L.A. charter schools honored
Speaking of the California Charter Schools Conference, which winds up today in Sacramento, a couple of Southern California schools won honors for their achievements. Synergy Charter Academy in South L.A. was named Charter School of the Year and Principal Brian Bauer of Granada Hills Charter High School was named Charter School Leader of the Year.
Caprice Young, the former L.A. Unified School Board president who is now president and chief executive of the California Charter Schools Assn., said Synergy Charter, about a mile east of USC, “should be credited with not only closing the achievement gap, but eliminating it.” With a student population that is 85% Latino and 12% African American (and 85% "socioeconomically disadvantaged"), Synergy managed a remarkable Academic Performance Index score of 846 last year.
Bauer, the Granada principal, led the school through its conversion from a regular Los Angeles Unified high school to a charter school in 2003. It claims to be the nation's most populous charter campus, with some 4,000 students, and had an API of 816 last year, up from 761 in 2003.
The charter conference also named California State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell the Charter School Supporter of the Year.
The four-day conference drew about 2,000 people to the Sacramento Convention Center to schmooze, speechify, and stand in long lines at Starbucks so they could stay awake during workshops that ranged over the gamut of charter school concerns. Among them: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective High Schools," "Five Dysfunctions of Charter School Boards," and the ever-popular "How to Manage Lice Infestations and Other Common Children's Health Issues and Minimize Their Impact on Your Students and School."
