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Green Dot Charter Schools
President and CEO of Green Dot Charter Schools
PROFILE
Marco Petruzzi
Guest
FROM Marco Petruzzi
Which Way, L.A.?
Is the 'Parent Trigger' Finally Being Given a Chance? When parents in Compton tried out the so-called "parent trigger," their petition was thrown out in court. But two weeks ago, the school board in the high-desert town of Adelanto turned over control of Desert Trails Elementary to an outside operator. Last week, a crowd of parents from 24th Street Elementary in South LA showed up to demand immediate, significant change from LA Unified.
Which Way, L.A.?
School Reform and LA Unified's Public School Choice Plan LA Unified has more charter schools than any other district in the US. That's because of the Public School Choice plan, created to improve schools through competition by allowing outside groups, as well as internal teams, to bid for control of new and under-performing schools. Now the rules have been changed by the elected School Board, to give priority to insiders, meaning the District's own administrators and teachers. As head of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, AJ Duffy was an outspoken opponent of charter schools. Now he's applying to become a charter school operator. He wants to hire teachers from the Crescendo charter schools, which were closed down when administrators ordered teachers to cheat on standardized tests. We speak with Duffy, educators and administrators.
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To the Point
California Gets Back into Presidential Politics In 1972, California clinched the presidential nomination for Democrat George McGovern. Since then, the biggest state has become an ATM for candidates of both parties. But starting in 2020 all eyes will be on California as it moves its primary up to a month after the Iowa caucuses.
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