Social Justice – We Defend Our Diversity

Allison has been a champion for social justice and diversity at public schools throughout her career. A few years back, as a money-saving adventure, the district decided to stop providing busing to several large charter high schools. At PCHS, where students commute daily from over 100 zip codes, this meant that in one instant over one-third of the student population was potentially stranded. 

Allison stepped up. She lobbied on behalf of families from all over the city. With great effort, they managed to find $2M out of an already tight budget to keep the buses running.. “That represents a big piece of our funding,” says Allison, “which we certainly hadn’t planned to spend on transportation. But this is their school. These are our friends. There was no way they weren’t graduating with their peers.” 

Allison followed up by assisting in creating transportation options which ensure that incoming PCHS students get to school from throughout the city. As a result, PCHS still looks a lot like Los Angeles, and its multicultural student population continues to flourish.