About Us
 
 
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The Gabriella Charter Schoolis a K5 dancethemed public elementary school−−funded and established by theGabriella Axelrad Education Foundationin September of 2005.  The elementary charter school offers a challenging and innovative standardsbased curriculum that is complemented by the focus, discipline and creativity of dance in order to stimulate children to STRETCH, REACH, EXPLORE, PRACTICE and PERFORM as a means of achieving excellence in the classroom. GCSis committed to providing an educational program that builds on a child’s natural curiosity and promotes joy in both the learning process and in the mastery of skills.
  
SCHOOL LOCATION

631 South Commonwealth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90005

GCS is located in a gated historic site opposite Lafayette Park and Felipe De Neve Library, ½ block north of Wilshire Boulevard.

STUDENT ENROLLMENT

100 students in year one (K3), 125 and 150 students in years two and three respectively (K5); possible expansion would add three additional classrooms. 20 students in grades K3; 25 students in grades 45.
 
ACADEMIC SCHEDULE
 
Traditional schedule, SeptemberJune
Faculty start date:  August 21, 2006
School hours: 8:00- 3:30, 1:30 dismissal Thursdays for teacher meetings.
 
GCS ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
 
  • Liza Bercovici is the Founder and Executive Director of the Gabriella Axelrad Education Foundation(GAEF) to which GCS is linked financially, philosophically and administratively.  She practiced law for 20 years before establishing the Foundation and School in memory of her daughter, Gabriella. GAEF’s “everybody dance!” program has provided 117 weekly classes in ballet, jazz, tap, modern and hip- hop to over 1000 children in the PicoUnion, Rampart and Koreatown communities.
  
  • Susan Gurman, Principal of GCS, has over 20 years of teaching administrative and consulting experience in California schools.  As a public school teacher, she was the recipient of the Stolz Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of California at Berkeley.
  
  • Chippy Zuniga, Assistant Artistic Director and GCS Dance Coordinator, comes to GCS with a strong background in dance education and a commitment to the integration of dance instruction throughout the academic curriculum.  She served as the Childhood Dance Director and dance instructor at the Harvey Cavalier Camp, Park Pre-School and the River School in New York and taught dance at the Westwood Charter School and the Faith Intercommunity Church in Whittier, California.  She earned an MFA from New York University with concentration in Dance Education K- 12 and has danced with the Kaleidoscope Dance Company, the Pasadena Civic Ballet Company and the UCLA Undergraduate Dance Company. 

TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS

Four out of five of our current classroom teachers are Teach for America graduates.  We have found that TFA training and philosophy are compatible with the GCSgoal to provide engaging and challenging, standardsbased curriculum to a traditionally underachieving population.