Representatives Laud Los Angeles School District's Effort To Uplift Black Students

One middle school is doing all it can to uplift Black students, and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) is all for that.

Kamlager lauded John Muir Middle School’s efforts Monday when she observed its Black Student Achievement Plan. She highlighted the need to expand such programs despite state and federal budget challenges looming.

According to the Daily News, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s plan is one of the nation’s largest educational programs that is aimed at “closing the racial academic achievement gap and promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of Black students.”

“I believe that the work that is happening here should be the norm and not the exception,” said Kamlager-Dove. “How do we continue to partner and build bridges and create a networking infrastructure so that L.A. Unified does not have to do all of this work alone? That is why we are here today.”

Other important folks have highlighted the need to expand this program. Dr. Robert Whitman, the educational transformation officer at the Los Angeles Unified School District, delivered a presentation on the Black Student Achievement Plan at John Muir Middle School on April 8.

For the Los Angeles Unified School District, just 19% of black students met the state’s learning standards in mathematics, compared to 55% of white students, according to the latest standardized test results as of October of 2023. For English learning standards, just 30% of Black students met the mark compared to 65% of white students.

“Their capacity and ability is equal; the results currently aren’t,” said LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. “I’ve never met broken kids. I’ve seen systems that are broken and often break their dreams and their aspirations for their possibilities.”

In response to community pressure after George Floyd’s death and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Board of Education finally approved the BSAP in February 2021. The program was funded in part by cutting the school police budget.

The school district currently receives $120 million in annual funding to provide tutoring, counseling and college prep programs for Black students.

Sadly, efforts to replicate similar plans and increase funding in school districts around the nation are facing strong pushback in Washington D.C.

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