LOS ANGELES — It's not every day that the superintendent of the nation's second-largest school district can be heard touting blankies and onesies. But on Tuesday, Los Angeles schools chief Alberto Carvalho launched a student recruitment campaign beginning just about as early as possible — targeting newborns in maternity wards, starting with L.A. County-USC Medical Center.
In a school system confronting troubling enrollment projections — a 30% decline over the next decade — the "Born to Learn" campaign is part inspiration and perhaps part desperation.
Carvalho is out to pitch an L.A. Unified School District education to the parents of prospective students — even before the babies have lost their umbilical cords.
