Students among California’s poorest families are looking to win the state’s latest public high school as the rebuilt Compton High prepares for the opening.
The brand new $225 million 31-acre campus is surprisingly innovative. It’s all digital. The classroom features windows and sliding glass doors. The security measures are high-tech and almost invisible.
The traditional components of high school are aimed at becoming the best class. Each station in the weight room is equipped with an iPad, allowing athletes to design and monitor workout plans. The athletics facility includes two baseball fields, a soccer stadium, a soccer field, multiple basketball and tennis courts, a swimming pool and a large gymnasium.
And for musicians, dancers and drama kids, the Performing Arts Center received a $10 million donation from Andre “Dre” Young, a native of Compton.
The new campus will be open to the public on Thursday, and in the fall, students will be trolling it for six years in a temporary quarter at a worn-out surplus campus near a previously middle school.
The campus was paid with school construction bonds approved by voters living within the boundaries of Compton Unified.
The new campus has been replaced by a creakful, imposing façade and bell tower of the 1930s. But band director Anthony Lansfer remembers that he had to shift all the valuable items inside when it rained due to leaks.
Charles Davis, a former Compton school board member who attended Thursday’s ribbon cutting, said he welcomed the new campus but hoped that Bell Tower would be saved. However, authorities chose to destroy the entire old school, avoiding expensive protective work and create space for the new ones.
“We also know that sometimes we have to make tough choices to move forward while cherishing these memories,” said School Board member Satra Zurita. “The truth is, as much as we loved the old school, it simply means they weren’t serving their students in the way they deserved.”
The new Compton High School campus, published in February, will open in August. The academic advancements in Compton’s school system have surpassed the statewide.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Until Thursday, student Myshay Causey’s only high school experience was in the former middle school.
“As someone who ultimately looked inside, I wouldn’t have asked for more,” said Myshay, the school’s student representative. “Instead of crushing together on a small stage, we shine in our own theatres, and our home sports are actually in our home.”
Myshay, a senior graduate, added with a laugh, “I’m very jealous” that she won’t be able to attend class here.
But she said, “This campus is not only a culmination of a long-standing community vision, but it embodies our collective commitment to providing an environment where curiosity is fostered, creativity is praised and empowered by all students.”
Myshay and other speakers captured the spirit of education theory. Officials said it was behind the construction. If they give the students the best, they could be better.
Guests will tour the campus theater after the new Compton High School ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday. Andre “Dr. Dre” Young has donated $10 million to the school’s performing arts center, including the theatre.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Academic achievements cannot be achieved on top campuses alone. And on the contrary, the excellent teachers and enthusiastic students in one-room school buildings can receive a great education.
However, New Compton High aims to improve the odds of student organizations with little resources. 93% of Compton students are eligible for free or low-cost lunches due to their families’ income.
“The environment created at Compton High School here launches the possibilities for academics,” said Ayanna Davis, a member of the School Board. “This is more than a campus. It’s a launchpad.”
No one lost this new campus in Compton.
Rapper, producer and music magnate, Dr. Dre waited cheerfully through his congratulatory speech before making a brief statement.
“I want to say this in front of everyone,” he said. “It wasn’t my idea that my head would grow as big as it was next to this building. But yeah… I’m really grateful. Now this is the type of building I wanted to go to as a child when I grew up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t here.”
For over 100 years, Compton has been home to the ambitious working class, with a majority of Latinos communities that have evolved from white to black, and now maintain a strong black presence.
Compton High’s 1,600 student organization is Pacific Islander, with 84% Latinos, 15% Black and 1%.
“There’s something special about growing up here,” Dr. Dre said. “It’s a kind of grit that’s grown and navigating these streets, and the grit was carried far further than I could imagine.”
The school district is informing the world, Supt said. Darrin Broley.
“There are some of you… you didn’t go to school here because of high school because you didn’t think our high school was enough to go,” Broly told an outdoor audience of over 300 people.
“Those who still talked about how bad the school in Compton was, woke up, stopped the story and started spreading the good word.”
Regarding increasing test scores, the data support Brawley’s claim. There’s much to do, but independent researchers praise the school system of nearly 17,000 students for showing significant long-term academic improvements that outweigh California and the country’s growth.
School districts rely heavily on test preparation and test data analysis. This is an approach that allows critics to stunt deep and broad learning. However, the new school also presents a learning vision for the district that is nurturing more subtle and nurtured.
Compton High School’s athletics facility includes two baseball fields, a soccer stadium, a soccer field, multiple basketball and tennis courts, a swimming pool and a large gymnasium.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
11th grader Jordan Ingram found his motivation for band director Ransfer. Both were shining when filmed at the Performing Arts Center.
Without music education, Jordan said, “I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have my goals. I probably would have run away.”
He came to prefer to be content with solving mathematics problems, despite it being difficult. He plans to go to college and become a music teacher, but may start his own band along the way.
Over the years, Principal Larry Nativid has increased his arts programs on temporary campus, so they are ready to go in the fall.
It’s not just new gadgets
The new school will have cooking classes with professional grade stoves, ovens and refrigerated storage.
Swimming coaches don’t need to rely on stopwatches. Sensors on the walls of the pool are recorded when the swimmer completes a lap or race. The pool’s mechanical rooms look like the ocean liner boiler rooms. There is a huge tank that cleans up another system that stabilizes the water and temperature of the pool.
The weight rooms are huge and have a completely separate fitness room with a variety of equipment. The treatment room has an ice machine to supply a full body ice bath.
The cafeteria is organized like a small university student union with chess or checkers tables, foosball tables and ping pong.
The classrooms have long electronic cables hanging from the ceiling, so even if chairs and tables are reconfigured, the computer’s power source is not far apart.
The school also includes learning innovations that can raise eyebrows.
The library is intended to be loud. It is a lounge-like area with no walls or doors divided by corridors that cross the building. There are no shelves or books. All volumes are digital.
The classrooms are organized like an auditorium at a high-tech university. The teacher doesn’t have his own room. Instead, each teacher has a desk and computer in a separate small “collaboration” room.
The new Compton High School swimming pool is technically advanced.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
The design also incorporates extensive natural light. The door is made of glass and adjacent to other glass plates.
Their appearance is strictly opposed to expanding the security spirit in schools to stop active shooters. Many schools “harden the target” making it impossible to see inside the room, restricting the windows on the ground, locking the entrance doors and reinforced with steel.
Instead, Compton High relies on secure campus boundaries, campus-wide cameras and facial recognition technology.
Principal Natividd thinks big.
“No doubt,” he said. “We have a US president coming from Compton. We serve as a Supreme Court judge from the city of Compton. We have a variety of members of our leadership to lead a great country.
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