LONGTIME EDUCATOR FEELS SHE'S MAKING A DIFFERENCE.Byline: - Naush Boghossian Judy Burton worked 30 years in the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) and was on track to become a candidate for superintendent when she quit to join an educational system she believed would yield quicker and better results. Although Burton loved her students and colleagues, she could no longer cope with the heavy bureaucracy and the slow pace of reform in the nation's second-largest school district - especially at the high school level. ``I think we were making good progress but not at the pace we needed or wanted, and a large part of it was due to the incredible size of the schools,'' said Burton, 58, who started her career as a teacher and rose to become a local district superintendent District Superintendent may be:
Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . ``I saw our principals and teachers just working so hard, committed to trying to get results but distracted by so many other factors that it just seemed so difficult to stay focused on the kids.'' In 2003, she jumped at the opportunity to work for a company that creates charter schools, bringing ``small learning communities'' to neighborhoods with lagging achievement scores and high dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rates. She is now president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools (LA Alliance) is a not-for-profit organization which operates charter schools in Los Angeles. Its president and CEO is Judy Ivie Burton, a former Superintendent of Local District B in the Los Angeles Unified School District. , which has opened four campuses in crowded and underperforming areas in South and East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. and hopes to create 20 more middle and high schools over the next six years. At the same time, the group wants to influence Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified by establishing small schools that help students graduate, go on to college and eventually have an impact on L.A., she said. ``Our basic belief is that every kid can learn at high levels given the learning condition and opportunity to learn at high levels, and that's what we're out to prove,'' she said. ``We're able to do what we believe makes a difference.'' And, there's a significantly higher sense of accountability at charter schools, which don't stay open if they don't deliver. So, if something doesn't work, it gets changed. ``Our decisions are guided by what we're trying to achieve versus what rule we're trying to follow,'' she said. ``Not to say there aren't rules and regulations at charters - there are just as many. But we still have the flexibility to work for kids and what works best for our schools.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: After 30 years in LAUSD, Judy Burton runs a company that creates charter schools. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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