A non-traditional text book model of education making its way into the local community
By JAMIE WETHERBE Special to the Daily Press
Organizers of a charter school have their eyes on Santa Monica with the hopes of bringing unconventional secondary education to a new level here.
The idea is to open an alternative Santa Monica high school by 2005. Called “Green Dot Public Schools,” founded in 1999 by Steve Barr, who helped launch “Rock The Vote,” the system is intended to change the face of education in Los Angeles.
Barr and a handful of Santa Monicans met last month to discuss the possibilities of opening a high school locally and design an outreach program to educate the public on what Green Dot’s mission is.
Barr’s plan is to open 100 public schools — with less than 500 students each — in LA during the next decade in areas where there are under-performing, overcrowded schools.
The organization already operates three schools in the LA area and plans to open four more during the next year. Green Dot is the only organization that has built more than one charter high school in the LA area.
Barr said when Green Dot first started, he talked with officials about opening a school in Santa Monica, but the city had its own public school woes. So he turned to more troubled areas in LA.
Barr said his model has been successful in the highest need and risk areas. Parents should a have a choice between schools without having to spend $20,000 for a private school, Barr said, adding that he believes in competition between public schools.
“Image what it would look like in Santa Monica,” where drop-out and absentee rates rank below Green Dot’s targets, he said.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said he welcomes any new proposals for consideration. He added that he’s impressed with Barr’s dedication, and while Green Dot might not be for every student, some could benefit from the program.
Barr said he was equally impressed with the progress Deasy has made with the once faltering Santa Monica High School. And while Barr went through “great public schools” growing up in Venice, he wants others to have the same experience.
The school model will greatly outperform the existing public schools in the area, Barr contends. Schools will be built in clusters of four and six in 20 target locations throughout LA to maximize operational efficiencies and allow students to receive a wider variety of courses and extracurricular activities than they would receive if the schools were isolated. The success of Green Dot’s schools will prove that public schools in LA can do a far better job of educating students if those schools are managed and operated more effectively, Barr said.
Part of the school’s plan is demanding college prep education for all students with curriculum aligned to the University of California’s course requirements, as well as holding students and teachers more accountable and allowing students to influence how the schools are shaped, which includes letting them design extracurricular activities and helping with hiring administrators.
Green Dot’s first school, Animo Leadership Charter High School, opened in the fall of 2000 and currently serves ninth through 12th grade students. Green Dot last year opened Animo Inglewood Charter High School, which serves ninth and 10th graders. Oscar De La Hoya Animo Charter High School opened in August 2003 — currently serving ninth graders. In about four years, the school will accommodate students through the 12th grade. Animo Leadership and Animo Inglewood have a student population where about 80 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunches, and about 30 percent are classified as English language learners. Both schools promote their more than 95 percent student attendance rates. Animo Leadership is said to have a 90 percent student retention rate.
Animo Leadership students have outperformed their peers in Inglewood Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School District and Centinela Valley High School District — the district that most of the students would have attended — on all key school performance metrics, according to Green Dot officials.
In June, Green Dot will graduate its first class, where it has retained and will graduate 93 percent of its students in an area with a 25 percent drop-out rate, according to officials.
Barr in 1990 co-founded “Rock The Vote,” a campaign designed to increase young voters’ participation in elections. Barr also was a force behind the Motor Voter Bill, Americorps and Californians for Public School Excellence, which led the change of California's charter school laws. He also oversaw an after school program in South-Central and East Los Angeles that worked with transitional welfare mothers and mentoring groups.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 8, 2003. Read the original PDF.