UCLA IDEA: Working families and public schools suffering since economic crisis

01-26-2010

By Emily Henry/Intersections South Los Angeles

At Gratts Elementary School just north of downtown Los Angeles, Principal Titus Campos saw a young girl putting a bag of carrots into her pocket. As he watched the children eating their lunch, she circled the cafeteria, asking the other students: "Are you going to eat that?" She took their discarded fruits and vegetables, and tucked them away. When Campos confronted the girl, wondering about her strange behavior, she gave him a nervous look. "Are you hungry?" he asked her. "Do you want me to get you some more food?" She told him that she was taking food home for her younger brother. Her parents were going through a hard time. Campos paused as he retold the tale, holding back tears. "I have mixed feelings coming here," Campos told the audience who gathered Friday to hear UCLA IDEA leaders present their annual report on educational opportunities in California. "I'm honored to be here speaking, but to share some of these stories... it's sad. It really is." Hearing the dismal facts in the "California Educational Opportunities in Hard Times" report, Campos said, has also hit him hard. (more...)

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UCLA IDEA: Working families and public schools suffering since economic crisis

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