Oscar De La Hoya Celebrates Official Grand Opening of Oscar De La Hoya Animo Charter High School

Oscar De La Hoya Celebrates Official Grand Opening of Oscar De La Hoya Animo
Charter High School
De La Hoya Hosts Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Officially Marking the Grand Opening
of his Namesake High School in Boyle Heights, California

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Dot Public Schools, the largest
charter school organization in Los Angeles, together with Ten-Time World
Champion fighter in six weight divisions, Olympic Gold Medalist and the pride
of East Los Angeles, Oscar de la Hoya, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today,
officially opening De La Hoya's namesake school, Oscar de la Hoya Animo
Charter High School in Boyle Heights, California. Councilmen Jose Huizar and
several hundred community members attended the celebration.

The school was originally formed in 2003 with a donation of $1 million dollars
by De La Hoya along with an additional $3.5 million dollar donation by De La
Hoya in 2008 to support Green Dot and its efforts to transform education in
Los Angeles. Until now, classes were taking place in a temporary site while
construction was completed.

The Oscar de la Hoya Animo Charter High School, built at the former site of De
La Hoya's Boxing Gym, was designed by TFO Architecture and built by Howard S.
Wright Constructors. It is the first public high school to be built in Boyle
Heights in 80 years and will be home to 550 students in grades 9-12. The
four-story school is 51,281 square feet covering 0.8 acres of land and
includes a rooftop deck, 25 classrooms, two computer labs, four science labs,
a covered parking garage and a boxing gym. The school has several green
features including high efficiency mechanical and electrical equipment,
natural lighting and low emission paint and flooring.

"This school has been a dream in the making since 2000 after the great success
and popularity of the Oscar de la Hoya Learning Center that opened in 1998,"
said Oscar de la Hoya. "Providing our children a high-quality education and a
safe environment is the best gift we can give them. Every student in the
world should have access to a free, high-quality public education that
prepares them for life. I encourage more people from the private and public
sectors to take a more active role in education reform."

De La Hoya, whose foundation is dedicated to helping underprivileged families
in East Los Angeles, has been actively involved with his namesake school since
its inception in 2003 and has delivered the commencement speech twice. De La
Hoya is a strong believer in supporting the community and often visited the
temporary school to encourage the students to study hard and dream big.

"Oscar de la Hoya has been an incredible partner and true believer in the
Green Dot mission," said Steve Barr, Founder of Green Dot Public Schools. "He
continues to be a hero and a great role model for all the students who have
graduated and are yet to graduate from Oscar de la Hoya Animo Charter High
School."

Oscar De La Hoya Animo Charter High School has graduated 322 students in the
past three years and 72% were accepted into four-year universities. The
school was ranked 53rd among America's Best 100 High Schools by the U.S. News
and World Report in December 2008 and was named a California Distinguished
School in 2009. The school has a 96% attendance rate on a daily basis and has
won several academic competitions when competing against schools with much
higher income levels.

"Finally, we have a new beautiful campus," said Oscar de la Hoya Animo Charter
High School Principal, Dr. Harris Luu. "We will forever be thankful for
Oscar's contribution and his continued commitment to supporting public
education."

The success of the Green Dot schools, whose students score on average 113
points higher than Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) high schools on
the state of California's Academic Performance Index, is credited to the "Six
Tenets" school model. The "Six Tenets of High Performing Public Schools"
calls for schools to: 1) be safer and no larger than 500 students each; 2)
implement a college preparatory curriculum for all students; 3) empower
principals, teachers, parents and students to own all key decisions related to
budgets, curriculum and hiring; 4) add more dollars to classrooms and
significantly increase teacher pay; 5) value and support parent participation;
6) stay open later for community use.

By implementing this model, Green Dot has produced incredible results, helping
students close the achievement gap, graduate from high school and attend
four-year colleges."

About Green Dot Public Schools
Green Dot Public Schools is the leading public school operator in Los Angeles
and is dedicated to changing public education in Los Angeles so that all
children receive the educations they need to reach their dreams. It currently
operates nineteen public charter high schools in Los Angeles' highest-need
communities and one in New York. Each Green Dot school (branded "Animo"
schools) vastly outperforms comparable traditional public high schools. For
more information visit: www.greendot.org

About Oscar de la Hoya Foundation
In 1995 the Oscar de la Hoya Foundation was created to bring a better quality
of life to the people of East Los Angeles. Today, with the help of so many,
the foundation serves thousands of people annually. The Foundation offers the
Oscar de la Hoya Animo Charter High School, the Cecilia Gonzalez de la Hoya
Cancer Center and the Oscar de la Hoya Children's Medical Center, both located
at the White Memorial Hospital and numerous after school programs to help
guide young people toward leading positive lives and away from circumstances
of gang violence, juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. Visit
www.goldenboypromotions.com for more information on the Oscar de la Hoya
Foundation.

Contacts:

Tracy Mallozzi
The Rose Group
310-280-3710
323-333-2768 (cell)

Cecilia Orozco
The Rose Group
310-280-3710
310-612-6674 (cell)

For More Information on Oscar de la Hoya Foundation:

Ramiro Gonzalez/Monica Sears
Oscar de la Hoya Foundation
213-489-5631

SOURCE Green Dot Public Schools

Tracy Mallozzi, cell, +1-323-333-2768, Cecilia Orozco, cell, +1-310-612-6674,
for Green Dot Public Schools, +1-310-280-3710; or Ramiro Gonzalez or Monica
Sears, both of Oscar de la Hoya Foundation, +1-213-489-5631