L.A. school chief shares plans

‘It’s about all of us,’ L.A. Unified Supt. Michelle King tells those on her ‘listen and learn’ tour.

Rosaura Roa went to Nightingale Middle School on Wednesday to make sure L.A. Unified Supt. Michelle King knows about what Roa called the problems at her children’s school, Arroyo Seco Museum Science Magnet.

She didn’t get to meet or talk to the superintendent. She did hear a vague overview of priorities similar to what King has presented at other stops on her self-described “listen and learn” tour, something she has said will help her formulate a plan for the district.

That tour has included about 20 visits to schools, parent groups and community organizations, said Antonio Plascencia, who heads King’s “transition team.”

“It’s not a Michelle vision,” King told the group. “It’s going to be an LAUSD plan. It’s about all of us . ... It’s going to be done from the ground up.”

About150 parents, community members and district staff heard King talk about giving decision-making power to schools and local districts, ensuring that parents and students can choose between schools, making campuses safe, encouraging a rigorous curriculum and making sure specialized programs are available from kindergarten through high school.

She answered questions from school board member Ref Rodriguez and a few questions that audience members had jotted onto note cards.

A half-dozen mothers from Arroyo Seco Museum Science Magnet crowded around Plascencia after King’s appearance to complain, in Spanish, that their school’s administrators failed to communicate; that academic demands at the school had dropped, that their students needed more space and equipment for sports and that school staff favors parents who speak English.

Roa, who has two children in Arroyo Seco, said she went to Nightingale to ask King to “change the staff, to bring people with new ideas” at the magnet school. She said parents have met with local district leaders multiple times, but they have yet to see changes. “How much longer will we have to wait?” she asked.

King told the crowd she was there to listen, Roa said, but spent much of the time promoting her own plans.

Other parents and principals came from local charter schools and said they were relieved to hear King talk favorably about charter schools and sharing best practices.