Teachers adopt Crescent roles
NEW ORLEANS Much like millions of American teachers, Channa Cook always dreamt of opening her own school — a blank canvas on which she could paint the ideas for the perfect educational institution.
So when the opportunity to make that dream a reality presented itself during a spring break trip to New Orleans in April, Cook and a fellow colleague in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) jumped at the chance.
“You work every day and see how many things can change and need to be changed and kind of feel powerless because you’re in a huge district,” Cook said Tuesday.
The Santa Monica resident is now preparing for an August move to New Orleans, where she will join colleague Kristin Moody and spend the next year forming the master plan for the opening of a charter school in the devastated city.
The 27-year-old Cook has come a long way since graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1998, attaining a bachelor’s degree in English at Stanford University in 2002 and a master’s degree in the same discipline in 2003.
Following post-graduate studies, Cook began teaching English at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a magnet school in LAUSD. She moved on to become a literary coach to support other teachers at Crenshaw High School during the 2006- 07 school year. She also teaches an English course at Santa Monica College.
This year, Cook and Moody spent their spring vacation helping to rebuild public schools in the Recovery School District, an organization, run by the Louisiana Department of Education, aimed at turning around under-performing schools.
An official from the Recovery School District asked the teachers if they would be interested in opening their own school, putting them in touch with a non-profit organization called New Schools for New Orleans — launched in response to Hurricane Katrina.
The teachers came back to Los Angeles excited about the prospect of finally opening their own school, something that many teachers dream about, but very few realize. They submitted an application with New Schools for New Orleans and learned on June 1 that they would be awarded a $100,000 grant.
Known as the incubation grant, the funding will enable Moody and Cook to take a year off from work in order to lay the foundation for the charter school, which will start with a charter application that’s due to the state on Sept. 5. The teachers will learn in January 2008 if they will be able to move forward.
One of the key differences between a charter school and a regular public high school is the autonomy awarded to the administration by the state Department of Education. Under charter guidelines, the school is not burdened with the state mandates and regulations that control a regular public school.
But with autonomy comes accountability. If the school doesn’t perform and show results, it’s shut down by the state.
Before Hurricane Katrina struck in the fall of 2005, there were very few charter schools in the city. Since the flood waters receded, approximately 50 percent of the public schools in New Orleans are charter schools, according to Neerav Kingsland, director of school investments with New Schools for New Orleans.
New Orleans now has the highest concentration of charter schools in the nation.
“In our mind, it’s giving great people both the responsibility and accountability to succeed,” Kingsland said. “We feel if we can find a great principal, we want to give them the power to (oversee) a school.”
Moody came to Los Angeles in 2004 after teaching special education in Harlem, New York.
Even if Moody hadn’t been awarded the opportunity to open a charter school in New Orleans, she predicts that she would’ve explored a similar route in Los Angeles.
“We were really inspired to take the leap and try to immerse ourselves in the community so we could address what’s here,” Moody said. “I was with everyone else watching the news when Katrina hit and what happened to New Orleans. It’s shocking, two years later, to see the city still completely devastated.”
BUILDING BLOCKS If Cook and Moody get the green light from the Department of Education in January, they will begin laying the foundation to open the Sojourner Truth Academy, projected to open in Fall 2008. “We are inspired by her (Truth) as an abolitionist and women’s’ rights fighter and a former slave,” Cook said. “Plus, we like the name ‘Truth Academy.’”
New Schools for New Orleans will provide the teachers with an office, desk and phone, as well as training in school administration. Both Moody and Cook have master’s of science degrees in administration and educational leadership from Pepperdine University.
The $100,000 grant will serve as the salary for Cook and Moody. Many people who try to open charter schools either have enough money to support themselves for a year or work at the same time, Cook said.
Approximately five teachers will be hired to support the 100 students in the ninth grade class. Using the ladder system, the school will welcome 100 new ninth graders every year until the school reaches a maximum capacity of 400 students — 100 students per class. The location of the new school has yet to be determined, but Cook believes it will be placed in a needy area.
“I feel like I’ve been given the right tools with my educational background and I feel really confident in the cofounder and that we’re going to be supported well through this process,” Cook said. “There’s a good dose of fear there. It’s always risky.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2007. Read the original PDF.