Monday, February 7, 2011

Widney Low

Widney High is known for it's mentally disabled students who went on to success as a musical group, but like history has shown, there are often darker things below the surface in the institutions meant to help the disabled.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials are reviewing both personnel and curriculum at Widney High School. The school serves about 200 students with developmental disabilities who range in age from 13 to 22, and focuses on preparing them for work.

A recent report found a series of problems at the campus, including a lack of safe places for students to sleep or rest, uneven accounting of staff attendance and work hours, a lack of evidence of student learning, and the routine payment of overtime to some aides. Superintendent Ramon Cotines even observed instructors watching a soap opera during class time. "They didn't even make an effort to turn it off when I was there."

Recommendations including replacing the principal and assistant principal, assigning more academic coaches to the campus and providing more training to staff on how to feed students. As expected, Widney's principal since 2001, Jessie Lucas Thompson, and Chris Manners, the assistant principal since 2005, did not comment.  Perhaps they were busy developing the school's underground fight club...

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