LEARN Chief Lobbies for School Reform : Education: Robert E. Wycoff tells a Pacoima church gathering that campuses need to be given more power to determine curriculum and staffing.

Three days after the launch of a citywide publicity campaign, the leader of an ambitious school reform plan on Sunday preached his message of revamping the Los Angeles public education system to a Pacoima church congregation.

Robert E. Wycoff, chief operating officer of Arco, told a jammed, largely Latino Mass at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church that the best hope to jolt local schools out of their present crisis is through the high-powered coalition that he heads.

Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) is a collection of labor unions, churches, community groups, major corporations and political and civic organizations working to change the way the Los Angeles Unified School District operates by giving individual schools more power to determine curriculum and staffing.

“LEARN gives us a chance to remake our schools,” Wycoff told parishioners who stood shoulder to shoulder in the aisles and doorways of the church. “It gives us a chance to bring the decision-making process back to the school level.”

Wycoff’s presence at the Mass was significant because it signals that LEARN is interested in the concerns of the district’s diverse ethnic communities, supporters said.

“This shows that it will respond to the needs of the community,” said Lenor Martinez, a leader of the civic group Valley Organized in Community Effort (VOICE).

And gaining support of local parents is critical because the Los Angeles school board will determine in March whether to begin three pilot programs following the LEARN tenets of self-determination. One of the schools is likely to be in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

“The schools do need a major change,” said Paula Medina, whose 10-year-old daughter attends Sharp Avenue School in Pacoima. Like dozens of her fellow parishioners, Medina filled out a green information card requesting more information about LEARN.

The group wants to increase the autonomy of individual schools by creating a network of parents, educators and local businesses. Under LEARN’s proposals, schools would offer counseling and medical care, and teachers and principals would receive continuing education.

Students would be held to higher standards and school staffs would be held responsible for pupil performance. Principals would be given more freedom to determine how money should be allocated.

The program would be funded with private contributions.

In recent weeks, Wycoff has been seeking donations from foundations across the country and has pledged to raise $1 million to educate parents and teachers on revamping their schools.

A public meeting outlining LEARN’s program will be held tonight at San Fernando Middle School, 130 N. Brand Blvd. The meeting will run from 6:45 to 9 p.m.