Red Tape Cut for Schools in Reform Plan : Education: After complaints that regulations still hamstrung schools in the LEARN program, the superintendent is given wider authority to approve changes.

In a move to help free reform-minded schools from bureaucratic red tape, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday gave broader decision-making authority to its top administrator.

Supt. Sid Thompson, who called the decision “a significant step” toward reform, will now have the power to decide whether to waive some district policies that LEARN reform schools say complicate and needlessly slow down their operations.

“Back a number of years ago, this would have been a major debate issue,” Thompson said, adding that board members “just don’t give up that kind of power that easily. I think it’s an indication of where the board is in support of these reform issues.”

Under the new policy, which was unanimously approved with no discussion, Thompson will be able to move quickly on school requests dealing with issues such as minor calendar changes, personnel and facility usage, as long as they cost little or no money and do not conflict with union contracts or affect other schools.

Under the LEARN overhaul plan, which covers 34 schools, principals have been given broad authority to design their own educational programs and address school needs while collaborating with teachers and parents.

In the four months since the schools were officially inducted into the LEARN program, many have found that board approval was needed for the simplest of requests, a reflection of the tangle of state and local regulations that many say hamstring innovation. Schools waited a month or longer for decisions on matters such as scheduling a pupil-free day so that teachers could attend training sessions.

The experience of Hyde Park Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles offers a glimpse of the type of rules-driven operation that Monday’s board action intends to break.

Principal Matty Fegan said that teachers and parents at her school want to turn a vacant bungalow that formally housed an administrative office into a family counseling center. But a getting around a complex web of district regulations that dictate how school facilities should be used required board action.

The school also requested permission to serve lunches to poor students on days when classes are canceled to allow teachers to attend training sessions. District policy has prevented such a practice.

“No one knows whose policy it is, but it’s the way it’s always been done,” said Fegan, adding that the board action Monday “means we can put our programs into action much more quickly. . . . We can provide the services our school community needs.”

In other action, the board gave conditional approval of charter school status to the Accelerated School. Last June, a group of teachers from 99th Street Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles submitted a petition to start the school, which will receive state funds but will be autonomous from the Los Angeles district.

The philosophy of the new charter school will be to treat all students as high achievers through a demanding curriculum where expectations are high. This model is already in place at 99th Street Elementary. The Cal State Los Angeles education department will provide training and support for teachers involved in the program.

Under the tentative approval, the school must find a site, raise $200,000 for start-up costs and find a fiscal adviser to manage its money by May 21.

Times staff writer Diane Seo contributed to this story.