LIBRA Academy was founded in 2009 by a small group of dedicated teachers who wanted to provide the residents of Huntington Park with a small high school dedicated to developing character, mind, and well-being within every LIBRA student. LIBRA's founding class consisted of only 120 ninth-grade students housed in bungalows on the Huntington Park High School campus. In 2013, LIBRA moved to the Linda Esperanza Marquez High School campus as one of three small schools created to increase rigor, personalization, and accountability.
LIBRA Academy is a Pilot School established in 2009. We are one of three pilot schools on the Marquez campus, with the ability to offer a smaller learning environment, where staff and students know and build relationships with one another. As a pilot school, we use our five autonomies to innovate and inspire our students to be well-rounded, healthy, critical thinkers. As a pilot school, we have more control over our governance, school calendar, curriculum and assessments, staffing, and budget. Teachers are offered an Elect to Work Agreement at the end of each year as long as they continue to live our core values and fulfill the expectations of the staff-created EWA.
At LIBRA we have three core values: We are student-centered, we build relationships with our students and we think all students and staff should have a growth mindset. These core values guide our areas of instructional focus, decisions we make, and who we invite to join our team.