachers, and I was really impressed. ...Oscar de la Hoya is taking the very same students who are languishing in traditional schools and giving them the chance to excel."
Gates rattled off a list of problems with U.S. high schools at the gathering, from their dismal four-year graduation rate to high numbers of high school drop-outs. He chided L.A.'s business community to get more involved in improving the city's schools. And he noted the successes that exist in the move to reform public education in L.A., including Green Dot. "These schools ask their students-students who weren't making the grade in their old schools-to do more, not less," Gates told the group. "And now Green Dot is going to be taking on Locke High School, bringing to Watts the high expectations and the supportive environment that are characteristic of Green Dot schools."

Ánimo Watts Schools Begin Locke Transformation

Green Dot recently embarked on the first step in our Locke Transformation Project: opening two charter high schools in Watts. The two schools, Ánimo Watts 1 and Ánimo Watts 2, are the first of 10 small high schools Green Dot will open as part of the transformation plan. The two schools each opened animo watts stud cncl

with ninth-grade classes and 140 students. The new schools have already settled into a productive school year.
"It has been so rewarding to see the incredible strides our students have made since September," says Ánimo Watts 1 Principal Dinah Consuegra. "The same students who entered our Summer Bridge program with low self-confidence have quickly become members of our student council. Their success has positively changed the fabric of our school culture."
Green Dot received the OK from the L.A. School Board to take control of Locke High in fall of 2008. It is the first non-district organization to gain control of a district school. As part of the transformation plan, Green Dot will restructure the Locke campus into several college-prep high schools of about 500 students. The schools will follow Green Dot's Six Tenets for High-Performing Schools: small, safe schools; getting parents involved; holding students and staff to high expectations; maximizing funding to the classroom; giving principals and teachers significant authority over school-site decisions such as budget and curriculum; and keeping schools open later for community use.

Green Dot Gets the Green Light in New York

Green Dot and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), New York City's teachers union, moved one step closer to starting a new charter high school in the Bronx. The State University of New York's Board of Trustees recently approved the application for the proposed high school. The approval by the SUNY trustees sets the stage for final consideration by the State Board of Regents in coming months. If approved by the Regents, Green Dot will operate a high school in the South Bronx beginning with 100 students in grade nine and eventually expanding to include grades 9-12. Class size will be capped at 25 students. "We want to build the best public high school in New York," Green Dot founder Steve Barr told the NY Daily News. The new school will follow Green Dot's successful model that has been implemented in a dozen schools in the L.A. area. Click here to read more about the proposed school.

Winners Circle

Scholarship Winner has a Passion for Science
Christian Talavera is all science, all the time. "I like the complexity of science, how you can apply it to everything in life," says the Ánimo Lead

ership senior. This past summer, Christian won a scholarship to spend six weeks at UC Santa Barbara studying biology, focusing in seasonal ecology. Once back at school this fall, he immediately took the helm his school's biology club and enrolled in a physics class at El Camino College. He's also applying for the Gates Millennium Fund Scholars program, which awards financial scholarships for college to minority high school students who show academic excellence. Christian has coupled his interest, and excellence, in science, along with his leadership skills to help fellow students. Last year, he organized about 15 Ánimo Leadership students to help tutor their peers in biology. That extra academic support helped the school raise its biology standardized test scores to record heights. "Christian is one of those students who puts in the extra effort to go far beyond what's expected," says his marine biology teacher, Mark Friedman. "He is among the highest caliber that Ánimo has had in my four years here." Christian hopes to attend Princeton University where he plans to double major in chemistry and biology.

Congratulations Christian. Keep up the good work!!

If you have success stories about Ánimo students or schools, let us know. E-mail info@greendot.org.

Green Dot Profile
Cicile Taliaferro: Ánimo Inglewood Parent

Cicile Taliaferro was tired of fighting. She spent four years fighting to get her daughter into AP and honor classes at Santa Monica High School and was exhausted.
        "It's important to fight for your children, I understand that, but it shouldn't have to be such a battle," says Taliaferro, whose daughter was often the only African-American student in those advanced classes. "There was always someone at the school saying 'No, she can't do this or that' rather than encouraging her," Taliaferro adds.
        When it came time for her son, Devon Hatcher, to attend high school Taliaferro said 'No' to Santa Monica High and 'Yes' to Ánimo Inglewood. For Taliaferro, the resources offered by Ánimo Inglewood were the same, but the energy was different. Taliaferro recalls watching and hearing school leaders and staff constantly encouraging students-most of whom are African-American and Latino-to excel beyond the basics. Most importantly, she notes, "there's no fight in to get a good class."
        Granted, her son's adjustment wasn't easy. He never had to wear a uniform at school, had never attended a school where he was in the majority, and he wanted to stay with his friends. But the small size and the close relationships with his teachers won Devon over.
        "I think because it's so small, everyone gets to know you and teachers form a bond with you so they aren't afraid to call your parents if they need to," he says. "That's an incentive to make sure you're on top of your work."
        Devon had an opportunity to transfer to Loyola High School for the 2007-08 school year. He chose to stay at Ánimo Inglewood. Now a junior, the 16-year-old is taking AP U.S. History, AP Literature, honors chemistry, Algebra 2 (his favorite subject), and Spanish 3. He's hoping to go to college on the East Coast like his sister who attends Smith College.
        For his mother, she's not looking back. "I'm so happy with our decision," Taliaferro says. "It's a wonderful and important experience for him, and for me too."

Green Dot Ball a Success

More than 700 people ascended to the Griffith Observatory to celebrate Green Dot's success at the first annual Green Dot Ball. With a magnificent view of Los Angeles at night, guests heard the inspiring stories of Green Dot educators, its teacher union leaders, and its important supporters: philanthropist Eli Broad, SEIU leader Andy Stern, and boxer and philanthropist Oscar de la Hoya. Thank you to all who attended and have supported Green Dot in all of our efforts to make Los Angeles schools the best in the nation. We look forward to seeing you at next year's Ball.

News to Know...

L.A. Times Is Thankful for Steve Barr & Green Dot
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the L.A. Times expressed its gratitude to politicians, firefighters, community leaders, and others who the paper said "contributed something of value" to southern California and the state in 2007.
Among those thanked for their work was Green Dot and its founder Steve Barr. According to the Times, "Barr demands attention for his 10 Los Angeles public charter schools at every conceivable opportunity. ...Barr's schools, known collectively as Green Dot, are not only providing safe campuses and high-quality education, they are goading the LAUSD into trying to match them. That makes Green Dot an engine of progress and educational reform in a district that desperately needs such energy."
Green Dot thanks the L.A. Times for recognizing our hard work and achievements. To read the entire story click here.

Wells Fargo Funds Green Dot
Wells Fargo showed its support of Green Dot's work by approving a generous low-interest loan to fund the growth of our network of schools. The equity-equivalent investment will help Green Dot prepare the children of the South L.A. and Watts communities for college, leadership, and life. Green Dot thanks Wells Fargo executives Michael Park, Jerry Ruiz, Jan Wu, and Margo Kairoff for their support!

Volunteers Help with College Applications
More than a dozen volunteers from Green Dot, led by journalist Charlotte Hildebrand, worked one-on-one GD volunteers

with seniors from Locke High School to help whip their college essays in shape for upcoming college application deadlines. Twenty students from the high school worked with volunteers who spent two hours helping students think through ideas, work on structure, and create high-quality essays. Volunteers were impressed by the students' eagerness to learn how to improve their writing and their excitement about going to college. Thank you to our volunteers!

Green Dot in the News

Keep up with the latest news about Green Dot's progress to improve L.A.'s public high schools. Visit our website to see current and past news articles and video clips. Click on the stories below to catch up on some of the most recent news and commentary:
"Bring on the Green Dots" Chicago Tribune Editorial
(Green Dot has no plans to open schools in Chicago, but we are pleased that our model is inspiring education reformers around that country.)
"Teachers' Union, Green Dot to form charter high school" by Tanyanika Samuels (New York Daily News)

The Green Dot Spotlight: September 2007

The Green Dot Spotlight
The latest news and events about Green Dot Public Schools

September 2007

In This Issue

L.A. School Board Gives Green Dot Control of Locke High School

Mark Your Calendars for the Green Dot Ball

Winners' Circle

Spotlight: Johanna Matamoros

Green Dot in the News

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Interested in learning more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Learn more about Green Dot

For more information about Green Dot, our students' successes, and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles, visit our website:
www.greendot.org

Dear Green Dot Supporters:
We are excited to announce one of the most significant events in Green Dot's history: the L.A. Board of Education has approved Green Dot's plan to transform Locke High School in Watts into ten small, safe, high-performing Green Dot schools.
We are also eagerly looking toward the Green Dot Ball: A Benefit for Great Public Schools on October 29 to raise awareness and funds for making L.A.'s public schools the best in the country. I hope you can join us for a beautiful and festive night.
As always, we thank everyone who supported us in our push to transform Locke High. And we welcome your continued support in our drive to make all public schools in L.A. small, safe, and successful at graduating kids and sending them to college. Please join us!

Steve Barr
Founder and CEO

Make Sure You Get Green Dot's e-mails!

Stay up to date with Green Dot's growth and successes. Add "info@greendot.org" to your contacts and your "safe senders" list. To unsubscribe, see the instructions at the bottom of this email.

Locke High Transformation Gets Green Light from L.A. School Board

Green Dot Public Schools made history in Los Angeles education when the city's Board of Education voted to allow Green Dot to take over Locke High School and break it up into smaller charter schools. This is the first time in LAUSD history that a non-district group will run an L.A. Unified public school.
"I'm proud of the board and proud of the parents and the teachers of Locke," said Green Dot's Founder Steve Barr. "...We're going to work together and make Locke a great school. People around the country are going to come to Watts and see what a great urban turnaround school looks like."
Locke High is one of the city's and the state's lowest-performing high schools with very few students who are proficient in math or English and a graduating class that is one quarter the size it was in ninth grade. For example, in 2005, 332 students graduated from a class that, as ninth-graders, had 1,318. In contrast, Green Dot schools have consistently outperformed nearby public schools on standardized tests and graduate 100% of our students. Parents, students, and many teachers at Locke have long supported Green Dot's transformation plan to convert the high school into smaller, high-quality schools.
"Today is about historic accountability," Bruce Smith, an English teacher at Locke who gathered signatures for the Green Dot petition, told the Los Angeles Times after the board's vote. "Finally a day of reckoning has come. ...Real change is coming to Locke High School."
Green Dot will take control of Locke High in fall of 2008. As part of the transformation plan, Green Dot will restructure the Locke campus into several college-prep high schools of about 500 students. The schools will follow Green Dot's Six Tenets for High-Performing Schools: small, safe schools; getting parents involved; holding students and staff to high expectations; maximizing funding to the classroom; giving principals and teachers significant authority over school-site decisions such as budget and curriculum; and keeping schools open later for community use.

Edna McConnell Clark Foundation to Invest $4 Million in Green Dot

Green Dot is pleased to announce that the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation will invest $4 million to support Green Dot and the Locke Transformation Project. A significant portion of the implementation of Green Dot's business plan is being underwritten by a 34 month grant of up to $4,000,000 from The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, which makes substantial multi-year investments in leading youth-serving organizations as part of its ongoing efforts to help young people from low-income families develop the skills and abilities that will enable them to make a successful transition to productive adulthood. Thank you to the Clark Foundation and to all of our supporters!

2007 API Results Show Continued Success

Recent API scores for Green Dot's Jefferson Transformation Schools outpaced neighboring Jefferson High School by nearly 200 points. The five schools' av locke student

erage API for 2007 is 628 out of a possible 1000, while Jefferson High recorded an API of 457, a 171-point difference. All of Green Dot's schools' scored significantly higher than their neighboring high schools. Overall, Green Dot's average API is 689 while the API average for neighboring schools is 116 points lower at 573.
"When we give kids a small, safe environment with dedicated educators given the autonomy to make the best decision for their students, we will continue to see these kinds of results," said Steve Barr.
Congratulations to our fantastic school leaders and teachers for these tremendous results. Green Dot would not be where it is today without them.

Join Us at The Green Dot Ball: A Benefit for Great Public Schools

Mark your calendars!! On Monday, Oct. 29, Green Dot will hold the first annual Green Dot Ball: A Benefit for Great Public Schools Dancing graphic

at the Griffith Observatory. The dinner and benefit is a unique opportunity to celebrate Green Dot's success in the past year and to honor all who have helped us reach these heights. This year Green Dot will honor Eli Broad, Andy Stern, Oscar De La Hoya, and the Teachers of Green Dot as our "Champions of Great Public Schools."
Please join us at this important and festive event. Your support of Green Dot Public Schools will help us create and sustain high-achieving public schools for every child in Los Angeles. To attend, call Sarah at 310-899-9191, or email sarah@newphilanthropygroup.com.
We look forward to seeing you at the Ball!

Winners Circle

Sophomores Win Essay Contest & $500
Jennifer Quintero and Viridiana Estrada-Mateo each won $500 scholarships in the "Save Me a Spot in College" essay contest, sponsored by The Campaign for College Opportunity. Jennifer and Viridiana, both sophomores at Ánimo Ralph Bunche, had to create a poster, video, or write a 400-word essay answering the question: "Why should California leaders save you and your peers a spot in college?" Viridiana, 15, wrote a recipe for what it takes to be a good doctor: hard work, support, good study habits, and, a spot in college. Viridiana says she would like to study law or medicine, but definitely knows she's headed for college.

Junior Makes Prestigious Who's Who List
Ánimo South L.A. junior Jhakil Doyle was accepted into the Who's Who Among American High School Students, 2006-07 edition. Each year, over 24,000 youth groups, service organizations, and public, private and parochial high schools nominate students for the publication who have a "B" grade point average or better and have demonstrated leadership in academics, athletics, or extracurricular activities. About 67% of students selected for publication maintain an "A" average. Jhakil has been involved in basketball and football, and has volunteered for several organizations including the Expo Center (formerly EPICC) and S.L. Franklin's Urban Design program. He also participates in his church's youth ushers group and youth choir.

Congratulations to Jhakil, Jennifer, and Viridiana for their successes.

If you have success stories to report about Ánimo students, let us know. E-mail info@greendot.org.

Johanna Matamoros:
Ánimo Venice, Class of 2008

Growing up in Culver City's projects, Johanna Matamoros feared her life was predetermined: she'd be pregnant by 18, maybe graduate from Venice High School, and land a low-wage job. She didn't know anybody in her community who had gone to college and nobody ever really tal

ked to her about it.
But Johanna and her parents wanted more for her life, so they seized at the chance to sign up for the lottery for the founding class of Ánimo Venice. Today, Johanna, 17, is on the path to college, with schools like University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and West Point at the top of her list. She wants to study criminology and can't wait to experience the challenges and adventures that college has to offer. Sometimes she sees some of her old middle-school classmates, several of whom are already young mothers.
"Sometimes it's hard being a Hispanic girl because people don't expect much from you," says Johanna. "But what's great about being here [at Ánimo Venice] is that they expect a lot from you. They don't expect you to fail and become a statistic. They expect you to go to college and to be successful."
Johanna gives a lot of credit to the one-to-one relationship with her teachers and principal for opening new possibilities and continuing to raise her academic achievement. "The teachers are more like my friends," she says. "They're always there for me. They know my family. Even [Principal Tommy] Chang knows the names of almost every parent. In a big school, the principal barely knows the students' names."
The school also not only tolerated, but encouraged Johanna's outspoken nature.
"I feel like my voice is heard," she says. "They've allowed me to express who I am and by doing that I've been able to discover who I am. I've found myself and what I like and what I know I want to do. That's been incredible."
Johanna says that attending Ánimo Venice has given her experiences she never dreamed of having, such as a tour of East Coast colleges that included a trip to New York City. At the same time, it instilled a necessary discipline.
"They're really strict, but in the long run it's for your own good," she says. "They're trying to get you somewhere that a big school wouldn't."

News to Know.........

LAPU Gets New Executive Director
The Los Angeles Parents Union (LAPU) has been changing, growing, and galvanizing support over the summer. The organization has added four new positions to mobilize even more parents to demand equitable and high-achieving public schools in their communities. To help with the organization's growth and progress, LAPU's board of directors named Ryan Smith as the group's new executive director. Smith most recently managed public affairs for Green Dot Public Schools. He has been involved in education and community organizing for a number of years. A former teacher in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Mexico, Smith was a founder of California's statewide Higher Learning Project, which is dedicated to grassroots and social justice advocacy. He has worked for youth-related nonprofits, the California Democratic Party, and was a researcher and writer for the Los Angeles Times' editorial pages. Smith said he is looking forward to engaging parents throughout the district in his new position. "We at LAPU want to make sure parents know the power they have to demand and implement change in their local schools," said Smith.

* * *

LAPU is pushing forward with is work to LAPU

vastly improve L.A.'s public schools. The organization recently launched projects in Silverlake, East L.A., and Venice to help parents work with education leaders to create plans to improve their local middle schools and high schools. The organization is also planning a districtwide effort in the coming months to empower more parents around improving public schools.

To learn more about the parents' union, visit the LAPU website.

Ánimo Schools Update
Our schools have been moving, growing, and achieving. For a list of all Ánimo schools, their principals, grade levels served, and future locations, just click here, or visit www.greendot.org/schools.

Green Dot in the News

There has been a flurry of news about Green Dot and its successful model. The vote to turnover Locke High to Green Dot has dominated local and national news and online blogs in recent weeks, in addition to profiles of Steve Barr in Forbes Magazine and The New York Times. Read several of the stories, and view video clips, on our website. Some recent coverage includes:
"Finally, Some Real Changes in Public Education" by Steven Barrie-Anthony (The Huffington Post)
"Watts Riot" by Peter C. Beller (Forbes Magazine)
"Union-Friendly Maverick Leads New Charge for Charter Schools" by Sam Dillon (The New York Times)

The Green Dot Spotlight: November 2, 2009

The latest news and trends from Green Dot Public Schools
November 2, 2009

In This Issue

ODLHA Celebrates New Home

Service Learning at Animo Venice

Stuart Foundation Donates to Green Dot

Green Dot News to Know

Winners Circle: Animo Students Win Awards

Learn more about Green Dot

Find out why so many people are turning to Green Dot Public Schools. Read about our students' successes and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles at
www.greendot.org

Learn more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Green Dot
in the News

Áni

mo Locke High alum Michael McElveen writes a personal and insightful account for the Huffington Post of his time at Locke High before and after Green Dot took over the high school. Michael, a journalism major at American University, writes the column as a call to action for people to consider advocating for reforming public schools. You can read Michael's blog column by clicking here.

Visit Green Dot's "News Page" to read current and past news articles and on-air stories on all Green Dot schools.

Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School Celebrates Long-Awaited New Building

Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya was joined by more than half a dozen city officials and education leaders this week to commemorate the long-awaited opening of the new, permanent Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo High School building in Boyle Heights. The school was founded in 2003 and was the first public school in Boyle Heights in almost 80 years.
"Seeing this building completed is like winni ODLHA opening

ng the Olympic gold medal all over again," said De La Hoya, whose generous donations helped make the building a reality.
"I'm excited and thrilled for the students, the families and the community of East Los Angeles that the school is finally here for them," De La Hoya added.
        ODLHA alumni, staff, current students, founding families, community members, Green Dot staff, and supporters all gathered outside the school to celebrate a six-year effort that included five moves to temporary schools until the permanent building was completed.
   Jose Arrayales and Geraldo Samayoa, both students in the founding class, returned to be a part of the opening. "I'm a little jealous because this is such a great building," said Geraldo. Jose agreed. "When I saw the building I was so proud to see the school in its final location and just thought 'It's about time.'," he said.
The young men, now 20, recalled moving to four different locations during their four years of high school. They stuck with the high school because it gave them something their local high school couldn't: A strong educational community that was invested in their success.
       "The families, the community really stuck with us. They trusted us to teach their children and they bused their kids to the different sites because they believed in what the school was about and what we were doing," said Green Dot CEO Marco Petruzzi. "It's an amazing community, and they are so deserving of such an amazing school."

Ánimo Venice Embraces Service Learning

Ánimo Venice started the school year giving back to the community with a beach clean-up, and several students are continuing this effort throughout the school year. It is all part of the school's first-ever service learning class and program.
        "We've integrated service learning into our curriculum to make it an issue students think about every day--a part of their entire academic experience," said assistant principal Samantha Matamoros.
        Seven 11th graders are taking the service learning class this year, exploring various ways to help out the Venice community. The students are also learning how to be socially and environmentally responsible.
        "We really wanted to teach social responsibility in a deeper way and we thought this class would be a good way to do that," says Lauren Erickson, who teaches the service learning class and is also Ánimo Venice's U.S. History teacher. All Green Dot schools require some sort of community service for students to graduate.
        Ánimo Venice's service learning class meets three times a week with regular assignments on certain days and special projects each month. The entire class is student run; they research different projects and decide which ones to do. Each project requires a report and presentation and future projects will involve direct contact with community groups.
        In November, students will host a movie night for which they will collect two cans of food or a bag of clothes as the admission fee. All of the donated clothes and food received will be given to St. Joseph's Church in Venice, which works with homeless families. As part of the project, the Ánimo students will interview homeless teens in Venice and create a presentation that they will make to the attending audience at the November movie night.

Green Dot Receives Stuart Foundation Grant

The Stuart Foundation has awarded Green Dot a generous $175,000 grant to further Green Dot's mission to ensure that all young adults in Los Angeles receive an education that prepares them for college, leadership, and life. Green Dot's mission aligns well with the Stuart Foundation's strategy to invest to achieve system-wide impact for all youth and to provide extra support for those facing the greatest challenges. Green Dot is grateful to the Stuart Foundation for its support.

News to Know

VSP Vision Care Brings Eye Exams to Students
VSP® Vision Care's Mobile Eyes® Program provided free comprehensive eye exams this month to more than 100 students at Ánimo Ralph Bunche, Ánimo Pat Brown, Ánimo New York, Ánimo Justice, and the Ánimo Locke schools.
The students received free vision exams. For some students, it was the first time they had ever had their eyes checked. VSP truck

Regular eye exams are important, even in young people, to check if they need glasses, ensure that they have the proper glasses depending on whether they vision has gotten worse, and to check for any severe problems with their eyes. Eighty-five students out of 100 needed, and received, glasses.

Poor vision is one of the lesser-known factors leading to lower student achievement, along with medical and dental problems. If students cannot see the board or are struggling with toothaches, they will find it hard to concentrate on learning.

This month, the VSP Mobile Eyes Program VSP eye exam

visited 10 Green Dot schools with two 40-foot-long mobile clinics, each equipped with two full exam rooms and a stocked eyeglass dispensary. In addition to Animo Pat Brown and Animo Justice, the vans provided free vision exams to students at Animo Ralph Bunche, the Locke Launch to College Academies, Animo Locke Schools 1, 2, 3, 4, and Animo Inglewood.
Over the past year, VSP has also donated nearly 500 vouchers for no-cost exams and eyewear to the Green Dot students.
Thank you VSP Vision Care for supporting our students!

Winners Circle

Ánimo Pat Brown Student Named Riordan Scholar
Ulises Valdez-Vargas will be participating in the Riordan Scholars Program this fall at UCLA's Anderson School of Business.
The Riordan Scholars Program is a college-prep

program that focuses on business and leadership skills for high school students.
        As part of the program, Ulises will attend eight Saturday seminars at UCLA. The students will attend lectures from faculty, learn about the stock market, prep for SAT exams, develop College Action Plans with counselors and work one-on-one with mentors.
        "I'm really interested in business and I'm excited that they're going to show us how to manage a $1 million portfolio and teach us about the stock market and how it works," said Ulises.
        Ulises learned about the Scholars program when his school took students to UCLA on a field trip last year.

Three Ánimo Schools Among the State's Highest-Performing in Math

Ánimo Pat Brown, Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo, and Ánimo Venice made the list of the top 50 highest-performing high school in California for Algebra I. The list included only schools with 30% or more Latino enrollment and 30% or more socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

http://edresults.org/special/algebra

ODLHÁ Student Honored by College Board
Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo senior Juan Salazar was recently named an AP Scholar by the College Board for scoring an average of 3.33 out of a possible five on three Advanced Placement exams.
         To be named an AP Scholar, students must score a 3 out of 5 on three separate AP exams. Juan received his scores in AP Spanish, AP World History, and AP US History.
        "Taking AP courses gives me a good challenge," says Juan, who is taking AP English, AP Literature and AP Calculus this year.
       Students receive an award certificate, and their achievements are acknowledged on AP score peports sent to colleges. High school students can earn course credit at many colleges and universities for successfully completing AP exams.

Ánimo Locke Tech Student Wins Mayor Award
David Leon, a sophomore at Ánimo Locke Tech, received an award from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in this year's Latin Heritage Month youth poster contest for students in grades K-12. The contest was sponsored by Wells Fargo as part of a month-long celebration of Latino culture. David was one of only a handful of L.A. high school students to be awarded this honor. The mayor presented the winning certificates at an award ceremony earlier in October.

Ánimo Student Awarded for Community Service
Giving back to the community is important for Ánimo Justice Senior Eduardo Campos. And the student's efforts to serve his community have not gone unnoticed. This past June, Eduardo received the City Hero of the Year award for his community service. And this month, he was among 100 teens recognized for outstanding leadership and service by the Tavis Smiley Foundation.
       Eduardo helped start the City Year Los Angeles City Heroes program, for which he performed over 200 hours of community service and is currently planning service days for 250 middle and high-school students. He is also working to establish a nonprofit organization to inspire kids through mentoring and the arts.
"I want to create programs that help kids in communities like mine pursue their goals, dreams, and passions," he said.
Eduardo's hard work and efforts were acknowledged in a celebrity filled event in which the Tavis Smiley Foundation recognized each of the 100 Youth Leaders of the Decade.

Green Dot Soccer Players Compete in Nationals
Ánimo Leadership sophomores Juan Cervantes and Sebastian Cortez were selected to play on the national soccer team for boys under age 17. The boys compete in Florida in the national competition. "For any young aspiring soccer player to make the national team is a dream come true," said Sergio Medrano, Ánimo Leadership's Athletic Director and head coach of the boys' varsity soccer team. "It brings great joy to our school and soccer program to have two players possibly joining the elite of the elite soccer players in the nation."

Congratulations to all of our students
on their success!!

Green Dot Public Schools | 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 213 | Los Angeles | CA | 90071

The Green Dot Spotlight: June-July 2007

The Green Dot Spotlight
The latest news and events about Green Dot Public Schools

June-July 2007

In This Issue

Gates Foundation and LA School Board Announce Support for Locke Transformation

ODLH Graduates First Class

Green Dot Partners with NYC Teachers Union

Winners Circle

Spotlight: Chad Soleo

LAPU Makes Changes

Green Dot in the News

Quick Links

Green Dot Website

Support Green Dot

Los Angeles Parents Union

Interested in learning more about Green Dot schools. Join our mailing list for regular updates.

Learn more about Green Dot

To find out more about Green Dot, our students' successes, and our plans for transforming public education in Los Angeles, visit our website:
www.greendot.org

Summer is here, and while many are thinking of vacations and taking well-needed breaks, Green Dot will be busier than ever.

       June caps off an exciting and successful school year that saw our students continue to excel academically, graduate and get into four-year colleges. We continue to press for accelerating school reform in Los Angeles, and we are getting a lot of attention for our efforts-see "Green Dot in the News". Last month's school board elections brought a change to the LAUSD school board with three new, more reform-minded board members set to take office in July.
       In the fall, we will open two new schools in Watts as part of the community's need to transform Locke High School into small, safe, high-performing schools. In October, we will hold our first annual Green Dot Ball: A Benefit for Great Public Schools to raise awareness and funds for making Los Angeles public schools the best in the country.
      As always, we welcome and depend on your support in our drive to make all public schools in L.A. small, safe, and successful at graduating kids and sending them to college. Please join us!

Steve Barr
Founder and CEO

Make Sure You Get Green Dot's emails!