Mike Szymanski | LA School Report
Maria Ruiz worried about her three sons’ education in Boyle Heights, a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood where she felt the public schools were dangerous and neglected. But when the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools took over leadership of her sons’ low-performing campuses, she witnessed a transformation — in her boys as well as their schools.
With the Partnership’s extra training, Ruiz saw how teachers at Roosevelt High School were better equipped to help her autistic son Angel. Mendez High School got a new principal — a successful middle school teacher, Mauro Bautista, who brought an innovative math program now used districtwide. At the two high schools, test scores jumped by more than 60 percentage points in math. Roosevelt Magnet High is now in the top 20 percent of schools for math in the state.
Through the Partnership’s Parent Colleges, Ruiz received training in how to help with homework, use computers, and find financial aid. She and her sons received extensive college counseling and help with aid and scholarship applications. And she found the schools safer under the Partnership’s emphasis on restorative justice.