Crenshaw Receives a Failing Grade(Diploma from Crenshaw means NADA!)

The Los Angeles Times ^ | August 19, 2005 | Joel Rubin,

[kellynla]

Crenshaw High School, among Los Angeles' lowest-performing campuses, lost its accreditation this week, throwing into doubt the worth of the diplomas its future graduates will receive.

The Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, which accredits public and private high schools in California, notified school officials Monday that the campus had been stripped of its accreditation after failing to correct what it found were persistent, widespread problems.

In a letter to the school, the association's accrediting commission said it had rejected the school because of "great concerns regarding student achievement, the implementation of a curriculum and instructional program aligned with California academic standards, and the capacity of the school to address other critical areas."

Los Angeles Unified School District officials acknowledged Crenshaw's recent failures, but expressed confidence that ongoing reform efforts at the 3,100-student campus would lead to reinstatement of its accreditation this spring.

"It's our kids who are at stake here," said Doug Waybright, director of secondary education for the local district that includes Crenshaw. "There is no choice — things need to change."

News of the decision underscored the changes the school has experienced in the last couple of decades. Once a school that drew from middle-class African American neighborhoods as well as low-income areas, it was known for its powerhouse athletic teams, such extracurricular programs as its choir and above-average academics.

[kellynla]

"While still predominately African American, Crenshaw today has a large Latino population and serves mostly students from low-income households." Read "illegal aliens." One third of students in the L.A. Unified School District CAN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH!

[funkywbr]

Que Pasa Homie.

Waddup.

Say "hello" to LIBERAL America!

[burzum]

Can't wait for people to complain about how it will affect their children. Of course, they never considered how a substandard education would affect their children. No, it will be the fault of the accreditation board for being racist.

Stand by, the lowest priority will be to fix the school.

[Loud Mime]

Schools failing to care for the children.

The bad thing is that there is no pay for performance in schools.

[burzum]

Don't you know, the schools aren't for the children. They are there to take care of the members of the teacher's union.

[bruin66]

Too bad. When I was in LA, Crenshaw was the model of inter-racial integration. What happened?

[newfrpr04]

so true, yet they refuse to acknowledge it. Some kids are given test in spanish and moved on, never forced to learn english, and test scores for spanish speaking is not same as english. I feel for the kids that have no other alternative but to attend that school.

[kellynla]

Illegals and "liberal" educators are two of the problems!

[Wiseghy]

I once met with the folks from WASC. They are no racists, and wouldn't make waves unless things were really bad.

I'd say the message they're sending is: POOR, UNACCOUNTABLE LEADERSHIP HAS RUINED THIS SCHOOL. My guess is that they also know that all the problems are easily corrected, but that the existing leadership is entrenched and unresponsive. They are undoubtably much poorer schools around the state that perform 100x better.

What a pity. I hope the press and public catches on that the Board and the leadership is the root of the problem.

[kellynla]

oh this problem is rampant throughout L.A.
One third of the students in the L.A. Unified School District CAN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH(illegals)!!!(thank you GWB!)

[Bar-Face]

Not being familiar with Los Angeles, I wonder if Crenchaw High School is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. And is Roy Romer still running the Los Angeles Unified School District? if So.................
I am sure the good people of Colorado will want to thank you for keeping him there.

[kellynla]

"Not being familiar with Los Angeles, I wonder if Crenchaw High School is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District."
YES!

"And is Roy Romer still running the Los Angeles Unified School District?"
And YES!
His contract has since been renewed twice, extending it to June 30, 2007.

How's that for timely answers! LOL

[Regulator]

What happened?

Mexico invaded

[GSWarrior]

Yeah, but how's the football team?

[ElkGroveDan]

If only we would just spend a bit more taxpayer money....

[Bar-Face]

"His contract has since been renewed twice, extending it to June 30, 2007."

Wow! they must really like him there. My late partner always liked Roy. He used to shoe Romer's horses back when Roy had horses. When Roy lived in Colorado. Before Roy became Governor of Colorado. Back before Romer moved to Los Angeles to fix their school system. Pore old Whitey, he never was a good judge of people.

[Loud Mime]

---Too bad. When I was in LA, Crenshaw was the model of inter-racial integration. What happened?---

They intergrated liberals

[Riverman94610]

"Mexico invaded"
Not so fast.Crenshaw had major problems before the Mexicans moved into the area.Ice-T was going there doing his criminal capers way back in the Seventies.
Read And Still We Rise by Miles Corwin,about the Gifted Program out at Crenshaw.Many of these kids face tremendous obstacles from within their community and families or lack of thereof.
I know firsthand how bad schools in the hood are.Yet I also know that the suburban kids I went to high school with in the 1960's period could be incredibly cruel and without moral scruples.
I know I will get flamed for saying this but on a disciplinary level,Mexican immigrant-illegal or not-are probably the last group to give a teacher major headaches in the classroom.Especially the girls.In all my years of subbing in the hood I have never had to put a Latino female out of my classroom for problem causing.Every other ethnic group and gender combo has felt my wrath!

[Regulator]

Even if the social conditions are what you say they are, the simple numbers of non-English speakers coupled with other social problems would conspire to make it difficult to keep the level of learning equivalent to any school not dealing with those problems.

I might mention that I went to high school in the '60s at a school about 60 miles north of the Mexican border. At that time there was only one high school in that district that had a signifcant Mexican population, and it always came in last in pretty much all the metrics. It was also a far more violent school than pretty much any other school.

The contact I had with the kids at that school and its feeder schools left me with the impression that they had no intention of learning anything, at least in most cases. "Who needs it, not gonna do you no good"; "Only vendidos study"; some other choice statements were common. Every now and then you'd run into an exception, but they were exceptions.

[American Zealot]

I went to Crenshaw, graduated in 2001, got a 1410 on my SAT, got into Stanford and go to UCLA, there are a handful of high achievers there, I was one of them. Crenshaw actually has a magnet program for gifted students (based on state diagnostic test scores). Problem: too many out of control students, teachers that arent very good at disciplining, and a punitive system that doesnt see to it that problem kids are kicked out. This is especially embarrassing because my sister still goes there. I havent even spoken to my parents yet about what they are going to do about the fact that my sister's diploma might be considered worthless if she stays there until graduation. American Zealot