CHARTER MOVEMENT EXPANDING PARENTS SEEK LOCAL CONTROL.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Staff Writer

Frustrated with high dropout rates and crime at impoverished neighborhood schools, a group of Pacoima parents and teachers will open Discovery Charter High School this fall - the first start-up charter high school in the San Fernando Valley.

In affluent Woodland Hills, parents at El Camino Real High School are working on a plan to convert the highly regarded campus into a charter next year to gain greater local control over the school's budget, facilities and curriculum.

And in Reseda this fall, a team of university scientists and educators will open Magnolia Science Charter Middle School, where students in sixth through eighth grades can take intensive science and math classes.

Nearly a decade after the San Fernando Valley's first charter elementary schools were founded, the reform movement is gaining momentum among secondary schools. Charter school advocates say the growing interest underscores the movement's success and parents' frustration with overcrowded classrooms and dwindling local control of neighborhood secondary schools.

``It's about preserving a school-based autonomy where we feel empowered to make good decisions that are important for El Camino,'' said Principal Ron Bauer, whose school boasts lofty test scores and the city's winning Academic Decathlon Team. ``In some instances, it may run contrary to the district's direction, but in the end we are all about improving student achievement.''

Charter schools are public schools operated by educators, community leaders or parents under contract with school districts to meet specific educational goals. In exchange for freedom from most state and local education laws, they promise to raise student achievement. If they fail, they can be shut down.

Currently, 406 charter schools and seven all-charter districts exist statewide. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, there are 39 charter schools.

The Valley has seven charter schools, including six elementary schools and one middle school - Community Charter Middle School in the city of San Fernando. With the addition of Discovery Charter High School this fall, parents for the first time will be able to place their children in the innovative programs from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

``Right now the trend for charter schools is pre-K through 12 because it will allow the full range of educational options and life for the kids,'' said Yvonne Chan, principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, which became the Valley's first elementary charter in 1993 and is now expanding to a middle school.

Charter secondary schools also are in high demand as parents look for campuses where their teen-agers won't get lost in the shuffle.

``I like the parent involvement. I like the small class sizes. I can get access to a classroom, to teachers, to the principal at any time. And I know the curriculum is at or above grade level,'' said Sylmar parent Aritha Wilson, whose daughter will be part of the first ninth-grade class at Discovery Charter High School this fall.

While district officials support the creation of charter schools, they worry that some existing schools are exploring conversion to escape districtwide reforms expected to be introduced next academic year.

Superintendent Roy Romer has introduced a new literacy plan for secondary grades to begin July 1. He said his centralized approach is not designed to impose stringent policies on successful schools but rather to help raise student achievement at all schools.

``We are not going to impose on a successful school any policy that detracts from their success,'' Romer said. ``But my bent is I've got to change the culture of most secondary schools because most of them are not reaching high enough.''

He also worries that conversion of schools such as El Camino could rob the district of badly needed high school seats and worsen overcrowding.

A population bulge currently moving through the lower grades is expected to hit the ninth grade in 2005, with total high school enrollment peaking in 2008-09 at 203,596 students.

``Until we get a seat for every kid, we need access to all the existing schools in our district. It's an equity issue,'' Romer said.

But parents, administrators and community members in Woodland Hills said they already have created a culture of high achievement they hope to preserve by converting the campus into a charter school. The group is finalizing its draft proposal, which must be reviewed by the district's charter school office and approved by the school board.

Under the plan, El Camino would continue to receive funding through LAUSD's central offices but would gain greater local control over the curricular programs and other decisions about the campus.

``For us, it's not about getting out of the district,'' said Aaron Yusem, a parent and community representative at El Camino. ``It's more about our hope to preserve what we've been doing, which has been successful.''

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The number of charter schools in the San Fernando Valley has more than quadrupled since 1993, when there were only two: Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima and Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace. Now there are nine and more are being planned. This fall, Discovery Charter in Pacoima will be the first charter school in the Valley.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Unified School District