Miguel Contreras Learning Complex School

Gratts is not the school it once was. Partly because the pandemic, but mainly because of the Principle. I have observed, when I come to the office, she is mainly concern with herself, and even raises her voice to office staff and to parents sometimes. The teachers my son has had tell me that she expects them to change/do everything, but doesn't know how to teach herself. So many things the school used to have are gone. Robotics, Run Club, Chorus, field trips - my children loved those and when those teachers left who did those activities they were gone. Of course yes, there was the Pandemic, but we could have those activities again. But the teachers won't do it because they know the Principle doesn't care all she cares about is testing and scores. She puts on a fake voice around parents at the gate but they know she doesn't care. Very sad.

First off, I found this school to be very authoritative from the top down. It seemed to focus more on discipline than allowing students to collaborate and ask questions leading to higher levels of critical thinking. Although the name suggest the school focuses on science and art, I rarely witnessed teachers encouraging the students to collaborate. Also, the sheer lack of space in the school does not provide adequate room for activities or movement of any kind. The students seemed to feel cramped in their space and most public schools in LA would provide more overall room for students both in class and at recess. The end of the year saw a rush from the teachers to meet standards in order for the school to be chartered. Also, their science fair which was promised towards the end of the year never occurred and/or was minimally accessible to most students.Any public school in LAUSD will provide adequate disciplinary tactics, and NASA falls in line in that regard. However, this school does not go above and beyond to provide students with a more attentive and comprehensive learning environment. I witnessed teachers utilizing Lesson plans that were regurgitated from online templates as well as in class activities that rarely accessed high levels of thinking. I found many students left to fall behind or be “disciplined” instead of receiving extra attention or a planned intervention with staff and parents. Although teachers were given freedom to provide students with a more individualized education experience, there seemed to be a lack of effort from the teachers. Overall, The ideal of the school is great but the execution is subpar.