Today’s Fresh Start charter school sits in the midst of the Lemiert Park area, where poverty seems to be at war with impending change. Here, as it is in a number of L.A. County areas, homeless camps are juxtaposed with construction, which will inevitably lead to a more upscale environment.  Inside the school, the students are being prepared for the changing world, one that will challenge their basic as well as technological sensibilities.

 

“We have a mission,” Dr. Jeanette Parker TFS principal and founder explained to the Sentinel during a recent interview.

 

 

 

 

“Our mission is to teach each child individually according to their personal best academically and socially and emotionally. We pursue that mission. We know each child who is here at our school and we want to help each child achieve his or her personal best…”

 

Learning is of the utmost importance there, she said, so much so that even the teachers get lessons, Parker said.

 

“[First and foremost] we teach the students how important learning is,” Parker explained.

 

“Our environment is like a small community. We have a low teacher child ratio and our teachers are all highly qualified. We also teach our teachers. We teach them beyond their area of expertise and teach them how to teach the students.

 

“We use the latest in educational technology and we teach them to be tech savvy. Our text books are all state approved and other materials we use that are state approved…”

 

“We tell them, ‘while you’re here take advantage of these people who are here caring for you and caring about you and people who are watching you and helping you achieve your goals.’ We’re very nurturing to the children and they need nurturing.”

 

Education has always been a part of Parker’s life. As early as age 10 in Birmingham, Alabama, she was commissioned to teach the younger children in her vacation bible school and in Sunday school. Teachers would also want her to tutor her fellow students in the classroom.

 

“In retrospect, I can see that this was something I’ve always done,” she said.

 

“I was always doing something involving education. My mother was also in education. She would go to the school and go around to the classrooms during American Education Week and represent children whose parents didn’t come…”

 

Her mother wanted to open a school of her own but that dream never materialized. Meanwhile, Parker, perhaps unknowingly, began on a path that led to just that. She didn’t dream of it, she said, rather as an undergrad, she thought about being an accountant or an anthropologist.

 

But perpetually calling her, was educating others. Here in Los Angeles, she began at underserved schools. She focused on students who were having trouble, she said.

 

“I started tutoring children at Audobon Jr. High,” Parker recalled.

 

“I would teach the children on Saturdays.  At Saturday school, the parents really wanted something for their children. I wanted to help them. I got a grant to buy computers. I bought them and gave them to Horace Mann, Audobon and Marlton.”

 

Tutoring segued into Parker’s founding of the Golden Day preschool in L.A. and then to TFS. TFS was formulated during the early charter school movement here. It followed and continues to follow the ideal model of a charter, which is a publically funded public school (without tuition, religious affiliation, or selective student admissions) that operates much like a private business—free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs (such teacher certification requirements).

 

The school accommodates students from kindergarten to eighth grade, with a focus on preparing them for high school and college.

 

“We prepare them emotionally,” said Parker.

 

“We teach them to respond in overwhelming environments [like high school] and to focus on their work and to not be derailed by insignificant things.”

 

TFS demographics are about 55 percent African American and 45 percent Latino. Educators there are conscientious about each student’s needs, Parker said. They employ a variety of educational strategies according to student response and they allow them to learn at their own pace.

 

“[Educating children] doesn’t come easy,” Parker said.

 

“You have to really want to do this, really want to care. Some people think it’s a lot of money but it’s not.  It’s something you do from your heart.  We’re here because we’re committed to the task of teaching the children.  We’re here to build lives.”

 

Parker credits her husband, Dr. Clark Parker, with supporting her in her efforts. Her latest project is a nonprofit called [RESCUE OUR CHILDREN] ROC, the fatherless movement “to bring back the hearts of fathers and mothers to the children, to provide counseling for children traumatized by divorce and separation from their parents,” she said.

 

(Photos by Valerie Goodloe)

You’ve heard it right! It’s the 6th and final season of the hit OWN TV-series “For Better or Worse” and there’s lots of drama cooking up to close out the intensely hilarious show starring Tasha Smith and Michael Jai White. In an exclusive interview with Smith, we discover why the show’s ending is “bitter sweet”, how she maintains on-camera chemistry with her TV husband, and her plans to takeover the film industry behind the scenes.

 

LAWT: What can viewers expect from the last and final season of “For Better or Worse”?

 

TS: This is the final season of “For Better or Worse” and there will be no more but re-runs. It’s drama, since it’s the last season. I just think Tyler Perry decided to really go for it. So there’s a lot of drama with the Marcus and Angela marriage.

 

LAWT: Ever since “Why Did I Get Married?” you and Michael Jai White have had such an undeniable working chemistry on set, how were you both able to achieve that chemistry?

 

TS: Well Michael and I, we’ve been very, very close friends for a long time, he’s like a brother to me. Of course we dated way back in the day and so he’s like a brother, he’s like family, and I just feel that that really does help us to be able to work together. It just chemistry, we have chemistry.

 

LAWT: What is it like working with Tyler Perry? How is he able to guide and direct the storyline so that fans keep coming back for more?

 

TS: I really don’t know. I mean Tyler would probably say it’s the Lord. He writes all of these episodes. He writes all of the episodes for “For Better or Worse”, all of the episodes for “The Have and the Have Nots” all of the episodes for “If Loving You is Wrong”… I don’t know how he’s able to do it, and I think its just a collaboration between his writing and having a great team of actors and crew members that are able to make all that come to life. He’s very talented, very creative, and he knows his audience.

 

LAWT: Many of us know your roles to be very funny, very opinionated and very real. Are you anything like the characters you play in real life?

 

TS: Personally, the stuff that Angela does, Tasha would not do. The creative aesthetic of who I am, I can’t really say that’s who I am. It’s what I guess people feel I am because I’ve played the role for so long, but there’s so much more to me creatively than what people have seen on “For Better or Worse” and that’s why it’s like bitter sweet that the show is over after the season. As much as I enjoyed it, it’s a blessing to be able to move on to do something different and share a different part of my art to people.

 

LAWT: What does life after “For Better or Worse” look like for you? Is there a role you haven’t played that you’d like to?

 

TS: I want to play what feels right to me. Right now I’m directing, so that is a very interesting way of me being able to share my art. I have a movie coming out on TV One, September 4, that’s called “When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story” and that’s a drama, it’s very different from the comedy people have seen me do on “For Better or Worse”.

 

I’m also directing “Tales” which is a series for BET that executive producer Irv Gotti is doing. Each episode is a different hip-hop tale, from different hip-hop songs in the 90s and 2000s. I’ve been so blessed to get “99 Problems” by Jay-Z and that’s the one I’m directing. I’m more attracted to drama, although I can do comedy very well. I’m just ready to expand and to just create and to just do something different. It’s been a blessing but as they say good things do come to an end. I’m going to miss Tyler and I’m going to miss my cast, and you know, we had a great run.

 

LAWT: How does your role as a director differ from that as an actor?

 

TS: As a director, I have to do everything. As an actor, I’m just worried about one role, that’s it. As a director, everything is im­portant. Everything is something you have to be very detailed and specific about in telling a story. So for me, the job is far greater than just being the actor, there’s a lot more responsibility creatively, technically.

 

LAWT: What do you do for fun when you’re not working? How do you relax?

 

TS: I travel. I love to travel. Traveling relaxes me. I’ll travel by myself. This last Christmas I just went to the Middle East for Christmas and New Year’s. I went to Qatar, I went to Abu Dhabi, I went to Dubai for ten days by myself. Before then it was Sicily, the Caribbean and then I went to Capri in Florence. Traveling is something that relaxes me and gives me peace.

 

LAWT: Outside of the noticeable difference in hairstyles between you and your identical twin sister Sidra, many people wouldn’t be able to tell you apart. How different are you and your twin sister?

 

TS: My sister used to wear locks, so she decided to cut the locks and shave her head. We’re identical twins, but yes we’re very different. I would never shave my head and she would never wear a weave again.

 

As far as love goes, Smith says that she’s focused on what she calls “the love her life”, the Tasha Smith Acting Workshop (TSAW) and studio located in Sherman Oaks. Smith encourages all rising and experienced actors to attend. Be sure to catch the final season of “For Better or Worse” on OWN every Saturday 9/8pm Central.

Under the theme, “Watts is Worth It,” city officials, developers, residents, and activists broke ground on the new Jordan Downs public housing development on Monday.

 

The 700-unit complex, infamous for gang violence that has declined drastically since the 1992 Watts Gang Peace Treaty, is being transformed into a mixed-use, mixed-income urban village, replete with 1,400 new affordable housing units, nine acres of open space, a supermarket, parks, and community center.

 

Phase 1A will consist of 115 affordable rental apartments in 12 buildings on 3.15 acres.  The master developer team of BRIDGE Housing and the Michaels Organization anticipate the completion of 250 units over the next two years.

 

“This is what history feels like,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, as he thanked all who helped bring the project to fruition.

 

He said L.A. is in a housing crisis, with a 20 percent increase of people living on the streets.  He further stated Watts still experiences double-digit unemployment and under employment, despite a 20 percent reduction in joblessness across the country.

 

Construction of the new development will help in the long run, and provide economic growth for Blacks and Latinos because it mandates that Watts residents are 30 percent of all new hires, Garcetti said.

 

Another key point is Jordan Downs residents could move in without worries of not having a home, he continued.

 

Kim McKay, executive vice president of BRIDGE Housing, emceed the program, which began with prayers by Jesus Vela, pastor of St. Lawrence Brindisi, and Elder Michael Cummings of We Care Outreach Ministries.

 

Conscientious restaurant Locol’s food truck was on hand, as well as various vendor booths, which provided diapers, healthcare resources, and children’s activities, including a coloring station, photo booth, and game section. 

 

Performances by the Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary Jr. Mariachi Band and the David Starr Jordan High School Drum Line percussion bookended special remarks.

 

Speakers also included Doug Guthrie, president and CEO of the L.A. Housing Authority, Cynthia Parker, president and CEO of BRIDGE Housing, Kecia Boulware, vice president of Development for The Michael Organization, Raul Anaya, president, Greater Los Angeles Bank of America, Alice Carr, senior vice president, JP Morgan Chase, and Amada Valle, president, Jordan Downs Resident Advisory Council.

 

Guthrie and others hailed Watts residents and activists, such as Betty Day, president of the Watts Gang Task Force, for their great efforts to uplift the community and ensure the new development’s success.

 

“Today, it’s a beautiful thing, really.  I might not have thought that much about it before it started, because I was wondering where the people were going to go, and how they were going to work this,” she said.

 

While Day feels there’s still much work, she noted things look good and feels they will work out as the start of something good.

 

“I think we all need to pitch in and try, because they’re doing a good job, and we have to give it to Housing and whoever else it is…They’re really making progress, and the people will be living better than what they were living.  The place will be cleaned up, different.  People will think about them different, and this will give them a chance to work at something,” she said.

 

Day is especially concerned about the jobs aspect and the fact residents will have decent places to live, she said.

 

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s here,” she added.

 

Valle echoed recurring sentiments that the project will bring hope back into the Watts community.

 

“They put their vision in Jordan Downs.  I want to say thank you.  I’m very grateful.  May God bless you all, and please, never, ever take your vision from Jordan Downs,” said Valle, who spoke through a translator.

 

The Renewed Watts will have more youth programs, better policing, an expanded counseling and learning center, and will attract more internationally-acclaimed architects and designers, L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino remarked.

 

“It really does take a village, and after many years of hard work by our partners and team, we are thrilled to start construction,” said Parker.

 

“Large-scale public housing revitalization demonstrates how we can enrich the fabric of communities, make wise use of land, and pair stable homes with the services people need to thrive and grow. We are excited to bring new opportunities to Jordan Downs residents and to Watts,” she continued in a press release.