Reporter Robin Estrin:  

A growing body of evidence shows Black students do better in school when their teacher is also Black. In the short term, their attendance and grades improve, and down the line, they’re more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college. The list of benefits is long.

What’s frightening is that the opposite is also true. Research shows that while Black teachers tend to be “optimistic” about all of their students — meaning they have high expectations for their success — white teachers are mostly optimistic about their white students. They tend to have less optimism about their Black students.

A 2022 report from the Los Angeles Unified School District showed there were 2,000 Black students attending schools without a single Black teacher — most of them in elementary school. That’s a lot of kids missing out on an important dose of optimism from some of the most present adults in their lives.

In this story, I set out to understand what the nation’s second-largest school district is doing to recruit and retain Black teachers, who are in no way immune from the same systems of racial inequity their students are up against. I spoke to Black teachers just entering the classroom, teachers who have left the district, and teachers who — despite challenges — are choosing to stay and make the optimism they have for their Black students known. 

Facing a shortage of Black teachers, LAUSD gets creative

About 100 Black teachers have left the Los Angeles Unified School District each year since 2016, according to a 2022 report by independent analysts. Black teachers are retiring and not being replaced by a younger generation at a rate that satisfies officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District.  

Education and policy experts say potential Black teachers face unique hurdles that begin with racial inequities embedded into the education system. For example, Black students face higher rates of suspension, expulsion, and discipline in school. That can push away potential educators, says Peter Watts, co-founder of Watts of Power, a Los Angeles nonprofit that recruits and supports Black men entering the teaching profession.

Meanwhile, LAUSD educational transformation officer Dr. Robert Whitman says efforts to diversify the new educator pipeline include partnering with local universities and encouraging Black district employees, like school counselors and teaching assistants, to become certificated through LA Unified’s own credentialing program. He adds that LAUSD human resources representatives are joining Black students on field trips to the nation’s HBCUs, to recruit directly from their teacher preparation programs.

Palos Verdes landslide leads to removal of Wayfarers Chapel

Perched on a hillside above the Pacific Ocean with views of Catalina Island, Wayfarers Chapel is a landmark on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It’s a popular place for weddings and a national historic landmark. 

But it’s been closed to the public since February, as a slow-moving landslide rips it apart. In September, a pane of glass broke for the first time, and the chapel’s Reverend Dan Burchett says about 15 panes have broken since, with two falling on the roof. 

Rancho Palos Verdes and church officials plan to take apart the historic building and put the pieces in a local storage site provided by the city. Perhaps in the next four years, they hope to put the chapel back together at the same site after it’s been stabilized.

The whole process is estimated to cost at least hundreds of thousands of dollars. And there is no public funding because the chapel is owned by a private congregation. They plan to hire someone to help with fundraising and have created a GoFundMe campaign.

Police to get out of squad cars and onto LA Metro: Fighting crime on transit

Mayor Karen Bass announced that she’ll add more police officers to trains, buses, and stations across Los Angeles’ Metro transit system. This follows a spike in violent crime on LA Metro, including a passenger who was fatally shot on a bus last Thursday in Commerce, a wrench attack in Encino, and three separate stabbing incidents on May 13th. Metro’s 2023 year-end summary says homicides, aggravated assaults, and robberies all increased between 2019 and 2023. 

LA Metro riders can expect a 20% increase in uniformed law enforcement, says Janice Hahn, LA County supervisor and vice chair of the LA Metro Board of Directors. 

Part of that rollout, she explains, is ensuring that the officers are visible. “I want to get these officers out of their squad cars and on the train and the bus. … It’s like a foot beat. I think people need to see them. They need to be interacting as they can and in a dignified and respectful way with those who ride our system.” 

Hahn says the boost should last until stability returns to the system.

Lulu’s Place: $150M philanthropic project for LA youth breaks ground

Lulu's Place, a $150 million athletic center funded entirely by donations, broke ground this month in Westchester. Situated on a 31-acre lot north of LAX, the center will feature soccer fields, basketball courts, and various recreational spaces. In addition, children will have access to free and low-cost sports and academic programs.

Doug Kimmelman, founder of Energy Capital Partners, wanted to honor his late wife Carol "Lulu" Kimmelman, a beloved South LA public school teacher and former USC Women's Tennis team champion, who passed away from cancer in 2017.

Kimmelman tells KCRW, “There [are] really important partners in this project. Tiger Woods and his foundation have been doing this for years, if not decades, to give kids supplemental academic enrichment, focused on STEM education. And then partnering with the United States Tennis Association. We're gonna have several dozen tennis courts, and get kids out there and get them moving. And really trying to remove them from the impact of drugs, violence, gangs, and maybe difficult home situations, to have perhaps hopefully a more fulfilling, productive and happy life.”

‘Topsy Turvy’: Actors’ Gang aims to bring unity via theater

Topsy Turvy: A Musical Greek Vaudeville, from The Actors’ Gang, is about a chorus of mortals who suffer a mysterious illness. To restore their singing abilities, they ask the gods for divine intervention. The production runs now through June 8th. 

Tim Robbins wrote the play during the early stages of the COVID lockdown when theaters closed. He recalls, “I wondered: What would Dionysus, the god of theater, think about this? Once we got isolated, we got into our silos of thought that exacerbated the problem of division that already existed in our country. So, we wanted to do something that we hope could produce some kind of healing in our audience. And healing happens through shared experience, laughter, shared emotion, and a reminder of our common humanity.”