Top Teacher Fires High School Staff

Citing low academic achievement, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines ordered an overhaul of management at Fremont High School Wednesday, saying every teacher and staffer at the campus will have to reapply for their jobs at the end of the school year.
  
``Something is not working at Fremont High School and we need to fix it,'' Cortines said. ``It is my intention to make fundamental reforms, which will require every staff member, including teachers, counselors, maintenance workers and others, to reapply for their jobs.
  
``We will also see a new governance model for the school with the goal of dramatically and rapidly boosting academic achievement,'' he said.
  
Cortines noted that the South Los Angeles school has failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals for the past 12 years, while its Academic Performance Index score is 524, well below the district's average score of 694. He said only 13.6 percent of the school's students tested proficient or above in English Language Arts.
  
Of the 3,226 Fremont students tested in math this year, only 45 were proficient across all the tests, and only two achieved advanced scores.
  
Cortines said he will accept public comment for the next month on his planned restructuring of the school's management. After that period ends, district officials will spend a month developing a specific plan for governance of the school.
  
``Parents and students can expect a distinctly different culture and a laser-like focus on urgently promoting across-the-board academic improvement,'' he said.