The Locke High School marching band rehearses for the reopening ceremony for the long-troubled school. Green Dot, which has achieved some success with small charter schools, has taken over the large urban campus. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
A Locke cheerleader performs at the reopening ceremony. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
School officials tell students to tuck in their shirts, hike up their pants and tighten their belts in their new school uniforms on the first day of school at Locke High School in Watts. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Because of the school’s past problems with violence, police officers keep an eye on students as they start their first day of school Locke High School in Watts. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Ulis Morris, 16, an 11th grader at Locke and a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, raises the American flag at Locke on the first day of school. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Sgt. Darnell Stephens, a gang unit officer with a private company, patrols the graffiti-free hallways of Locke High School on the first day of school. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Tenth-grade English teacher Beth Schmidt works at Locke High School in Watts, where Green Dot has taken over the operation of the campus. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Sophomores Wally Onayemi, left, and Luis Castillo, both 15, work together on an assignment: defining guidelines for a good learning environment at Locke High School. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Blanca Rodriguez, left, and friend Perla Guzman hug before Locke’s graduation ceremony last July 19. Guzman was the class valedictorian and planned to go to UCLA. Both girls helped classmates by lending them money to help pay for their graduation garb. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Students celebrate graduation from Locke last July. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
