The downside of superstar schools
You could say that Carpenter Elementary in Studio City owes its survival to students from other neighborhoods.
A generation ago, their presence kept the campus from being shut down, after local families fled to private schools to avoid Los Angeles Unified’s mandatory busing program. By the time busing ended in 1981, fewer than 50 of Carpenter’s 450 students were children from the neighborhood.
Former Principal Joan Marks spent years going door-to-door, luring locals back with the promise of a school they could be proud of.
Today Carpenter Community Charter has almost 1,000 students. There’s a lottery and a waiting list — and brewing resentment over the suspicion that children from other communities are using fake addresses to attend, filling seats that ought to belong to neighborhood children.
The school has so many students now, there may not be room next fall for all of Studio City’s kindergartners. “We’ll be putting local kids on buses,” said Principal Joseph Martinez, “if we don’t get this sorted out.”
What a turnaround from a time when most of its students were bused in.
Times reporter Stephen Caesar wrote about the school’s dilemma this month, as Carpenter launched a crackdown to root out families who lied about living within the school’s attendance boundaries.
Martinez said preliminary checks suggest that one in 10 Carpenter families may be claiming a false address.
“I totally get why people would do anything to get their child into Carpenter,” the principal said. Its test scores are among the district’s highest. It offers a palette of enrichment classes that many private schools can’t match.
That’s the product of decades of community investment, he said. “This is a school that was supposed to close. The community got involved and kept it going.”
That community involvement is plain to see in the extras that set Carpenter apart: its science center, music program, dance classes and computer lab, PE coach, science specialist and extra teachers to keep classes small.
“Those are not things the school district paid for, but the local residents provided,” Martinez said. The school’s booster club raises about $300,000 each year. “This community is very proud of that. Residents have a sense of ownership here.”
And if you’re not a resident and want to attend? Take your chances in the enrollment lottery. Or pony up about $1.5 million, the price tag on an average local home.
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Carpenter is one of few Los Angeles Unified schools with the power to drive real estate prices up. “To live within the boundaries of Carpenter Charter School in Studio City … is to be the envy of your neighbor,” promises a local real estate website.
And if you can’t live within those boundaries, you might be able to pretend. Martinez spotted two posts on Craigslist from residents offering to sell their addresses to parents trying to fake their way in.
There’s a sort of mythology around elementary schools like this — Ivanhoe in Silver Lake and Wonderland in Hollywood are others — that attracts ambitious young parents, gets everyone donating and volunteering, and makes families at less-spectacular schools wonder what they’re missing.
Part of what accounts for Carpenter’s high achievement is not mysterious at all. It’s not burdened with social and economic problems. Its demographic profile is nothing like a typical Los Angeles school.
Carpenter is 78% white in a district that is 73% Latino. Only 7% of its students are from families poor enough to qualify for free lunch; three-quarters of district students are. And only 5% of its pupils don’t speak English, in a district where one-third of students aren’t fluent English speakers.
But parents insist that something less tangible is more important to its success. “It’s the sense of community,” said Rebecca Silverstein, whose two children — Milo, 9, and Poppy, 6 — raved about their teachers and their campus.
I interviewed them as they walked home from the school with its white picket fence, along one of the narrow streets winding up into the Hollywood Hills.
The school and the community have “a small-town feel,” Silverstein said. “You go to school with your neighbors. Your children play on the same sports teams. You go to a school event and see the family that lives next door.”
But that’s an advantage you can’t re-create when you’re secretly trucking your children in from Van Nuys or Woodland Hills.
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Silverstein doesn’t want to bad-mouth parents who use a friend’s address, or rent an apartment for a few months so they can produce the proof they need to get their child enrolled.
“I mostly feel bad that other parents have to do that,” she said. “It’s a shame that some of the public schools aren’t good enough, that you would have to go to those lengths to get a good education for your child.”
But Principal Martinez said many parents are incensed. Some wanted a hotline to report offenders. Others emailed anonymously, ratting out children’s classmates.
The practice of faking residency isn’t new, of course. My daughters attended Granada Hills Charter High just after it went charter 10 years ago. So many tips came in about families lying to enroll, school employees sometimes resorted to following students home, questioning neighbors or interviewing landlords.
“Nine of 10 times, when information is presented, the families admit ‘That’s not where we’re living.’ And they’re terribly embarrassed, very ashamed,” said Granada Hills’ executive director, Brian Bauer. “It’s a bit of a sad state, the few options that families feel they have.”
When families flock to those superstar schools, that’s a loss to the schools they leave behind. So the good get better, but the district gets more lopsided over time.
“If people are that motivated to do all these things to enroll a child in a school that’s not in their neighborhood,” Carpenter’s Martinez said, “just imagine if they put that energy in their local school and got involved to make change happen there.”
Carpenter Community Charter School
| Carpenter Community Charter School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
3909 Carpenter Avenue, Studio City, California 91604 | |
| Coordinates | 34°8′28″N 118°23′35″W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Cultivating young minds for a modern world. |
| Established | 1924 |
| School district | Los Angeles Unified School District |
| Principal | Joe Martinez |
| Grades | K-5 |
| Enrollment | 946 (2015-16)[1] |
| Colors | White and blue |
| Mascot | Cougar |
| Website | www |
Carpenter Community Charter School, formerly Carpenter Avenue Elementary School, is a public K-5 elementary school in Los Angeles, California.
Carpenter Community Charter is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school is in Studio City. The school was opened in 1924 under the name Carpenter Street School [2] and is still in the same location. The Administrative Building was constructed in 1938 in PWA Moderne styling.[3]
The current principal of the school since 2010 (as of August 2021) is Joseph Martinez and the assistant principal is Melodie Hong. In September 2002 the school had a newer, larger library built complete with an Internet connection.[4]
For the 2008–2009 school year Carpenter had an enrollment of 847 students with the following racial/ethnic profile; White 76.3%, Hispanic 8.7%, Asian 8.1%, Black 4.6%, Filipino 1.3%, Other 1%. Carpenter is not eligible for Title I funding.[5] Carpenter receives approximately $300,000 annually via the fundraising efforts of parents.[6]
On June 16, 2010, Carpenter Avenue Elementary School became a Charter school. It then changed its name to Carpenter Community Charter School.[7]
Carpenter has multiple events, including the Carpenter Cooked, an event where children cook meals, Carpenter Movie Night, and the yearly gala. The school motto is "Cultivating young minds for the modern world."[citation needed]
References
- "Carpenter Community Charter". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
- "History of Schools" (PDF). laschoolreport.com. January 1973. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- Leslie Heumann (March 2002). "Historic Schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District" (PDF). Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- Barbara Whitaker (November 18, 2002). "OUT WEST; Door-to-Door Effort Brings a Community Back to Its School" (PDF). New York Times. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- "LAUSD School Profile Page: Carpenter Elementary". LAUSD. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- Dana Bartholomew (May 22, 2005). "Parents Taking Fundraising Into Their Own Hands". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
- "Carpenter Avenue Elementary a new charter school". Daily News. Los Angeles Newspaper Group. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
External links
Welcome Letter
August 1, 2025
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!
We are SUPER excited to get this new school year underway. For the first time in about a decade, all class sizes are being reduced approximately (2) students this school year. This reduction in class sizes is thanks to union contract agreements made between LAUSD and the teachers’ union, UTLA.
In addition to lower class sizes, we are thrilled to unveil a new school mural that was commissioned by our Governance Council and completed this summer. We are also very eager to introduce (6) new staff members who all look forward to contributing to our school community. Team Carpenter is fully charged and ready to welcome everyone back to a new year full of learning and growth.
In this new school year, we will carry on with our school-wide, established innovative programs: Write…From the Beginning and Beyond, Engineering is Elementary, Restorative Justice, & MindUP. You can expect to learn more about how these programs are being implemented in your child’s grade level at Back to School Night. With the support of our teaching staff, Carpenter’s Governance Council, Parents for Carpenter (PFC), PTA and the hard work of our amazing parents and guardians, we all can look forward to the following exciting additions:
- Reduced class sizes: TK-20 students, K/3-23 students, 4th gr.-28 students & 5th gr.-32 students
- A fully refreshed & operational closed circuit security T.V. system
- Additional 4th grade classroom teacher funded by our Governance Council (15th yr.)
- Completion of a new mural, “Keep L.A. Wild” on our playground that is dedicated to the late P-22 and our school mascot (cougar) by L.A. Muralist, Corie Mattie
- Year 3 of our after school Black Student Union where students can build relationships and create an additional support network & Year 2 of our Latiné Student Union & Rainbow Club
- A continued commitment between Carpenter’s administration and our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice Committee to explicitly fight racism in all aspects of school life at Carpenter
- Continuation of our Cell Phone/Smartwatch/Digital Device Policy that requires ALL devices (including wearables) to be stored and powered off during the instructional day
- Full-time librarian (10th consecutive year)
- Year 3 of a partnership with Youth Services & the STAR program to offer a free TK-5 ELOP after school program
- The continuation of our highly popular 180∘Place - a safe, supervised playground area for students with injuries and/or students in need of assistance with interpersonal relationships
- Full implementation of LAUSD’s Restorative Justice practices to promote and strengthen positive school culture
- A recommended school community expectation that each family volunteer (1) hour a month during the school year of time, talent, and/or treasure
Another exciting change to our school this year is the arrival of six new staff members who are all very eager to become active members of our community. I am thrilled to introduce the following educators who are joining our staff this year.
Teachers
- Sophie Wiegand – Ms. Wiegand joins us with three years of teaching experience at Monlux Elementary where she taught fifth grade (2 years) and Citizens of the World Charter where she taught fourth grade (1 year). She was raised in Burbank by professional musicians and grew up playing and performing classical piano. She attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo for her undergraduate degree and the University of California, Santa Barbara for her teaching credential. Ms. Wiegand is committed to fostering a classroom environment centered on empathy, emotional intelligence, and inclusivity. She is a strong believer in enriching the curriculum and engaging students in hands-on learning to build well-rounded students. Ms. Wiegand will be teaching third grade in room 29.
- Jessica Jefferson – Ms. Jefferson comes to us with five years of experience as a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Odyssey Charter Schools in Altadena. She grew up in a military family. Ms. Jefferson is dedicated to creating a safe, inclusive classroom that fosters independence and growth. She is proficient in differentiated, data driven instruction, with a commitment to building strong family partnerships. Her previous school in Altadena sustained significant damage in the fires last January. With all the uncertainty about school facilities, she has made the decision to establish some new roots in Studio City. She attended Old Dominion University for her undergraduate degree and California State University Dominguez Hills for her teaching credential. Ms. Jefferson will be teaching fourth grade in room 25.
- Hannah Yoo – Ms. Yoo will join our staff as a brand-new teacher who recently completed her student teaching at Porter Ranch Community School. If Ms. Wiegand and Ms. Jefferson are our free agent acquisitions of the summer, Ms. Yoo is our #1 draft pick. She is most definitely not a typical new teacher. Her experience at the Korean Dual Language Program at Porter Ranch along with her other experiences as a young adult/student leader make her a very strong addition to our school. She prioritizes building meaningful relationships with both students and families, fostering a growth-oriented environment where every child can learn and thrive with the right support. Ms. Yoo attended California State Los Angeles for her undergraduate degree and California State University Northridge for her teaching credential. Ms. Yoo will be teaching kindergarten in room 42.
- Noor Elmasri (Interim TK Teacher) -In response to our unexpected surge in TK enrollments this summer, we are opening a fifth TK classroom this year. Since this is a growth classroom, it will not be official until mid-September when we can demonstrate to the district that we have the necessary number of TK students to justify an additional teacher. For that reason, Noor Elmasri will open the year as an interim teacher. Ms. Elmasri is a former Carpenter teacher. When our enrollment dropped during the pandemic, we were forced to dissolve her position along with a few others. She went on to teach two years at Porter Ranch Community School. This past year, Ms. Elmasri returned to Carpenter to teach science to our primary students in grades TK-3. She is experienced, well-organized, and very nurturing with students. Ms. Elmasri will be teaching TK in room 38.
Enrichment Staff
- Miles Haddad – Coach Miles is a life-long athlete and baseball player who had aspirations of playing in the major leagues. After a great attempt to do so over multiple years, he has turned his attention to education. For the past couple of years, he has been working at St. Francis de Sales as a kindergarten instructional aide while simultaneously working at Campbell Hall as an assistant coach for the baseball team. In addition, he has been the Head of Baseball Development for Toluca Thunder Baseball for the past few years. Coach Miles earned his undergraduate degree in Sports Management at the University of the Pacific. He is passionate about helping students grow and develop the fundamental skills for various sports. He is committed to continuing our tradition of teaching life skills through physical education. Coach Miles will be teaching P.E. to all TK-5 students on our playground.
- Paola Acevedo – Ms. Acevedo has been passionate about dance since a young age. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico where, at the age of 15, she had the privilege of receiving a full scholarship at the School of Performing Arts Guaynabo where she trained in all styles of dance and was part of the Drama Danza Company. She has worked with major artists such as J-Balvin, Luis Fonsi, 50-Cent, Flo-Rida, Bad Bunny, Snoop Dogg and more. In 2016, she took a leap of faith and came to California for the Millennium Dance Complex Certificate Program. Throughout her dance career she developed a love for teaching. She has been teaching dance since 2011 in Puerto Rico and has taught in Los Angeles since 2016 at The Industry Dance Academy, Millennium Dance Complex, Sacred Heart High School, and Studio City's Creation Station. She earned her undergraduate degree in Communications from the University of Sacred Heart of Puerto Rico. She is passionate about finding ways to engage children of all ages in dance and finding the fun in movement and music. Ms. Acevedo will oversee our dance program for all students TK-5 in our dance room, room 34.
Thank you all for choosing Carpenter for your child’s elementary school. I hope that each of you will consider ways that you can participate to enhance your child’s experience and contribute to our school’s success. My staff and I are dedicated to working alongside all members of our school community to ensure that Carpenter Community Charter remains a source of pride for the Studio City community and a leader amongst elementary schools in Los Angeles and nationwide.
Principal
