Plan to convert Locke High to a charter school clears hurdle

Some great news for Steve Barr, Green Dot and the long-suffering youth of Locke High School:

The  decision on Locke was a clear victory for Steve Barr, the founder of Green Dot  Public Schools, which is seeking to take over Locke after an aborted try at  Jefferson High School. Barr, who has supported Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's  school-intervention efforts, runs a group of small L.A.-area charter schools  that have posted higher test scores and graduation rates than nearby public  schools. His critics contend that he works with a more select -- or at least  more motivated -- student body.

"I'm proud of the board and proud of  the parents and the teachers of Locke," said Barr after the vote. "When all is  said and done, we're going to work together and make Locke a great school.  People around the country are going to come to Watts and see what a great  urban turnaround school looks like."

Barr stopped short of saying that  the charter approval was all but guaranteed: "It seemed like  it."

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Plan to convert Locke High to a charter school clears hurdle
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 29, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-lausd29aug29,1,6091742.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=2&cset=true <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-lausd29aug29,1,6091742.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&amp;ctrack=2&amp;cset=true>

The Los Angeles Board of Education signaled its intent Tuesday to enter an agreement that would make Locke High School the first Los Angeles campus managed by an outside charter-school organization.