Clooney, others plan Hollywood school
LOS ANGELES >> For the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, the phrase “giving back to the schools” has often meant a cameo appearance on career day or, perhaps more typically, a fat check made out to your own child’s elite private academy.
But on Monday, the nation’s second-largest district unveiled the latest in a string of star-studded collaborations: a new high school underwritten by, among others, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Eva Longoria and principals at Creative Artists Agency.
The magnet school is intended to diversify the pipeline of cinematographers, engineers, visual effects artists and other technical workers in the city’s signature job sector, and is one of at least three joint initiatives started in the past two months between the L.A. schools and entertainment industry benefactors.
Last week, the music producers Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine announced they were starting their own specialized high school in South Los Angeles. In May, a few hundred middle schoolers performed on free guitars with the pop artist H.E.R., signaling the expansion of a yearlong partnership with the Fender Play Foundation. And more high-profile initiatives involving robotics and music are in the works with major entertainment figures, district officials said.
The sudden involvement of Hollywood is in part a testament to the pull of the schools superintendent, Austin Beutner. Beutner is leaving his job in two weeks after spending more than a year leveraging his personal connections for schoolbased pandemic relief.
Some education advocates are skeptical that his approach will make much difference in a district of some 650,000 mostly low-income students, where 8 in 10 students are Latino or Black.
“Charity is no substitute for justice,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, the president of the California State Board of Education. “It’s great that people are making these investments, but we have a bigger job to do.”
The focus on education in Los Angeles also reflects other worries, including a mounting alarm at growing income disparities and a need for the industry to recruit workers in the #HollywoodSoWhite era.