Within a year and a half, LA Times columnist Sandy Banks has written three columns about reform efforts at Manual Arts High School. Specifically, the three articles are all focused on my school’s managing partner organization, LA’s Promise (previously MLA Partner Schools).

When the first article was released, my students responded critically to the changing conditions at the school.

As I’ve written about before, the LA Times continues to muddle and depersonalize my school’s tenuous path forward.

While the jury is still out regarding what education will look like at Manual Arts next year, I am intrigued by the way these three stories read side-by-side. So much and so little have changed. More importantly, I am interested in putting these articles in front of the people they are written about – my students – and having them look at how their school is being discussed by adults. What would students think about Banks’ continued gaze from afar at education in South Central? How would they interpret the social and political implications of her continued analysis?