East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy (ELARA) Renaissance; officially East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy at Esteban E. Torres High School No. 2, unofficially East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy, School of Urban Planning and Public Policy, is a small public, coeducational, pilot secondary school of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) located in East Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2010 as an attempt to relieve student overcrowding at James A. Garfield High School, ELARA is one of five small schools established on the Esteban E. Torres High School campus, alongside East Los Angeles Performing Arts Magnet (ELAPA Magnet), Humanitas Academy of Arts and Technology (HAAT), Social Justice Leadership Academy (SJLA), and Engineering and Technology Academy (ETA).
ELARA is a four-year high school with an enrollment of 439 students for the 2020-2021 academy year. The school is distinctive for its curricular emphasis on the field of urban planning and public policy. Students are offered core academic courses, Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and courses required to prepare students for admission to University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems.
History
Pre-Construction
Overcrowding at James A. Garfield High School
By the late 2000s, the Eastside region of the City of Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles, had a problem with overcrowded high schools due minimal school choices for new students. However, it was the overcrowded conditions at James A. Garfield High School, the only high school in East Los Angeles, which led to the establishment of Esteban E. Torres High School and its five pilot schools. Garfield was founded in 1925 and was built to withhold 1,500 students; however, by the late 20th century, the student population at the school had increased to a point at which the school had to implement a multi-track/year-round calendar to relieve the overpopulation, though this did not last. The overcrowding problem continued into the 21st century, prompting demands for the construction of a second high school in the area.
Approval of East Los Angeles High School No. 2
In 2004, the Board of the Education of the City of Los Angeles approved the construction of a new high school, then called “East Los Angeles High School No. 2”. On June 22, the Board of Education approved the final location of the future Esteban E. Torres High School.
Prior to the construction of the Torres High School campus, the land on which the ELARA building is now located was an agricultural center administered by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps.
Founding of ELARA
In 2009, seven James A. Garfield High School teachers, along with students, parents, and representatives from community-based organizations, such as Inner City Struggle, joined and submitted a proposal to the Los Angeles Unified School District Public School Choice motion in order to found the proposed East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy as a Pilot School at the yet unopened Esteban E. Torres High School campus. The main Design Team was composed of Martin Buchman, Michael Leavy, Zoe Souliotis-Foley, Michael Rocha, Rachel Varty, Norm Chen, and Adrianne Harwood.
2010-present
After being approved by the motion, the East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy opened, alongside its four other sister schools—East Los Angeles Performing Arts Academy (now Magnet), Engineering and Technology Academy, Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology, and Social Justice Leadership Academy—on September 13, 2010, at Torres campus.
On June 21, 2012, ELARA held its first class graduation. On June 5, 2014, the last of the founding student body graduated from the school.
On September 24, 2018, former biology teacher, Gina Murry, was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old student during the months of May and June. She faces six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and four counts each of committing a lewd act on a child, oral copulation of a person under 16, and sexual penetration by a foreign object. On November 5, 2019, Murry pleaded no contest to the accusations. On January 14, 2020, she was sentenced to 2 years in state prison.
Education
School of Urban Planning and Public Policy
ELARA was designed to prepare students in the field of urban planning and public policy. The mission of the school is for students to see themselves as architects of their own future and of their community.