In an historic move, the Compton Unified School District Governing Board of Trustees through the dynamic leadership of President Micah Ali, voted to approve Today’s Fresh Start Charter School’s petition to be an authorized charter school overseen by Compton Unified School District. This is the first charter approved by the Compton Unified School District.
Today’s Fresh Start Charter, founded by longtime educators, Drs. Clark and Jeanette Parker, continues to succeed in its mission to ensure excellence in teaching and learning so that each student will participate responsibly in a diverse and changing world preparing them as “lifelong learners.” Today’s Fresh Start maintains strong state test scores, achieving an API score of 833 by the overall student population of more than 800 students. Additionally, Today’s Fresh Start ranks 10 (the highest attainable score) among surrounding similar schools, and 7 among all California schools.
Originally authorized by the Los Angeles County Board of Education in September 2003, Today’s Fresh Start Charter was required to have programs in multiple educational sites throughout Los Angeles County, and to fulfill this requirement, opened the site in Compton on Rosecrans Avenue. This campus, which serves approximately eighty students in Transitional Kindergarten through fifth grade and their families—all from the local Compton neighborhood, has been a part of Compton’s footprint for thirteen years.
In 2011, the State Board of Education passed regulation stating that Today’s Fresh Start and all countywide charter schools throughout the state of California must seek renewal and obtain a new charter from a local school district to continue their charter school program(s) from a local district that they are currently operating within.
Because of this regulation, Today’s Fresh Start sought authorization from Compton Unified School District to continue operating in Compton. The Today’s Fresh Start community knew this would be no easy feat, as special interest groups stood in fierce opposition to authorizing Today’s Fresh Start to operate within Compton Unified School District borders.
Led by board President, Micah Ali, the Compton Unified School Board took courageous action in favor of Today’s Fresh Start and voted to authorize the charter school to operate not only at its Rosecrans Avenue site in Compton, but also at its Vernon site on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles (the largest of TFSCS’ five sites). This unprecedented unanimous clvote to charter TFSCS (their first charter) by the Compton Unified School Board ensures that students and families will continue to enjoy the benefit of an excellent education at Today’s Fresh Start Charter School.
