Effort to Take Over Campus Is Dropped

A leading charter school operator has altered his controversial demand that the Los Angeles Board of Education relinquish control of one of the city’s lowest performing high schools.

Steve Barr, founder of Green Dot Public Schools, said he no longer wants to take control of Jefferson High and divide it into several charter programs. Instead, Barr said he is pushing to strike an agreement that would allow Green Dot to open six schools at an unused Los Angeles Unified School District site.

Barr outlined his proposal in an interview Tuesday. It was the same day that schools Supt. Roy Romer updated a board committee on plans to divide Jefferson and the district’s 52 other traditional high schools into so-called small learning communities.

Romer estimated that it would cost an additional $45 million each year to fund the career- and theme-based learning clusters for the district’s 167,000 high school students.

Charters are publicly funded but independently run schools that are granted greater flexibility in exchange for a promise to improve student achievement.

Barr said he wanted the six schools to open next fall with about 900 ninth-graders and expand to serve about 2,000 students in grades nine through 12. Most children, he said, would probably come from the Jefferson attendance area in South Los Angeles.

To open in time, Barr said, he wanted a commitment from the district by the end of the month to allow him to use the facility. He declined to identify its location, saying only that it is close to Jefferson’s 41st Street campus.

Romer has repeatedly dismissed Barr’s original plan. Barr acknowledged that the fight between Green Dot and the school district over a Jefferson takeover would have been a “bloodbath.”

Jefferson has long struggled as one of the district’s lowest-performing and most overcrowded campuses. For five years, it has scored at or near the bottom of state school rankings and has consistently failed to meet federal achievement requirements. In 2004, nearly 92% of Jefferson students tested below proficient on math exams.

The school’s troubles worsened last spring when a series of melees erupted among Latino and black students. The violence brought public and political scrutiny, forcing district officials to replace the principal and step up safety measures.

School board President Marlene Canter said she had discussed Barr’s new proposal with him. She said she was hopeful an agreement could be reached, but would not comment. Romer, who said he had talked briefly with Barr and was unaware of which property he wanted, also declined to comment.

Glenn Gritzner, special assistant to Romer, said it is unlikely the district could transfer control of property in time to meet Barr’s request.

If the district refuses, Barr said he would apply to the state Board of Education for the charters to open the schools and would purchase two private properties to house them. He left open the possibility of suing the district for reimbursement.

In 2000, voters passed a state proposition that requires school districts to provide facilities for charters.