LA Alliance for College-Ready
Public Schools
523 West 6th Street Suite 1234
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Phone: 213.943.4930
Fax: 213.943.4931
email: info@laalliance.org

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Message from Frank E. Baxter

As I ate pizza with our College-Ready Academy ninth graders on the last day of school, my heart was full of gratitude. Feeling that incentives work, I had just handed envelopes containing cash to the kids who had gotten A's and B's in math. I looked around and saw happy, excited optimistic young people in a safe environment who had just completed a year of making up for the years of neglect they had experienced in regular schools. I saw Howard ("Papa Lappin" to the kids) bursting with pleasure at the accomplishments that the students, teachers, office workers, and parents had achieved together. I thought of the brilliant leadership of the small staff of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools: Judy, Parker, Sonali, and Mary. I thought of our Board, all of whom are so busy, but give time and money anyway. I thought of the individuals who generously took a chance and gave money when the school was just an idea. I also thought of the foundations who are now supporting us. I considered myself so fortunate to be involved in making this happen, and wish everyone in our city could participate in some way and experience the joy that comes from it.

Along with the gratitude, I felt deep sadness for and anger about the hundreds of thousands of kids who won't get the opportunity our students have. I thought of a school system that is actually about adults and their jobs and power and not about students. I thought about the 48 thousand high schoolers who drop out every single year. I thought about the talented young people who have been convinced that they can't make it in a civil society and that gangs are the best option for them. I say to myself: this is wrong, this can't happen. But it is happening.

As long as it is happening, I want to fight to change the system in every way possible. That means using political, legal, and grassroots pressure to make those in power do the right thing. But those in power are very powerful and have been able to resist meaningful changes for a generation. There are now some tools such as No Child Left Behind and Paycheck Protection which may help us maneuver the strong headwind against reform. One ray of light, for the last decade or so, has been charter schools. While I continue to battle on all fronts, I know that I can make a tangible improvement in the lives of thousands of children by helping start as many charters as possible. That's why the Alliance is so important to me. Seeing the kids who are making it against the odds because of what the Alliance does is a strong incentive to try to make a difference on a broader scale.

We have a big job ahead of us with three new schools starting next September and more in subsequent years. We still don't have permanent sites for any of the schools. We are short of money. We meet resistance from channels that should be supportive if their priority was really to prepare young people to take a useful place in society.

But so what. We are a big part of the most important civil rights movement of the 21st century. If you haven't joined the cause yet, let's go. I guarantee you will get more out of it than you put in.