Crenshaw alum: Teacher suspension shed light on LAUSD teacher jail



Iris Stevenson arrives at Crenshaw High after being released from "teacher jail." | Amanda Scurlock

Iris Stevenson arrives at Crenshaw High after being released from “teacher jail.” Scroll below for video of Stevenson’s return. | Amanda Scurlock

At Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, the 2014-2015 school year almost began without one of the campus’s most beloved teachers. The Los Angeles Unified School District announced in August that music instructor Iris Stevenson had been restored to her post. However, questions about her several-month-long absence remain. The case has shed light on “teacher jail,” the unofficial nickname for a sort of institutional purgatory for district teachers, which until recently meted out a virtually secret form of punishment.

The LAUSD removed Stevenson from her classroom in December 2013, shortly after she returned from a performing trip with the Crenshaw Elite Choir to Washington, D.C. and Paris. Of the 20 participants, only three were enrolled Crenshaw students. The rest of the group consisted of alumni, chaperones and musicians from around Los Angeles. Upon their return, district authorities reassigned Stevenson, and did not explain why to students and families. She had worked at Crenshaw since 1985.

“Her case, which is a confidential, personnel matter, remains under investigation,” the district said in a statement last month. [Read more…]

OPINION: Brother’s Keepers & #WhiteMenMarching while LAUSD makes school tougher



Obama may aim to help young men of color through his “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles the school district is raising its high school graduation standards — and will need to make a concerted effort to help its most disadvantaged students.

Young Men of Color forum | Sikivu Hutchinson

Men of Color College Forum at Gardena High School | Sikivu Hutchinson

According to GOP Congressman Paul Ryan, an insidious “inner city culture” has prevented “generations” of “inner city” men from seeking jobs. Evoking the ghost of the GOP past, present and future, shiftless lazy black men with no work ethic are to blame for the high rates of unemployment in the U.S.’ ghettoes. Ryan’s comments were no doubt a desperate attempt to stay relevant and on message after not receiving an invitation to be grand dragon (marshal) of the “nationwide” White Man March.

A few weeks before Ryan trotted out his Black Pathology 101 thesis, President Obama announced that the administration would spearhead a “Brother’s Keeper” initiative to address the dire socioeconomic conditions confronting young men of color. A central focus of the initiative is improving college-going rates for African American and Latino young men, who lag behind women of color in college admissions. Another is reducing Black and Latino mass incarceration.

See also on Intersections: Obama announces My Brother’s Keeper for young men of color

[Read more…]

White House to honor South LA educator Daphne Bradford



daphneDaphne Bradford, CEO and founder of the grassroots organization, Mother of Many (M.O.M), which helps prepare South L.A. high schools students for both their college and work career, will receive a “Champions for Change” award from the White House on Thursday, November 21, 2013.

The Champions of Change program is an effort initiated by the White House to spotlight individuals, businesses, and organizations who work as a positive influence in their communities.  [Read more…]

Crenshaw High School memorial dedication for Trayvon Martin



Marchers commemorating Martin Luther King's historic speech with a memorial to Trayvon Martin at Crenshaw High School.

Marchers commemorating Martin Luther King’s historic speech with a memorial to Trayvon Martin at Crenshaw High School.

Tuesday August 27 2013- Crenshaw High School students, teachers, and politicians  in South L.A. commemorated the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech  by having a school garden beautification and dedicating part of their school garden as a memorial to Trayvon Martin.

Martin was the 17-year-old from Sanford, Florida who was shot by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in February of 2012.

Eighth District Councilmember Bernard Parks made a presentation on the Trayvon Martin Resolution passed by the Los Angeles City Council to pressure the federal government to investigate the Martin shooting. Representatives from LAPD’s South Bureau also spoke to students about how to stand up for their First Amendment Rights in a way that won’t end up in arrests. [Read more…]

An Activist Teacher, a Struggling School, and the School Closure Movement: A Story from (South) L.A.



Reconstitution and magnet convert at Crenshaw High draws protests



Parents, teachers and students held a press conference outside of Crenshaw High School on Monday to push back against a plan to magnet convert and reconstitute the South Los Angeles high school. image

Community members are upset at LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s proposal to convert Crenshaw High School, including Orville Wright Middle School and Central Region Elementary School #20 (CRES 20), into a magnet school, and reconstitute Crenshaw High, which means all teachers and staff must re-apply for their jobs, according to parent Loutrisha Swafford.

Swafford questioned the necessity of having existing staff and teachers re-apply for positions they were already hired for.

“It doesn’t necessarily stabilize what we’re trying to build here. It destabilizes it,” said Averie Blackwell, student at Crenshaw High School. “It kills everything that we worked for. It doesn’t allow us to be students, to be free, to learn from the same teachers every single day. You know how hard it is to learn in a classroom that has a different teacher every single day?”

Supporters held signs with slogans like “Stop Educational Racism, Keep Community Control” and “Keep Our Schools Public,” while several students sang songs in protest as their peers played the drums.

“We have students here who are high-achievers because they’re coming through the streets filled with crime,” said Swafford.

Anita Parker, a senior at Crenshaw High School, said reconstitution would not help a school with already low resources. She said many lunch tables are broken and some classrooms are so full “you have to sit on the floor.”

image Those at the press conference expressed outrage at LAUSD for not consulting with parents, teachers, students and staff. According to Swafford, there was no prior knowledge or mention to the community by LAUSD of their intention to convert Crenshaw into a magnet school.

Swafford said the community is demanding that LAUSD reverse reconstitution and postpone any vote until further discussions are made with the community. They are also demanding support and resources for a recently implemented Extended Cultural Learning model from LAUSD.

The Extended Cultural Learning model offers a more well-rounded approach to curriculum, according to a statement by members of the school. The model focuses on cultural relevance, behavioral support and services, and outside activities like internships. Based on that model, the school was awarded a grant of $225,000 from the Ford Foundation.

By using the Extended Learning Cultural model, Swafford outlined a list of achievements made by students and staff. In 2011 – 2012, the school was able to improve its API by 15 points, including higher API levels among African-American students that were above six of the seven major South LA high schools.

Haewon Asfar, an organizer with the Community Rights Campaign, said the Extended Cultural Learning model showed improvements in more than just measurable ways. Many of her students in the after-school program she runs at Crenshaw feel more empowered and excited about coming to school.

“It has to be put within the context of their everyday lives…more than half are below the poverty line,” said Asfar, who also mentioned that many students come from single parent households. “It’s not the same conditions as other communities.”

Reconstitution at Crenshaw High School



imageLAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s letter, dated October 23, 2012, ordered Crenshaw Senior High School to come under the direct supervision of LAUSD’s Intensive Support and Innovation Center, “effective immediately.” Citing “four years of…less than adequate progress in….several key indicators,” Deasy informed the school that it would be divided into three magnet schools with increased AP courses and International Baccalaureate pathways. All teachers and administrative staff would have to reapply for the school’s relaunch on July 1, 2013.

Sylvia Rousseau, former interim principal at Crenshaw High and now a professor in USC’s Rossier School of Education, says the Superintendent has a point. “Clearly, it has to be acknowledged that the school has not performed at the level that it needs to perform,” said Rousseau.

A program called Extended Cultural Learning was partially implemented at Crenshaw in 2011-2012, after some disappointing results on state tests in preceding years. Since implementation, proponents say the school has met or exceeded all of California’s Academic Performance Index targets for growth except one.

Based on those results, Crenshaw successfully applied for the highly competitive School Improvement Grant, or SIG, from the Federal Department of Education and administered through the State of California. Half of all SIG applications from California were rejected. Crenshaw received $6 million dollars to continue improvements at the school. That award may be in jeopardy if the school is significantly restructured.

Furthermore, says educational scholar John Rogers of UCLA, there’s just not a lot of research supporting reconstitution. “Paradoxically, despite the fact that the federal government increasingly calls for research-based reform, there really isn’t a research base for reconstitution.” said Rogers.

Why then is reconstitution becoming increasingly popular—according to one study, up to 60 percent from 10 years earlier? “I think education reform often is driven by a desire for quick & simple & often cheap answers,” said Rogers. “Lots of people are frustrated with the slow pace of reform or by schools that are not enabling young people to achieve the goals the young people have & their communities have.”

But as Rousseau underlines, a large body of data says that kids in under-performing urban schools often don’t see the relevance of education to their lives unless it has positive effects in the surrounding community. “So the students saw the relevance and the importance between education and their own capacity to make change in their community,” she said.

And Crenshaw did this through Extended Cultural Learning. That will be replaced by three magnet schools under Deasy’s proposed revamp. Rousseau says if funding isn’t stabilized, if personnel aren’t stabilized, progress will be hard to hold on to. “Unless the district takes a comprehensive view of the needs of the students, unless we take a more humanistic approach that our students aren’t widget,” she said.

Deasy and Crenshaw High faculty and staff are due to meet after the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s not clear if reconstitution is a done deal, or if there’s still room for negotiation.

OPINION: Crenshaw High School Community Against Reconstitution




By: Christina Lewis, Crenshaw High Special Education Teacher
Irvin Alvarado, Crenshaw High Alumni, Coalition for Educational Justice Organizer
Alex Caputo-Pearl, Crenshaw High Social Justice Lead Teacher, UTLA Board of Directors
Eunice Grigsby, Crenshaw High Parent, Crenshaw High Alumna

On October 23, Superintendent Deasy announced he intends to reconstitute Crenshaw High School. This scorched earth “reform” that is destructive for students, communities and employees has been used at Fremont, Clinton, Manual Arts and more, despite courageous push-backs at those schools. image

The Crenshaw school community is determined to fight back. The slogan that permeated the emergency 150-person Crenshaw Town Hall Meeting at the African-American Cultural Center on October 4 crystallizes the struggle — “Keep Crenshaw: Our School, Our Children, Our Community.”

In an attempt to disarm the push back and win public support, Deasy is combining the reconstitution with a full-school magnet conversion. Crenshaw stakeholders are, of course, open to conversations that will improve conditions and outcomes for our students — but those must be collaborative and well-resourced. That said, it is clear that Deasy’s main objective is not magnet conversion – it is to take top-down control of the school and reconstitute (which means removing all faculty and staff from the school, with an “opportunity to re-apply”).

The school community says NO to any form of reconstitution, and YES to school improvement that includes stakeholders and holds LAUSD accountable for its years of neglect and mismanagement.

In this spirit, teacher, parent and administrative leaders of Crenshaw’s nationally-recognized Extended Learning Cultural model have been reaching out to Deasy to work in collaboration for over a year and a half. He has not responded. It’s clear that Deasy has cynically set Crenshaw up – persistently ignoring calls to meet when it is about something locally-developed and progressive; later, acting as if nothing is happening at the school, and dropping the reconstitution bomb.image

The Extended Learning Cultural model has been developed at Crenshaw over the last several years. The approach is to teach students standards-based material wedded with cognitive skills used in real life efforts to address issues at school, in the community, and with local businesses. Cultural relevance, Positive Behavior Support, parent/community engagement and collaborative teacher training and excellence are foundations of the program. Students engage in rigorous classroom work, as well as internships, job shadowing, leadership experiences, school improvement efforts and work experiences.

The Extended Learning Cultural model is fundamentally about extending the meaning, space and time of learning, and extending the school into the community and vice versa. This rooting of learning into a context is essential for students who have been constantly uprooted and destabilized by economic injustice and a school system that focuses on narrow test-taking rather than cultural relevance. Extended Learning could be enhanced dramatically for our students with LAUSD support. Instead, by threatening it, Deasy is jeopardizing Crenshaw’s progress, outside partnerships and outside funding.

Moreover, the Extended Learning Cultural model is supported by research – it draws from the Ford Foundation and various progressive academics’ national More and Better Learning Time Initiative, and it has been developed at Crenshaw with USC, the Bradley Foundation and other nationally-recognized research partners.

In contrast, the research shows that reconstitutions are not good for students. Reconstitutions cut students off from the faculty and staff they know, from programs they are involved in and from the communities surrounding their schools. Districts reconstitute schools in working class communities of color, creating more instability and uprootedness for students who are often our most vulnerable. Reconstitutions are educational racism. For more details, see a brand new study from UC Berkeley and the Annenberg Institute at Brown University at http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/pb-turnaroundequity_0.pdf.

Extended Learning showed results at Crenshaw in its first year of partial implementation, 2011-2012, after 2 years of planning. Crenshaw dipped on some indicators between 2009 and 2011 when the school had a principal who wasn’t the first choice of the selection committee, who was imposed by LAUSD, and who did not work collaboratively. However, when the school regained focus around Extended Learning in 2011-2012, the data showed growth, including:

  • Meeting all State of California API growth targets except for one, often far exceeding the targets (for example, a 92 point API gain among special education students);
  • Reducing suspensions and expulsions;
  • Achieving substantial growth among African-American students on the API, reaching API levels significantly higher than African-American students at many other South LA high schools;
  • Achieving an explosive increase in math proficiency levels among Limited English Proficient students on the CAHSEE;
  • Achieving a huge jump in proficiency levels in CST math among all 10th graders;
  • Including many more students in internships and work experiences;
  • Organizing more partnerships for wrap-around services for students;
  • Increasing parental involvement

Yet, Superintendent Deasy wants to disrupt this trajectory of growth and reconstitute Crenshaw. Worse yet, he wants to do this without any consultation with the community, parents, students, alumni, faculty and staff. Part of his agenda is to curry favor with the national scorched earth “reform” movement. Another part is straight union-busting. He has said many times he doesn’t like the teacher union leadership at Crenshaw – many of the very leaders who have been at the forefront of building the Extended Learning Cultural model, its national connections, and the growth that has come from it.

Not surprisingly, other schools that have been reconstituted in LAUSD have undergone “re-application” and “re-hiring” processes that have been shady – unrepresentative hiring bodies, discrimination against older staff and teachers of color, and discrimination against staff based on political issues.

The Crenshaw school community has a strategy to win the push back against Deasy’s reconstitution and to win support for the Extended Learning Cultural model and other enhancements:

  • Amidst Deasy’s intense destabilization efforts that affect the school daily, educators, staff, and parents are working with site administration to tighten up school operations as much as possible;
  • The school community is deepening, refining, and broadening engagement around the Extended Learning Cultural model;
  • Faculty and staff have strongly solidified against reconstitution internally;
  • School stakeholders are building on years of work with a unique coalition of community partners to organize parents, students, alumni, and community. This coalition includes Ma’at Institute for Community Change; African-American Cultural Center; Black Clergy, Community, and Labor Alliance; Coalition for Black Student Equity; Labor/Community Strategy Center; Coalition for Educational Justice; Sierra Club; Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Park Mesa Heights Community Council; and more.
  • The coalition is working closely with UTLA. The House of Representatives voted unanimously to support the Crenshaw struggle. UTLA West Area and Progressive Educators for Action (PEAC) are critical supports for the ongoing organizing.

At the moment, the organizing will focus on the two places Deasy needs to go with his destructive plan for approval – the LAUSD School Board and the California Department of Education (Deasy cannot undermine Crenshaw’s federal School Improvement Grant, SIG, without communicating with Sacramento, because the grant is administered by the State).

The Crenshaw school community knows that the eyes of the city, state, and nation are watching Crenshaw. If Deasy gets his way at Crenshaw, it further opens the door to these kinds of moves everywhere – including places he’s already attacking locally with similar reconstitution efforts, like King Middle School, and far more. On the other hand, if Crenshaw is able to organize with school and community to push back on Deasy and to further advance a deep and hopeful educational and racial justice-based reform, its reverberations will be felt incredibly widely. Keep connected to the struggle and “like” us through the Facebook page – Crenshaw Cougars Fighting Reconstitution – and be in contact with us through email at [email protected].

Obama teacher vs. Obama chicken & waffles



$75,000 Educator Investment vs. $8.90 Obama Three Wing special

imageApple Distinguished Educator Daphne Bradford

When I donated $15 to enter the “Obama, Clooney & You” dinner lottery, I knew a Super Star educator like myself had a slim chance of winning dinner with President Obama at the mega glitzy home of George Clooney.  Although the anticipation of hopefully winning was kind of fun, I understood losing against the odds on that one.  But when I read the accompanying TMZ and Huffington Post news reports about Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles renaming my favorite “#9 Country Boy” to “Obama’s Special” in honor of an unscheduled visit the commander-in-chief made on October 24, 2011, my hope of meeting the president during his next Los Angeles trip was instantly renewed.

I felt, deep in my soul, there has to be a HUGE possibility for President Obama to make a scheduled visit to meet the most innovative Obamateacher in nation and the history,the student-led, Barack Obama Digital Media Team at Crenshaw High School.  After investing personal money, priceless overtime and raising more than $75,000 dedicated towards implementing four years of President Obama’s “Blueprint for Change” in education, I firmly believe the “man of HOPE” I voted for in 2008 would give me and my amazing students the same $8.90 Roscoes’ Chicken and Waffles visit if the opportunity presented itself.

Well, I guess God’s ears heard me because on June 7, 2012 President Obama is schedule to attend a View Park, California $2,500 – $40,000 per couple fundraiser that’s five minutes or less from Crenshaw High School; probably close to the same distance as Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles was from the October 24, 2011 fundraiser hosted by Will & Jada Smith.

Just as the Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles visit endorsed the president’s support of small businesses, a Crenshaw High School visit with the Barack Obama Digital Media Team will support his “everyone deserves a fair shot at a first-class education” anthem. The $75,000 plus investment in the commander-in-chief’s 21st Century innovative education blueprint has produced amazing students who are Apple certified technology geniuses, budding Microsoft game designers, Let’s Move! High School gardeners and first time teen authors of Journey to the White House:  An Educational Blueprint for Change in Action.  Every where we go people are more than happy to record video messages to POTUS asking him to check us out.  Hopefully he will listen.  We have a book already signed and waiting for President Obama to accept.

imageThe Crenshaw Digital Media Team

The first of its kind, the Crenshaw High School Barack Obama Digital Media Team has carried the Obama name since the 2009 inauguration, years ahead of the Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles $8.90 Obama’s Special.  Beginning in the 9th grade, the four years strong digital media team will graduate a week after the president’s June 6th-7th visit to Los Angeles.  These career and college bound students will also exercise their right to vote for the first time on November 6, 2012.

Mr. President, how about making a scheduled visit to Crenshaw High School on your way to breakfast on June 7, 2012?  Let a dedicated educator and her students have a Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles chance at meeting you.  I’m easy to reach:  db4obama[at]gmail.com.

South LA educator invited to Innovator Educators Forum



Daphne Bradford, an educator at Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, has been chosen by Microsoft as one of the top 2011 Innovative Educators in the US.

imageBradford and 100 other educators from around the country will attend the 2011 Innovative Education Forum (IEF) at Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Washington.

Bradford is one of 72 second-round finalists chosen by Microsoft and the only Los Angeles educator from the first and second-round finalists.  She is also an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Bradford’s Developing Digital Media Geniuses project at the Cal State Dominguez Hills Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) qualified her as a finalist.  Her Crenshaw High School Digital Media Team students use the skills they have learned in digital photography and video production to teach OLLI students (age 55+) how to make digital photo albums and movies. 

The team created weekly lesson plans using Microsoft Office tools.  The experience allowed students to get an understanding of teaching in the 21st Century and bridging the intergenerational digital divide.  “The project injected the spirit of entrepreneurship with the adult learners who encouraged Crenshaw team members to become independent digital media trainers,” said Bradford. 

image“The most important outcome was watching my students exemplify the following ISTE National Education Technology Standards for students,” said Bradford,  “creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making, and the use of technology effectively and productively.  The program has been a resounding success at Crenshaw High School, Cal State Dominguez Hills and in the community.” 

“The school leaders selected to attend IEF are the best in the nation at incorporating technology into their classroom curricula to enhance each lesson and really break through with students,” said Andrew Ko, senior director, U.S. Partners in Learning, Microsoft. “It is inspiring to see these educators use technology to get students excited about learning and connected to the issues impacting their lives while developing the skills they will need for a successful future.”

Bradford and the other educators will showcase the creative ways they are using technology in the classroom at IEF in the forum in late July.

More stories
The young teaching their elders
Crenshaw garden cleanup honors Dr. King’s legacy
South LA students to visit the White House