Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, Education Leaders Welcome Innovative Charter School to Watts

William Siart, Founder and Chairman of the Board of ExED; Dr. Michelle Tubbs, Principal; Frank Baxter, Co-Chair of Alliance Board of Directors; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Student Jamileth Arellano; Janice Hahn, Councilwoman of 15th District City of Los Angeles; Isadore Hall, Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore California State Assembly; Dudley Benoit, Senior VP JPM Chase Bank; Judy Burton, President and CEO Alliance College-Ready Public Schools; Reverend Clark, Morning Star Baptist Church and President of Watts Neighborhood Council; Parent Tamatha Clemons. Photo by Mark Savage.

CRAHS #11, one of 18 high-performing charter schools operated by Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, opened this year in a new $9 million building in Watts, near the iconic Watts Towers. The school serves approximately 150 ninth-grade students, and will grow to approximately 550 students in grades 9-12 over the next three years.

Thursday's ceremony was a chance for Villaraigosa, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, California State Assemblymember Isadore Hall III and other dignitaries, including Alliance Board Co-Chair, Frank Baxter; Dr. Michelle Tubbs, Principal & the Reverend Maudine Clark of Watts Morning Star Baptist Church and President of the Watts Neighborhood Council, to welcome the school, which uses one-to-one laptops for individual student access to an innovative hybrid learning using modern technology to help develop critical thinking and global awareness.

"Alliance College-Ready Public Schools are shining stars in the thriving and innovative constellation of Los Angeles charter schools," Mayor Villaraigosa said. "This organization plays an important role in ensuring that students from every background can look forward to a brighter future, and I am thrilled to see them serve more students with their results-driven model."

Every student at CRAHS #11 receives their own laptop computer to use in school, providing access to electronic learning materials and multimedia instruction. CRAHS #11 will  provide more individualized engagement with a promise of improved academic performance and technology that helps engage students and provides them more learning opportunities and services to support their academic growth. "Modern computer technology is a powerful educational tool that should be available to all young people, not only the most fortunate," said Judy Burton, President and CEO of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. "This new charter high school will help us prepare more Los Angeles' students to succeed in our rapidly changing world."

Since opening its first campus in 2004, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools has grown to 18 schools serving nearly 7,000 students in traditionally underperforming and overlooked areas of Los Angeles.

Last spring, 95% of Alliance high school graduates enrolled in colleges and universities in 19 states and the District of Columbia, including Yale, Harvard, Cornell and Williams.

"With the right opportunity, every young person has the potential to excel academically," said Judy Burton, the Alliance's President and CEO. "We are very pleased that our culture of college-readiness and high expectations will help students in this deserving community fulfill their potential for many years to come."

ExED, a Los Angeles-based non-profit provider of business services to charter schools, NCB, Capital Impact; and JPMorgan Chase were instrumental in making CRAHS #11 a reality. Approximately $8 million of the $9 million cost of the three-story school was provided by ExED through the use of New Market Tax Credits, an innovative public/private funding mechanism. ExED's capital partner is JPMorgan Chase, which selected CRAHS #11 to be the first recipient of its $325 million commitment to finance high-performing charter schools throughout the country.

photos by Lili Barsha

On Friday, December 3, Ernst and Young donated the  complete furnishings for the library (tables, chairs, sofas). Additionally, employees from their firm were there all day working with 10 kids from RMMS and 10 kids from GRHS to paint murals in the space. They have already pledged $2,000- for purchasing library books through Barnes and Noble in Marina Del Rey (20% discount).

Both Ernst and Young and Scherzer International are contributing library books through an on-line Book Drive (through the websites for RMMS and GRHS). We have established a Pay Pal account. We expect employees at both firms to make contributions during the holiday season.

We really want to acknowledge the great work from our library committee and corporate partners; Ernst and Young, Scherzer International, and the Barnes and Noble store that have offered books at a great discount for us. We need all the support we can get! Thanks to their hard work our library looks fabulous! If you would like to make a donation, please click on the link that says ""Library Fund". Thank you for your continued support! 

Richard Merkin Middle School Website

On Monday, November 29, 2010, The Honorable Councilman Bernard Parks, representing the 8th District of the City of Los Angeles, visited Heritage College- Ready Academy High School on Broadways in South Central.

The purpose of the visit was to introduce the Councilman to the newly opened school in his district and to the successful partnership between the Alliance, Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD), and JP Morgan Chase Bank. 

Parks toured the state-of-the-art high school that is part of the Alliance's new technology initiative, sponsored by Dell Computers, NCB Capital and the Honorable Frank Baxter, Alliance Board Co-Chair. Said Parks, "Charter schools must work to dispel the myth that charter students are cherry-picked - these are public schools for the community, not private schools for the few."