The Valley campus begins the school year independent of L.A. Unified control. Charter supporters had to overcome numerous obstacles, including internal dissension, cash shortage and lawsuits.
If there was a brick wall, they walked into it. If there was a land mine, they stepped on it. When the history of charter schools in the United States is written, Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley may stand as a cautionary tale of all that can go wrong when a regular public school tries to convert to an independent charter.
