South Los Angeles Residents and Activists Demand Principal’s Return and Reversal of Clay School Decision

Community leader Greg Akili speaks to the crowd

(Los Angeles, CA) – Nearly 100 residents, activists and public school educators gathered at Obama Global Preparation Academy on Wednesday to protest the removal of the school’s popular principal. Protestors also criticized the LAUSD School Board’s decision to give Henry Clay Middle School completely over to Green Dot, a local charter school operator.

The action featured a diverse group of speakers that included parents, staff members and community leaders like Greg Akili, a long time Civil Rights activists, who spoke about why defending public education and supporting efforts at schools like Obama and Clay are so important.

“Public education must provide all the resources needed to develop well rounded, high performing students…and prioritize the needs of students, parents, community members and staff,” said Akili. 

While there was a strong showing of parents and staff from Clay, most of the attendees were there to support Veronique Wills, a veteran educator of 20 years, who was removed from Obama Academy by LAUSD a few weeks ago. Many in the community believe that Ms. Wills’ removal is part of a pattern of undemocratic moves by LAUSD officials to reduce the voice of stakeholders. “This seems very similar to the Clay Middle School situation, where LAUSD’s leadership just blindsided our community,” said John Parker, Chair of the Empowerment Congress Central Area Neighborhood Development Council. “As someone who fought to get Obama Academy everything it needed, Ms. Wills deserves to stay at the school she helped build.”

The protest and press conference was organized by the South Los Angeles Committee to Defend Public Education. 

For more information, go to http://southladefendspubliced.blogspot.com or call 323.250.3997.  

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