School Inspectors Note Compton Improvement
A surprise inspection by state education officials and an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer has found that Compton High School showed some improvement in facilities management.
The inspection, performed on Wednesday, followed a similar check in September at four schools, including Compton High. All four flunked.
Robert M. Myers, an attorney for the ACLU, said Compton High had fixed some electrical problems and installed new lights in the hallways. But some bathrooms still need repairs and remain inaccessible, Myers said.
The state has run Compton’s schools since 1993 and regularly sends “crisis managers” to evaluate such conditions as facilities management, finances and student achievement. The ACLU also monitors the school system facilities under a consent decree filed with a state judge.
Myers has held out the possibility that the ACLU could ask the judge to hold the district in contempt if significant improvements are not made before a more extensive inspection of Compton schools on Dec. 5. To prod the system’s plant workers, Randolph E. Ward, the state-appointed administrator, has threatened to privatize janitorial services if all campuses aren’t clean by then.
Ward accompanied Myers and members of the state crisis team, known as the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, on this week’s inspection.
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