Green Dot Public Schools

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 7 2013

Alumni foundation has problems with any renewal

Five years after Green Dot Public Schools made history by becoming the first outside organization to assume control of a low-performing high school (Alain Leroy Locke High) in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the organization’s agreement is up for renewal and the matter will be taken up by the school board at its Feb. 12 meeting.

Nov 8 2012

Former consulting firm CEO

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has announced that Denita Willoughby has been named regional vice president of external affairs for the company.

“We are pleased to welcome Denita to our management team at SoCalGas,” said Dennis V. Arriola, president and chief operating officer of SoCalGas. “She has extensive governmental and community affairs experience and is well known for her leadership in the greater Los Angeles community.”

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jul 21 2011

Unique partnership formed

At first glance, the decision by the Los Angeles Unified School District to have four different entities involved in the operation of Jordan High School seems like a recipe for chaos and another experiment being carried out against vulnerable inner city youngsters.

But after meeting principal Sherrie Williams and observing her down-to-earth, no nonsense manner and approach to what she is up against at this perpetually troubled high school, your concern is somewhat allayed.

Jun 30 2011

2011's glad grads

Students from the final class enrolled in Locke High School when the Los Angeles Unified School District ran the campus were among the 484 seniors who celebrated their graduation from the South Los Angeles school, now operated by Green Dot Public Schools. Green Dot assumed control of Locke in 2008, after the majority of the school’s teachers voted to go with the charter operator. Among the improvements Green Dot says have been made is an increased number of students graduating with the college-prep A-G courses, from 85 to 264.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jul 3 2009

Green Dot takes helm of South Los Angeles school

It’s official. As of July 1, Alaine Locke Leroy High School is no longer under the day-to-day jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Instead the academically struggling institution has become a charter school under the control of Green Dot Public Schools, and life as students have previously known it will change drastically.

The transition from district school to charter school has been a long, bumpy road with the turmoil beginning with how the campus became a charter school.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.