By Joel Rubin
Times Staff Writer
August 19, 2005
The Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, which accredits public and private
high schools in
In a letter to the school, the association's accrediting commission said it had
rejected the school because of "great concerns regarding student
achievement, the implementation of a curriculum and instructional program
aligned with
"It's our kids who are at stake here," said Doug Waybright,
director of secondary education for the local district that includes Crenshaw.
"There is no choice — things need to change."
News of the decision underscored the changes the school has experienced in the
last couple of decades. Once a school that drew from middle-class African
American neighborhoods as well as low-income areas, it was known for its
powerhouse athletic teams, such extracurricular programs as its choir and
above-average academics.
While still predominately African American, Crenshaw today has a large Latino
population and serves mostly students from low-income households.
If sufficient changes at the school are not made to regain accreditation, Waybright said, graduating seniors could face trouble in
applying to college. While students will receive diplomas, college admissions'
directors could look askance at the strength of Crenshaw's academics.
"This can certainly impact our seniors and be a deciding factor" in
college admissions, Waybright said.
Gloria Collins, who graduated from Crenshaw and whose daughter will begin her
senior year there next month, said she was dismayed that the school had failed
to improve and that she worries about the impact on her daughter's plans to
apply to UC Berkeley and other colleges.
"If this school is not accredited then she won't be at Crenshaw,"
Collins said, indicating that she would move her daughter to another school.
"We need some answers about what's going on at this school."
While not required by law, nearly all
David Brown, executive director of the association's accrediting commission,
said about 2% of the state's 4,000 public high schools lose accreditation each
year.
More than three decades have passed since the last Los Angeles Unified school, Garfield High, lost its standing, according to
Robert Collins, the district's chief instructional officer for secondary
schools.
Crenshaw first came under scrutiny by the association in April 2003, when
inspectors visited the
The association's team uncovered major problems. The campus was adrift, team
members concluded, with no school-wide plan on student achievement, teachers
not adhering to mandated state academic standards and rampant student
tardiness.
The shortcomings have been reflected in the school's performance. In 2004, the
school was ranked as one of the state's worst and for the last six years has
failed to meet federal testing benchmarks. Test results released this week
showed that less than 1% of the 11th grade students last spring met federal
proficiency targets in math and 15% met them in English.
The school averages about 435 student absences a day, far above the district's
goal of about 155.
Given two years to make changes, Crenshaw struggled to improve. When the
association returned in May, it found "pockets of excellence," but it
was not satisfied.
"We tried but could not get enough done in time," said Sharon Curry,
who took control last year of the local district office that includes Crenshaw.
Since May, Curry has moved to reorganize Crenshaw. She hired a new principal
and replaced four of five assistant principals. She said she would continue to
address the problems highlighted in the association's reports in hopes of
regaining accreditation by March or April.
School board member Marguerite LaMotte, whose district includes Crenshaw, said
following the 2003 review, she had assumed that school and district officials
were taking steps to ensure the campus would pass its renewal.
"I'm really disappointed that we didn't follow through on what needed to
be done," she said. "Now it's a matter of making the changes so the
seniors don't suffer."
Alex Caputo-Pearl, a history teacher and the school's teachers
union representative, said he, too, expected Crenshaw to be reinstated. He
faulted Curry, however, for waiting too long to reform the ailing campus where,
he said, students often must wait more than a month to receive textbooks.
"Crenshaw has struggled and it's no surprise that something drastic like
this has happened," he said. "There have been systemic
failures."
District officials said they were unaware of any other schools that were at
risk of losing accreditation. This year, 18 district high schools are scheduled
to be reviewed for renewal.
August 20, 2005
Re "Crenshaw Receives a Failing Grade," Aug. 19
If the students in the district showed significant progress, the taxpayers
wouldn't think twice about passing school bond initiatives. I, for one, realize
that new bonds are necessary, but cannot vote for them until I see that
progress is being made to help current students in providing them the tools
needed for their successful future.
Gene Goodwein
Van Nuys
WAVE Newspapers
(Black-owned newspaper chain)
August 18, 2005
Crenshaw High suffers loss of accreditation
By BETTY PLEASANT,
Contributing Editor
CRENSHAW — Crenshaw High School — the school in the Los Angeles Unified School
District with the greatest number of African American students — lost its
accreditation Monday and officials are scrambling to determine what effect such
a loss will have on the value of the school’s diplomas.
The Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Schools
and Colleges denied accreditation for the school based on the reports of two
evaluation visits to the school by accrediting teams within a two-year period.
On Monday LAUSD officials received a letter dated July 21 and addressed to
Crenshaw’s recently retired principal, Isaac Hammond, stating the
Burlingame-based organization had denied accreditation to Crenshaw because it
“had great concerns regarding student achievement and the implementation of a
curricular and instructional program aligned with the
The commission also expressed concern about Crenshaw’s “capacity to address
other critical areas for follow-up through a single schoolwide
action plan that has integrated all initiatives.”
Sharon Curry, Local District 3 superintendent with oversight over Crenshaw,
took a pounding from the community and Councilman Bernard Parks when she
transferred four of Crenshaw’s five top administrators out of the school this
summer.
“We’ve been very aware of the deficiencies at the school and its potential
accreditation challenges,” Curry said. “That is the reason for the
administrators’ removal. Leaders are key to a school
and we felt that the leadership was not strong enough to move the school to
academic success and to implement the actions that would address the accreditation
team’s initial visit.”
The superintendent said Crenshaw is in “program improvement status 4,” which
means it has not met the adequate yearly programs criteria required by the No
Child Left Behind mandates for the past six years.
Curry said Crenshaw’s accreditation was jeopardized after the team’s first
visit to the school in 2003 during which the accrediting commission identified
serious problems that included low academic standards, poor student attendance,
rampant student tardiness and the lack of a schoolwide
action plan.
The accrediting team returned to Crenshaw in May to see if the school had
implemented an action plan and had made any progress in addressing the problems
the team noted in its 2003 visit. It had not. Thus, Monday’s loss of
accreditation, Curry said.
While officials said the lack of accreditation virtually renders a school’s
diplomas worthless, Curry said she is in the process of determining just what
the loss means for Crenshaw students and is in contact with the accrediting
association toward that end. “We are trying to make sure this doesn’t impact
students in a negative way,” Curry said.
“Make no mistake,” the superintendent said. “We are taking this matter quite
seriously. In the spring, we wrote and submitted a restructuring plan to
address all of the areas of concern to the accrediting commission and more,
including the academic achievement of students, dropout rates, graduation
rates, the number of students taking and passing the exit exam, discipline and
safety issues.
“In addition to replacing Crenshaw’s administrators, we brought in Chuck Didinger this summer as the new principal to replace Dr.
Hammond, who retired in June,” Curry added. “He and his new assistants are
developing the schoolwide action plan, which Crenshaw
did not have and which the accrediting commission found unacceptable.”
Curry said she is exploring an appeal of the accreditation denial. “We are
hoping they will come out for another visit in January to see if the actions we
put in place will show improvement. We believe the actions we are implementing
will result in a new and improved Crenshaw High.”