Alain Leroy Locke Senior High School was opened in 1967 in response to the Watts' riots.ﾂ The school was created to provide families in South Los Angeles a safe and secure place of learning.ﾂ Its focus was to have a comprehensive program to guarantee the intellectual, moral, social, emotional and physical development of all students.
While the school was initially a source of pride for the community, its recent years were marked by poor academic performance, violence, and gang activity.ﾂﾂBy 2006, Locke wasﾂconsidered one of L.A.'s most troubled and chronically under-performing public high schools, having send only 5% of its entering ninth graders to four-year colleges and universities.ﾂﾂﾂ
In 2007, community leaders and Locke High School staff came together with Green Dot to petition the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to give operational control of the school to Green Dot.ﾂ The on September 11, 2007, LAUSD made history when they voted to give Green Dot operational control of Locke High School- this is the first time that an outside organization will operate a traditional district school.
In fall of 2008, Locke reopened as eight small college-prep academies known as the Locke Family of High Schools.ﾂ Five of the schools are housed on the main campus, with three schools located on satellite campuses.ﾂ Animo Locke ACE Academy, a career tech educational school focusing on architecture, construction, and engineering, will open as the ninth independent school in fall 2009.ﾂ
The Locke Family of High Schools:
The Locke Launch to College Academies (LLCAs):
The students who were enrolled at Locke prior to management by Green Dot have been assigned to two Launch to College Academies. These schools serve grades 10-12 in 2008-09, and will be phased out over three years, shrinking by one grade every year until all of its students graduate. Green Dot assigned the 10th-12th graders to LLCAs to separate them from incoming 9th graders in order to instill new, individual school cultures and to provide focused support to incoming students.
ﾃ］imo Locke 1, ﾃ］imo Locke 2, and ﾃ］imo Locke 3 Charter High Schools: These brand new 9th grade academies hold approximately 140 students in new schools within the Locke Family. Each year, they will add one grade until they reach full size at 9th-12th grade with about 560 students. These schools will all be located on the main Locke campus as of the 2009-10 school year. Each school has its own principal, own curriculum, and own culture, but they will share the main campus, extracurricular activities, and other resources.
ﾃ］imo Locke 4 Charter High School:
This school was designed to serve severely credit deficient students. Locke has a history with a large number of juvenile camp returnees and many students who have failed so many classes that dropping out is almost their only option. Students from the Launch to College Academies are referred to ﾃ］imo Locke 4. The school consists of two programs, the Advanced Path Academy and the Academy of Opportunities. The Advanced Path Academy is a computer-based program in which students work individually to make up missing credits at their own pace, allowing them to build up credits to graduate. The Academy of Opportunities is designed for juvenile camp returnees; classes are small with up to fifteen students per class, and students are provided with strong emotional and psychological support with the help of social workers, counselors, and psychologists.
ﾃ］imo Locke Tech and ﾃ］imo Watts 2 Charter High Schools:
Green Dot launched these schools in September 2007 in the first phase of the Locke Transformation. Now concluding their second year, they are serving 9th and 10th graders in 2008-09, and they will continue to be located in permanent facilities off of the main Locke campus. These off-campus schools are needed permanently because the drop-out rate is so greatly reduced under Green Dot that more facilities are needed to serve more students. The students have access to extracurricular activities on the main campus.
NEW: ﾃ］imo Locke ACE Academy: ﾂOpening Fall 2009
An innovative school model that provides students with an opportunity to explore pathways in architecture, construction & engineering integrated with an A-G college preparatory curriculum. Based on the national Project Lead the Way curriculum, students will gain hands on experience and create physical models that reflect their understanding of ACE ideas and concepts. "Green" elements are incorporated in all projects to teach students about eco-friendly building.