School Reform

Congratulations. Your special report on school reform on Oct. 23 was nothing less than superb. The concept, angle and writing were excellent.

What was especially meaningful to me was that after many years of The Times’ direct and indirect cheerleading for LEARN as the sine qua non of L.A. school reform, you finally portrayed it accurately. It is simply one tentacle of a multifaceted effort at school reform in L.A. Substantively and conceptually, at best it is no better than, and at worst it lags behind, the other school reform initiatives that you featured. If these other school reform initiatives had had loquacious former politicians and former corporate CEOs providing the funding and political wallop of LEARN, they would be even more accomplished and widespread than they are. To their credit, they excelled independently.

I might add that there is lots of similar creative energy bubbling in “them thar” denizens of other LAUSD schools that do not yet have fancy names or programs attached to them. Hopefully, such talent will be encouraged by the equanimity of The Times’ special effort.

RAY REISLER

Los Angeles