State recognizes six local campuses
Named ‘Distinguished’ schools
As schools nationwide struggle with shrinking budgets and injecting academic rigor into curriculums, California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson last week announced that 387 exemplary public schools were named 2012 Distinguished schools for their innovative education programs that both encourage students to learn and help close the achievement gap.
Six of the awardees this year are local schools from the Compton, Inglewood, Hawthorne and Los Angeles unified school districts.
This year, the state is recognizing elementary schools, and next year middle and high schools will be awarded.
Among the criteria elementary schools must meet in order to apply for the distinguished school honor are: Having a schoolwide 2011 growth Academic Performance Index (API) greater than or equal to 832; that growth API must meet or exceed the school’s growth target; and all numerically significant subgroups (African American, low income, handicapped, etc.) must make their growth targets as well.
Additionally, schools must also meet specific Closing the Achievement Gap criteria based on the school’s student population.
Once the schools have met all the criteria, they can apply for the recognition. The application process consists of a written application, which includes a comprehensive description of two of the school’s signature practices and a county office of education-led site validation review.
Schools must also agree to share their signature practices with others schools and serve as mentors to other educators who want to replicate the work.
The local schools that have been honored as California Distinguished Schools are Laurel Street Elementary in Compton; Washington Street Elementary in Hawthorne; William Kelso Elementary in Inglewood; and Canfield, Denker and Van Ness avenue elementaries in Los Angeles.
According to a financial watch list released earlier this month by the California Superintendent of Public Instruction, school districts in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles, Compton, Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Lynwood face the possibility of not being able to meet their obligations in the next three school years.
Memorial services for former State Sen. Edward Vincent Jr., the first Black mayor of Inglewood, will be held Saturday, Sept. 7, at 11 a.m. at Inglewood Mortuary, 1206 Centinela Ave., in the Galleria. Attendees should enter on the Florence side.
Vincent died on Aug. 31. He was 78.
The viewing will be held Sept. 6 from 3-8 p.m. at the mortuary.
The death was announced by Sen. Roderick D. Wright, who was elected to succeed Vincent in 2008.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Twenty-two people were in custody today after hundreds of investigators raided 32 locations in seven Southland cities in a multi-agency operation targeting rival Compton gang members, authorities said.
The raids, involving more than 300 members of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, were carried out early Thursday by investigators assigned to the department’s Operations Safe Streets Bureau, said sheriff’s Lt. Richard Westin.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A state appeals court panel today ordered a judge to reinstate two counts that had been dismissed against Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, who was indicted last year in connection with allegations that he lived outside the district he was elected to represent.
In a six-page ruling, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal instructed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy to reinstate two counts of fraudulent voting that were dismissed March 3 against Wright.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Leaving the fireworks to the professionals this July Fourth is a safer alternative than setting off pyrotechnics yourself.
That’s the message from safety officials to residents of Los Angeles County cities that allow the personal use of fireworks.
All fireworks are illegal for personal use within the city of Los Angeles, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
