Proposed fixes for Jefferson High include more classes, longer days

Students at Jefferson High are likely to have expanded course offerings and longer school days to address massive scheduling problems that resulted in lost instruction time this fall, officials have confirmed.

A judge this week ordered state officials to help the Los Angeles Unified School District fix the scheduling problems, which caused students to be placed in the wrong subjects or wait in the school’s auditorium for weeks before getting all their courses. Some students were simply sent home for part of the day because of the debacle.

A general framework for assisting students was developed over four hours of meetings Friday between a state delegation and senior administrators from L.A. Unified.

The district did not disclose its plan, but it has much in common with a proposal developed by Jefferson teachers who met earlier this week.

“In terms of what has to be done to make the students whole, everybody is talking about roughly the same things,” said Richard Zeiger, the No. 2 official in the California Department of Education, who attended the session.

The teachers’ proposal includes extending the instructional day to make up for lost classroom time. Additional courses or new sections of existing courses also would be offered, for classes such as algebra 2, chemistry, honors U.S. history, art and Advanced Placement English.

The faculty proposal would have teachers paid at their hourly rate for the extra time worked. On their own, teachers already have set aside extra time to work with students, without compensation, said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

Zeiger said it would be the responsibility of L.A. Unified to pay for the effort.

“It is our belief these will need to be district funds,” he said. “There is no other source available.”

The teachers’ plan emerged from a Thursday lunchtime meeting attended by more than two-thirds of the staff.

The unusual state intervention was the result of an order Wednesday from Superior Court Judge George Hernandez Jr. He chastised L.A. Unified for allowing scheduling problems to persist and criticized the state for not getting involved.

Hernandez is presiding over a lawsuit, filed in Alameda County, over whether the state must act to limit nonacademic high school classes that hinder students’ ability to meet graduation and college entrance requirements.

Pursuing the case on behalf of students are Public Counsel, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt. Jefferson was not part of the original litigation, but advocates added that campus and nearby Dorsey High after scheduling problems at both schools became especially acute this fall.

The major catalyst of the scheduling chaos was a new student records system that caused problems across the nation’s second-largest school system. But other factors exacerbated difficulties at Jefferson, said faculty members who put together a timeline of events.

The previous principal was removed over the summer with little notice, and the district brought in a new administrative team that lacked necessary experience with scheduling, especially at the high school level. The new permanent principal, who’d previously worked in middle schools, according to faculty, was unable to arrive until a week into the school year.

The district sent a team to devise a new master schedule, but this group made mistakes as well, teachers said.

A student walkout over lost class time — and the lawsuit — brought media attention, which caused administrators to move faster but not necessarily more effectively, advocates said.

Teachers and students reported hastily-put-together schedules that were part of a push to get students out of the auditorium and into any class, no matter what.

“This was the purest bureaucratic response to make things look good rather than meet the educational needs of the children,” said Gary Blasi, special counsel at Public Counsel.

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy filed a declaration in support of the larger goals of the lawsuit, but critics, including some of his bosses on the school board, questioned why he wasn’t focusing more attention on the problems at Jefferson.

Deasy left for South Korea on Thursday, part of a long-scheduled trip that includes school visits and meetings with government officials. Serving in his place at Friday’s meeting was Deputy Supt. Michelle King.

A meeting for Jefferson parents is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday at the school.

The Board of Education is expected to take up the matter at its Tuesday meeting.

howard.blume@latimes.com
Twitter: @howardblume