Reply #37: Granted, you don't know L.A. at all, but this paragraph was in your citation:

[villager]

" In addition to the schools named above, the following schools also are on the list: Gardena High in Gardena, San Pedro High in San Pedro, San Fernando Middle School, Carver Middle School in South Park, Griffith Joyner Elementary in Watts, Hillcrest Elementary in Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Hyde Park Elementary in Hyde Park."

Those are all schools in what we might call "economically challenged" neighborhoods and areas.

The questions to ask are: How are students in these crime/gang/joblessness -plagued areas being served now? What would the best options be for those parents, with no extra income to provide choices for their sons and daughters?

Are the corporate-developed curricula, being sold to vast districts like L.A. Unified and then being force-fed to local schools, really the best options in all cases?

If not Green Dot -- and maybe there are lots of good reasons not become chartered with Green Dot -- then what, or who, for concerned parents (and students) at these schools?