LAUSD badly needs new leadership

Scale success.

It means expanding and replicating successful schools and it is a central tenet of my campaign for LAUSD school board.

Porter Ranch Community School is one of the highest performing schools in the District.

Hard working teachers, involved parents, an innovative “pilot” union contract for staff — it is a shining example of a community K-8 public school. Families move to Porter Ranch because of the school.

There is so much demand that it is the only LAUSD school, out of 1,218, that is overcrowded.

Supporting a successful school, one that parents flock to, should be LAUSD's core competency.

But the district's track record is the opposite.

In the case of the Porter Ranch Community School, LAUSD may cleave the school in half, shipping its middle school students off to Chatsworth High School.

So Monday morning, parents protested and students walked out of school. Monday night, LAUSD officials descended upon the school to quell the uprising.

With no actual answers to share, some district officials, like the incumbent school board member Scott Schmerelson, just sat silently and passively. Others tried their best to cheer up the audience. It's “a good problem,” LAUSD Region North Superintendent David Baca said.

I am a math teacher, so I usually love a good problem. But a “good problem” to the LAUSD bureaucracy mostly spells real trouble.

I got my start teaching at another LAUSD pilot school (like the Porter Ranch Community School) named the Studio School.

We taught English to English language learners better than most schools in our region.

We were “good,” but for some reason, the Studio School was also a problem. 12 months later the LAUSD Region Central superintendent shut us down.

Now, LAUSD doesn't want to shut the Porter Ranch Community School down. Quite the contrary. What the unfolding story of Porter Ranch Community School reveals is that LAUSD is terribly bereft of leadership.

Instead of planning for the growth of the Porter Ranch community, LAUSD chose to ignore it. Instead of capitalizing on parent demand and goodwill, they squander it. Instead of presenting a thoughtful timeline to concerned parents, they offered platitudes and district jargon.

Not surprising, the only light of leadership on Monday came from outside LAUSD. As district officials looked around the room for someone to handle a difficult question, the local city councilmember grabbed the microphone.

Leadership is bringing solutions to the table — which the Councilmember John Lee did when he announced he would raise $500,000 to help LAUSD address its “good problem.”

I've been an LAUSD classroom teacher for almost six years, but I have a 20-year track record of improving public schools in Los Angeles.

I helped LAUSD turn around its most troubled high school while working at a nonprofit called Green Dot Public Schools. I co-founded a philanthropy called the LA Fund for Public Education to raise money for critical LAUSD programs.

What my experience shows and what Monday night reminds us is that LAUSD needs new leadership to break free from decades of bureaucratic thinking and hand wringing.

The students, staff and families of the Porter Ranch Community School depend on it. So do every student, parent, teacher and supporter of public education in Los Angeles.

Dan Chang is a candidate for LAUSD school board.

His campaign website is chang4change.org. He has been endorsed by the editorial board.