The Los Angeles school board last week voted to hand control of one of the district’s most troubled high schools to a charter school operator next fall.
In a 5-2 vote, the board agreed that Green Dot Public Schools, which runs 12 small charter high schools in some of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods, should operate Locke Senior High School in Watts.
Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles said Locke’s conversion to a Green Dot charter would violate their labor contract. They vowed to file a grievance seeking to block the move.
A majority of tenured teachers at the 2,800-student campus signed a petition in May to convert to a Green Dot charter. That move set off a battle involving Green Dot, the district, and UTLA that escalated when a handful of teachers asked to rescind their signatures.
Steve Barr, the founder and chief executive officer of Green Dot, opened two new charter schools in the Locke High attendance area two weeks ago. He said he hopes to move at least one of the new schools onto the Locke campus sometime this school year.
“That way, people at Locke will have a chance to become very familiar with the way Green Dot works before we take over next fall,” he said.
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