The school has a ten member Leadership Council which includes an equal number of teachers, staff and parent/community representatives. The leadership council is the school’s decision-making body. Unlike a traditional school, as a charter, the leadership council is part of a shared governance structure where representatives of all stakeholders groups have a voice in making certain school decisions. Topanga Elementary Charter School is a part of the Palisades Charter Complex allowing children to continue enrollment in the Palisades Complex through grade twelve.
Other benefits of being a charter include, being able to offer an extended day kindergarten program (on a space available basis), having flexibility on hiring teachers and staff, flexibility in setting school schedule and allowing children from outside our geographic area to join our unique learning community (when space is available).
Topanga Elementary Reflection
Imagine yourself flying into LAX, one of the world’s busiest airports, arriving in Los Angeles, the second largest urban area in the nation. Navigating your way to the taxi stand, you soon find yourself on the 405 freeway, locked in a nightmare of traffic congestion.
Assuming you are fortunate enough to have found a driver who has even heard of your destination, you will eventually make your way to the Pacific Coast Highway, a trip that can take 20 minutes or more than two hours depending on the time of day and the exigencies of traffic. Heading north toward Malibu, along the divided four-lane highway, you make your way past beach clubs and mansions, grocery stores and the new Getty Villa Museum.
In due course, you turn off onto a narrow, twisting mountain road. All signs of city life quickly disappear as acres of chaparral-coated mountainside rise up on either side of the roadway. Red-tailed hawks soar overhead; coyote and deer forage amid coastal scrub oaks and sycamores on thousands of acres of open space preserved from development as state and county parklands. A creek follows along the roadbed, roaring or trickling according to the season, harboring one of the world’s last remaining populations of Southern Steelhead trout.
There is not a gas station or a Starbucks anywhere in sight. Roughly seven miles (but many more minutes) up the road, you begin to see signs of civilization—but one very different from what you left behind at the foot of the hill. Horses graze in open pastures. Art galleries and boutiques abound, there are a handful of local bistros and eateries, but not a single chain store or supermarket is in evidence. Breath-taking views await around each corner, and are shared alike by near shacks left over from the community’s “hippy” and homesteading past and more recently constructed estates owned by the upwardly mobile. You ask yourself, “Am I still in Los Angeles?” Long known as an artists’ community, Topanga has been called the “hidden jewel of Los Angeles County.” Its residents include painters and poets, novelists and 10 musicians, filmmakers, lawyers and architects; they also include carpenters, electricians, waitresses, bartenders, housekeepers, and the unemployed.
Up a narrow road in a forgotten corner of the nation’s second largest school district lies another largely undiscovered gem—Topanga Elementary Charter School (TECS). Built by the community in the 1950s at a time when it operated its own elementary school district and later turned over to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD or the District) at a time when the community was so poor it could not afford the cost of educating its high school students, TECS remains a source of pride and connection for the Topanga community. As set forth in the mission statement of our Charter:
“We are an elementary school in a natural mountain setting within an urban public school system. Through collaboration between community and school, our mission is to educate, challenge and inspire each person. We will foster the esteem of self, others and respect for the environment and the love of lifelong learning by providing a safe and nurturing atmosphere.”
TECS provides a rigorous integrated core curriculum based on California State standards, then communicates that curriculum in the context of our physically and culturally unique setting through methodologies focused on independent thinking, decision-making, problem-solving skills and creativity, in a manner designed to allow all students to achieve according to their individual abilities and learning styles. Through innovative programs, such as our Developmental Kindergarten; enrichment resources, such as our state-of-the-art science and computer labs, and arts and music programs; and student support resources, including on-site counseling programs and enhanced intervention, we strive to promote life-long learning in a nurturing physical, emotional and academic environment.
As we more forward these next five years, our focus will be to provide the best educational opportunities for our diverse learners. We strive to move our emerging learners to proficiency and our proficient students to advanced, not only on state tests, but in all curricular, social, and emotional areas.
The Charter
Topanga Elementary Charter School Official Charter (1,006.4 KiB, 914 hits)
It is 232 pages long and available as an Adobe Acrobat file (.pdf). You will need Adobe Reader or similar software to open the file after it downloads. Most computers have this software pre-installed. If you do not, then please go to the Adobe Download page and follow their instructions for downloading and installing this software.
It is a large file and those with a slow internet connection may find it a lengthy download.
Topanga Elementary Charter School Official Charter (1,006.4 KiB, 914 hits)
