SCHOOL FLUNKS TEST PROGRAM, SEEKS CHARTER WOODLAND HILLS ACADEMY WAS LAUSD'S 1ST TEST MODEL.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

A pilot program hailed by Los Angeles Unified as a model alternative to charter schools has lost its only participating school just two months after it was launched, officials said Thursday.

Teachers at Woodland Hills Academy (formerly Parkman Middle School) near Warner Center voted overwhelmingly to reject the program and apply for charter status, citing uncertainty about an impending change in district governance and a bureaucracy that hampered its finances.

The move is a blow to district officials who had fought to prevent the high-performing campus from converting to charter-school status by giving it freedoms such as those under a charter as an incentive to keep a traditional format.

But while the new freedoms significantly boosted flexibility in molding curriculum, teachers said it simply wasn't enough. More than 90percent of teachers voted to reapply for charter status, and the school submitted its request Tuesday.

``We feel we need to have the funding to raise our scores, and we just don't have it. If we had been a charter school, we would have had access to all the money from the state, and we could use those resources to really bring up student achievement,'' said special-education teacher Paul Kane, one of the petitioners when the school sought charter status last year.

``If you could have access and real control over finances and revenues, I believe it could work. But it all comes down to finances and revenue.''

In search of stability

The program also is the victim of recent turmoil that has enshrouded the district, which recently hired a new superintendent and has four school board seats up for grabs in March.

The teachers union also has threatened to strike unless its demands for more pay are met, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is set to assume greater control of the district in January.

While the mayor has said he supports charter schools, there is no certainty about their future as the school board faces being stripped of much of its power Jan.1.

``There's so much unknown out there right now. We've really become the school people talk about, and unfortunately to look down the road and throw everything away we have so far, we can't do that,'' teacher Bruce Newborn said.

``There's nobody here that's been unhappy, but we're just looking beyond. We just don't know what the district is going to do with us.''

School board President Marlene Canter, who engineered the school's deal, said she plans to meet with the teachers to try to find a resolution.

``We haven't had the opportunity for any kind of dialogue to see how we can move to the next phase. I want to make sure this pilot is successful,'' she said. ``I'm not sure it didn't work. I think we still have more work to do.''

Caprice Young, head of the state's Charter Schools Association, said teachers are simply seeking the stability offered by the charter movement.

Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly funded campuses that operate independently of school districts and most state regulations, exercise full control over their resources and elect their own school boards to set policies and budgets.

If they do not meet their achievement goals, the schools can be shut down.

``It's just there's such political chaos, they can promise one thing one day and they can't promise it will be the same two or three months from now,'' Young said. ``But with a charter, you know you have the authority to run your school for five years.''

First-of-its-kind deal

The move by Woodland Hills Academy culminates what had been a battleground for reforming the LAUSD after the school's teachers agreed last spring that charter status was needed to retain their competitive edge as students defected to a growing number of nearby charter schools.

But the school's breakaway effort sparked fear it would ignite similar campaigns at other Valley campuses. Months of negotiations ended in May with a first-of-its-kind agreement giving the school greater flexibility over budget and curriculum issues while remaining under the LAUSD umbrella.

District officials hailed the program as a viable alternative to the charter movement, and in recent weeks teachers union President A.J. Duffy has said he's hoping to get legislative support to roll out a dozen schools like Woodland Hills Academy by September.

Duffy vowed Thursday to also meet with Woodland Hills Academy's teachers and fight to give schools expanded management powers that would also mean more money.

``I am absolutely committed to making sure that this process happens because this is the kind of cutting-edge thing we want to bring in in the future,'' he said.

Some fear that the LAUSD might reject Woodland Hills Academy's application to become a charter school, but Canter dismissed the concerns Thursday and noted that the district has approved 103 charters -- the most of any district in the nation.

Ultimately, the charter association's Young said, she doesn't think the turnabout by Woodland Hills Academy bodes ill for other schools that might experiment with the program.

``I think a lot can change over the next year or so as things calm down,'' Young said. ``There is so much uncertainty now, and what we're hearing is a craving for people to get out of the way and let the teachers teach.''

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