An Unmistakable Passion:
Jefferson High School leaders
rediscover inspiration in two
former Oakland principals.

by Joseph Cook
Communications Editor
LA Chamber of Commerce/UNITE-LA

"The problem isn't ambiguous any more.  Neither is what we need to do to fix it."

Shanley Rhodes, SLC Liason for Jefferson, reflected on her newfound inspiration for small learning communities on February 3, a week after Jefferson High School leadership and staff met with Debbra Lindo and Brian McKibben, former principals from Oakland Unified School District and current small school reform supporters.

"Last Friday, I was reminded we have a moral imperative to do what we're doing," Rhodes said.  "It's about the kids, and we are obligated to them, however radical the solution may be."

Hosted at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Jefferson High School Principal, SLC liaison, Assistant Principals of Instruction, teacher leaders, students, ESL Coordinator, and other key stakeholders joined Lindo and McKibben to discuss what Oakland's school district has learned. Key to the discussion was continuing the dialogue on how LAUSD can better understand the context and components involved in transforming/converting large urban high schools into new Small Schools.

"The point isn’t to make a better system," McKibben insisted. "It’s to give our students the opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve, to transform this country into what we all believe it can be and must be."

"When you have been working in an abusive, oppressive system that derails your efforts daily," said Lindo, "you may not even be aware of how dysfunctional it is. Like removing a child from an abusive home and deprogramming her, this movement is about helping folks understand their current reality… creating urgency and the will in those closest to the problem to change it."

"There is a visible sense of moral urgency in their motivation," Shanley Rhodes reflected.  "Loud, clear and unmistakable.  But at the same time, they were able to share with us the nitty-gritty that needs to be there to make it all happen.  Their information on autonomies was especially useful, allowing us to compartmentalize the work and focus on each item individually."

Near the end of the presentation, Debbra and Brian presented six areas of autonomy: Facilities, Staffing, Curriculum, Scheduling, Budget and Governance.  (To see how a local high school is succeeding with small schools' autonomy over their scheduling and budgets, read this month's article on Roosevelt H.S.)

"[Their presentation] was good timing for us at Jefferson," Rhodes said.  "We're just at this stage of stepping back and asking how these things fit together."

"We need to be clear with one another that this is no checklist school reform," Rhodes urged.  "It's going to be different at every school, different for every person.  But some of the frameworks, ideas and considerations that [Debbra and Brian] brought up will have resonance for nearly every school as they go through the transformation process."

"For me, the greatest clarity I've gained is in realizing that we have got to make our communication transparent every day.  Sixty percent of the kids who come here don't graduate, and that is not okay."

What is okay, Rhodes said, is getting emotional about what's happening.  Inspired by the Oakland principals' visit, Rhodes vows to use how she feels about increasing failure rates, the growing achievement gap and other problems facing our comprehensive urban schools to drive a rational and transparent change.

It's okay to challenge the assumption that poor Latino and Black students cannot succeed.

"Reform must go deep below the surface to fundamentally change what teachers believe about students' ability to learn," said Debbra Lindo.  "What they have come to believe are predictable behaviors regarding student outcomes must change. What they believe about pedagogy, practice and their interaction with students and each other -- this too, must change."

"Sometimes I think we're too nice to each other," said Rhodes.  "There is a fine line of tolerating certain conversations, and now I think we have to come back to the bottom line more publicly, and refuse to back down."

"We are dealing with generations of not-so-benign neglect," said Brian McKibben, describing what students endure today as "a different version of 'separate but equal'."

"It falls to us who can sense the depth and intensity of the crisis to undertake the excruciatingly hard work to transform and remake urban education," McKibben declared.

As for the other participants in last Friday's forum, Rhodes believes they all came to realize the depth of the change needed.

"It is not moving the pieces around; we're talking about radical change.  It's natural that some people don't know how they fit into the new structure.  They're scared," which is understandable, Rhodes said, and it can be overcome.  It has to be.

"We learned what the problem is and what we need to do to fix it last Friday.  My only challenge -- my biggest hope is that somehow I can communicate that to the thousands of stakeholders at our school who weren't in that room."