LOS ANGELES — It’s pickup time outside the Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA) in mid-city, and some parents have come from the furthest corners of the LA Unified School District, including Allison Hebble.
“I drive 45 minutes a day one way. I drive an hour and a half every day. I’m working out carpools, we lost part of our carpool. It’s a struggle for me with my work schedule,” Hebble said.
Hundreds of other parents make that same drive every day, because they say the education at their local neighborhood school doesn’t compare to GALA.
“I make it happen because this place is so special and they’ve done such a great job and I haven’t been able to find that closer to where I live,” Hebble said.
The Girls Academic Leadership Academy is not a charter or private school. It’s an all-girls public LAUSD STEM school for grades 6-12 founded in 2016 by Dr. Elizabeth Hicks.
“I was teacher, a counselor and administrator within LAUSD, and I saw that many girls weren’t getting the kinds of opportunities that I thought they should get,” Dr. Hicks said.
So, she decided to start her own school after seeing the success her daughters had had after receiving scholarships to private all-girls schools. It took her three years to establish the school, and then when she did, she had to beg and borrow every laptop and calculator.
“We started with nothing, including lab equipment. We started with no microscopes, no beakers, nothing,” Dr. Hicks added.
Determined to see it succeed, she wrote grants and pestered companies and universities for resources. She adopted a college-prep curriculum and hired career professionals as teachers. Over 60% of the students are of color and they come from more than 80 zip codes in the area. The school has 100% graduation and college acceptance rates and the school received a A+ rating from the school ranking site Niche, while LA High School co-located on the campus received a C+.
“We are looking each semester at what can we do better, and I think that’s part of our secret sauce,” Dr. Hicks said.
And so, at a time when falling birth rates, out of state-migration and charter schools have led to declining LAUSD enrollment and triggered the closure of schools like Selma Avenue Elementary and Trinity Street Elementary, GALA is growing.
“It’s very difficult because we want to say yes to everyone, but we don’t have enough space to do it. So right now, this last admissions cycle, we had 400 students for 140 spots in 6th grade,” Dr. Hicks added.
“I feel very lucky and I’m really happy for all the girls that get to go here and have this education,” Hebble said.
She just wishes when it came to a good public education it didn’t come down to luck.