Giving Their School an F

Sitting in nursing class, waiting for an instructor who would not show up that September day, Kortney Tatum and Tiffany Brown shared their frustrations. Why doesn’t Centennial High School, they asked each other, provide more teachers, tougher classes, newer textbooks, and better facilities?

Over the last three months, the two 17-year-old seniors tried to find out, writing letters to Compton Unified School District administrators, talking to teachers and conducting their own survey of 200 classmates. Unsatisfied with the answers, Tatum and Brown, without parental or school sanction, sent a written complaint to the U.S. Department of Education, questioning whether Centennial’s poor record violates their civil rights.

As evidence, the two, among the school’s better students, cited state statistics that show Centennial sent just two graduates to the University of California in the last four years.

“We graduate this spring, and I don’t think the school can honestly tell us that they’ve prepared us to succeed in college,” Brown said. “It’s too late to do anything for us. We’re doing this so things will be better for the freshmen and the students who come after us.”

The one-page complaint letter, though “unsophisticated,” according to its authors, adds to a small but growing list of challenges nationwide to schools for failure to meet basic standards. And in Southern California, it reflects widespread impatience with the Compton district, which is being returned to local control after a seven-year state takeover.

Although the state has achieved modest gains in test scores and financial management, a chorus of organizations inside and outside the “Hub City”--from parents’ groups to the NAACP--have expressed concern about the pace of improvement.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the district three years ago, has publicly expressed concern about whether Compton is living up to the terms of a consent decree that resulted from that suit.

Office of Civil Rights Getting Involved

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights--the agency to which Tatum and Brown sent their letter--is pushing the district to prevent racial discrimination against students and develop a plan for teaching English to Spanish speakers.

Roger Murphy, a Department of Education spokesman, said the letter, which was sent to Washington, has been forwarded to a district office in San Francisco. He declined to comment on its merits.

“There are certainly a number of complaints like that” across the country, said Kathy Christie, director of the information clearinghouse at Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit group in Denver. Among them is an ACLU lawsuit brought against California this spring, accusing the state of denying equal opportunity to minority students in substandard schools.

“But for students on their own to be raising the issue, I would say that’s unusual. More power to them,” she said.

Strikingly, Compton school district officials and Centennial’s principal agree with the teenagers. They say a weak curriculum, without enough courses required for University of California admission, is responsible for this fact: In a district with 800 or so graduates a year, only 26 enrolled at UC schools between 1996 and 1999. This year, both Centennial High School and Compton High School failed to participate in a new program that would have guaranteed the top 4% of their seniors a place at a UC campus.

But the students, the officials say, are unaware of the district’s efforts to boost academic standards--through a new grading system tied to standardized testing--and to overcome a severe shortage of teachers. Twenty five of the district’s 1,300 positions remain unfilled, three months into school. The district is also adding Advanced Placement courses and replacing janitors who don’t keep schools safe and clean, they say.

“We admire what the kids are doing,” district spokesman Fausto Capobianco said. “And we are trying to do many of the things they want.”

Said Centennial Principal Todd Irving: “Complaints like this are progress in a way. They mean students are taking responsibility. What they don’t realize is that it takes time to change the culture of a school and a district.”

Tatum and Brown counter that the district and school are not moving quickly enough. Tatum said she took a full year of Spanish class without ever seeing a full-time teacher. Brown said her English class is so short on books, she had to scour local libraries for a copy of “Oedipus Rex.”

The troubles extend to extracurricular activities. Money and space are swallowed up by high-profile boys’ sports at Centennial, which, the girls complain, doesn’t offer other extracurriculars such as drama or debate.

“I think there’s a basic lack of respect for all the students, especially female ones,” Tatum said. “And the only way to fight that is for the students themselves to demand respect.”

Organizing Campus Protests

Focusing mostly on the senior class, Brown, this year’s homecoming queen, and Tatum, the class treasurer, have organized quiet protests in recent weeks. Dozens of students have worn ribbons of various colors to represent different issues: green for the lack of teachers, red for the absence of extracurricular activities. “I would wear one of their ribbons, but they ran out,” said Raven Courtney, a junior. “This school needs more of everything.”

In October, Tatum and Brown surveyed 200 students in the halls. A majority of respondents said they had had classes in which no teacher showed up. Citing the survey, they’ve met with the principal and requested a session with district’s state-appointed superintendent, Randolph E. Ward.

“This is their own thing,” said Tatum’s mother, Tara Bonner, who is a window clerk for the U.S. Postal Service. “I’ve been impressed, and I don’t think she would stop, even if I asked her to.”

Irving, 36, said his first reaction was: “Give me a break--I have enough to worry about.” But the principal has tried to explain the school’s limitations to both teens, whom he praises as “top students.”

There are not enough extracurricular activities because the school lacks the facilities and teachers to sponsor them, he said. He has repeatedly requested help with maintenance and teachers, but, he said, the district is slow to respond. Centennial currently has teaching vacancies in science and music.

“The girls think I’m the one who is totally in control and has all the answers,” he said. “But the teacher problem limits us.” With that, he picked up a copy of a memo he sent his staff Tuesday.

“Due to the shortage of substitute teachers . . . and the high rate of absenteeism among teachers . . . Mr. Irving will be available for substituting for any class not covered by a regular teacher,” it says.

Such explanations have not slowed Tatum and Brown. They are seeking legal advice in hopes of pursuing their federal complaint more seriously.

In the meantime, both have applied to California State University schools.

“The UCs are really out of reach, even for most good students,” Tatum said. “And wherever I go, I suspect I’ll have to take catch-up classes on things I should have learned in high school.” The teenagers, who were not close before their conversation in nursing class, said they now have nearly identical long-term goals.

“We’re both interested in becoming attorneys,” said Tatum, an aggressive gleam in her eye. “We’re not through with Centennial High School.”

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A Weak Compton Connection

Two seniors at Compton’s Centennial High say that the school’s poor performance in placing students at UC schools is evidence of civil rights violations. The story is the same at the Compton Unified School District’s other two high schools. Below are the number of students who enrolled at UC:

Note: Graduate numbers include adult schools.

Sources: Compton Unified School District, University of California