New West Charter At-A-Glance

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The Three Cornerstones of Our New West Philosophy

Parent Involvement

 


Shared Expectations

 


Parent Diversity

 


Parent Involvement

The first cornerstone of New West’s philosophy is that students’ opportunity to excel is much greater when their parents are highly involved in their education.

Part of the school’s educational plan is a signed agreement between parents and the school known as the Home School Agreement. The intent is to ensure parental involvement in a strong, collaborative partnership between home and school.

 


Shared Expectations

Another cornerstone is that parents have high expectations of the school and the benefits their children will receive. In turn, New West expects parents to contribute to the team effort needed to fulfill the school’s mission with regard to academic achievement and character development.

 


Parent Diversity

The third cornerstone is that diversity among parents is a strength that improves the educational culture for all. Parents have different philosophies and approaches to their involvement in their children’s education. Likewise, parents may contribute in different ways to the collective responsibility of running a charter school and making its educational program a success. Recognizing that each parent, like each child, is unique in terms of background, experience, and ability, New West invites parents to contribute to the school’s success by volunteering their skills, time, and resources to the extent that they are able.

 


Charter School Status

New West Charter is a free, parent-founded, independent, high-performing, public charter school currently serving grades 6–12. New West Charter opened in September 2003 at its Pico Boulevard campus under its charter granted by the State Board of Education. New West is chartered by the State Board of Education and supervised by the Charter Schools Division of the California Department of Education.

 


Legal Status and Governance

New West is operated as a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation. The Corporate Board, which also serves as the school’s Governance Council, has three elected Founders, three elected parents of enrolled students, two appointed community members, the Director/Principal, three teachers, one non-instructional staff member, and one representative of the chartering authority.

 


School Founders

The development of New West was a community effort by involved parents who organized in early 2000 to start a new school that provides for choice in public education. Obtaining the charter and opening of the school in September 2003 depended on many parents who volunteered their time, effort, and resources to make the promise of New West a reality for their children and others.

 


Parental Involvement

New West is based on the premise that close, strong, on-going collaboration between parents and educators is the single most important determinant of student success. Accordingly, New West expects a high level of parental involvement as an integral part of the school’s educational program. New West parents must sign a Home School Agreement.

 


Funding

New West is funded directly by the State at the same per-student level as any public school in California. New West is active and successful in seeking grants and charitable donations to enhance the quality and breadth of the school’s educational program.

 


School & Class Size

New West has a school population of about 1,100 students in grades 6 – 12 with small class sizes that average 30-32 students per classroom.

 


Composition of the Student Body

New West’s students come from all over Los Angeles. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse (53% White, 6% African American, 24% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 8% 2-or-More Races, and 2% other). And about 18% of the students are from socioeconomically disadvantaged families.

 


Director

Sharon Weir was born and educated in Scotland, UK. She received her undergraduate degree from St. Andrew’s College of Education (1987), graduate and post-graduate degrees from the University of Strathclyde (1993) and Glasgow University (2002), and completed graduate work at Harvard University in Boston, USA (2010).

Sharon began her career in 1987 teaching students in primary and secondary schools across a diverse socio-economic spectrum. In 1993, she transferred to South Lanarkshire Council to work as a special education consultant to develop a fully inclusive educational model for disadvantaged students. In 1998, she took an administrative role when invited to join a local authority project under a UK government initiative as a lead officer for a new educational think-tank on intervention and innovation in primary and secondary schools. From 1997-2000, she worked collaboratively with the University of Glasgow in an extensive research project leading to a published dissertation that identified discrepancies in male and female achievement at the secondary school level.

In 2000, Sharon moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she became Director/CEO of Seashore Learning Center (SLC), a public, independent, high-performing K-6th grade charter school on Padre Island. Under her direction, SLC became an “Exemplary Campus” with more than 95% of its students passing the Texas statewide achievement tests. In addition, Sharon worked collaboratively to obtain grant funding for facilities, technology, and curriculum development in excess of $15 million dollars. Sharon became a mentor for charter schools across Texas and a frequent speaker at both the state and national level for curriculum and technology in public education.

Sharon was appointed Principal/Executive Director of New West Charter in Los Angeles in February 2005. She has applied her extensive knowledge as an innovative British educator, her experience as a charter school leader, and her natural enthusiasm and good humor toward making New West Charter Middle and High School into one of the most highly sought after public schools in California.

In 2009, Sharon was selected as the CCSA California Principal of the Year.

New West has subsequently been named thrice by the California Department of Education as a prestigious California Distinguished School (2009, 2014, and 2019).

 


Teachers

All full-time teachers in the core subjects must meet the same credentialing requirements as any public school teacher. All teachers must meet the “highly qualified” standard of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Teacher salaries and benefits are comparable to those provided by local school districts. Teachers are chosen for their demonstrated excellence in their fields of study, their ability to work collaboratively, their excitement about ongoing professional development, their understanding of the “different” needs of school children, and their commitment to the opportunities available to charter schools.

 


Core Subjects

The curriculum emphasizes four core area subjects at each grade level: Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, History/Social Science, and Science. These classes are taught by the school’s full-time teachers who base their lessons on the California curricular standards for each subject.

 


Electives

6th – 8th grade students choose two electives per semester from a changing menu of available courses. Electives have included: Youth in Action, Art, Poetry, Creative Writing, Dance, Drama, Film Critic, iMovie, Band (beginning/advanced), Robotics, Spanish (beginning/intermediate), History of Rock and Roll, Student Government, Study Skills, Strategic Games, and Yearbook.

 


Special Education

New West is fully inclusive in providing students with disabilities with a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment as an integral part of the school's educational culture.

 


Testing

Besides the usual classroom quizzes and exams, assessment tests are given at regular intervals to evaluate each student’s entry-level skills and progress toward mastering grade-level standards. All New West students participate in the statewide standardized testing (CAASPP) each spring. CELDT (California English Language Development Test).

 


Library

New West Charter has a fully-functional library for middle and high school students.

 


Computers/Technology

The school has a media lab with 30+ iMacs, four mac carts each with 30 Macbook Pros or Macbook Airs and one iPad cart with 30 iPads. In addition each classroom has one or more iMacs. Each math classroom uses SMART interactive whiteboards. The world’s leading interactive whiteboard that combines the simplicity of a whiteboard with the power of a computer, and brings interactivity to any environment.

 


Physical Education

PE is taught on and off-campus five days per week and at Stoner park four days a week.

 


School Calendar

The school year starts mid-August and ends the second week of June with a one week Thanksgiving break, a two-week winter holiday break, and a one-week spring break in April. See our Academic Calendar.

 


School Day – High School

School starts at 7:30am daily with dismissal at 2:30pm. View the full High School Bell Schedule.

 


School Day – Middle School

School starts at 8:30am daily with dismissal at 3:30pm. View the full Middle School Bell Schedule.

 


New West Charter After-School Program

New West is excited to offer our After School Enrichment Program. Staff provides classes that stimulate our students, both mentally and physically. Different enrichment classes are offered every day. At the end of every semester, students will go on a fun-filled field trip to local attractions. Click here to find out about our After School A3 Enrichment Program.

 


Dress Code

Students wear uniforms, which are mandatory. Students will be provided at no cost with at least one New West polo shirt and outerwear or an appropriate logo to attach to a polo or outerwear. Parents/guardians may also purchase uniforms. More information can be found on our uniforms page.

 


Lunch

Meals from our outside vendor Choice Lunch may be purchased at a reasonable cost every day.

 


Safety

The school’s campus is fenced and gated and protected by security cameras. Students are not allowed off campus without supervision. Parents need to physically walk into school and sign out their child when leaving during school hours. Morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-up are managed by coaches, teachers, parent volunteers, and staff.

 


Equal Rights Statement

New West does not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or disability.

 


WASC Accreditation

New West is accredited by the Schools Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges for both our middle and high school program. WASC is a regional association that accredits public and private schools, colleges and universities in the United States. WASC accreditation provides a certification to the public that schools must be worthy of the trust placed in them to provide high-quality learning opportunities and clearly demonstrate continual self improvement. Most colleges and universities require graduation from an accredited high school. We are thrilled that in the Fall of 2017 we received a full six-year accreditation term for both our middle and high school programs.