LA's BEST takes responsibility for training and supporting a staff which includes many of the most dedicated and effective after school employees in the United States. LA's BEST Corporate Management staff is located in the Office of the Mayor and work hand-in-hand with LA's BEST Operations Management staff, located within LAUSD. Field staff include site coordinators (1 per site), on-site staff (1 adult for every 20 children), and traveling program supervisors and activities consultants (assigned to clusters of 5 to 6 program sites).

Throughout its history, LA's BEST has had a proven track record of attracting staff from the neighborhoods in which its program sites are located. This "close to home" approach to recruiting brings to the program members of the community who care very much about the futures of our children and who are both geographically and culturally rooted to the community where they work. Consequently, LA's BEST program staff enjoys among the lowest turnover rates in after school programs nationwide. Many staff members have been with LA's BEST since the program's inception in 1988.

LA's BEST places a strong emphasis on staff development and training. A full-time Director of Staff Development and Director of Education work to enhance training and to focus on youth development and academic support. Our system for training and staff development is based on the premise that hired staff already know a great deal about how to work effectively with kids, especially kids from their own community. Approximately two-thirds of our staff members currently attend local colleges, many majoring in child development or education, and all of our staff members have consistently shown their dedication, creativity and talent in working with children. All training is supported by activities consultants and traveling program supervisors

New Staff

Ronnie Cavalluzzi
Student Support Services Advocate

LA's BEST is thrilled to announce a new addition to its staff, Ronnie Cavalluzzi. Cavalluzzi is the new Student Support Services Advocate who will be a resource for site staff in understanding and identifying materials, resources and strategies to support special needs children at LA's BEST. Cavalluzzi will also be responsive to principal and administrator concerns regarding children with special needs in the LA's BEST program.

Cavalluzzi has a Master*s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She also has a Masters in Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography from UCLA and a Bachelor's degree in political science from Northwestern University. Cavalluzzi has a passion for education and the arts and has previously worked as a teacher in special education at schools in Washington D.C. and California, as a dance and physical education teacher, and with various after school programs, including the theater arts program at LA's BEST. She is a member of various boards of directors, such as the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Bowen MacCauley Dance and FLASC*Family Literacy Advocates of Southern California.

Cavalluzzi long has been involved in professional dance and theater companies, participating in events such as the Getty Museum opening and the P.O.P. (Passionate Older People's) Art Festival of the City of West Hollywood. We welcome Ronnie Cavalluzzi to LA's BEST and look forward to all she brings to our special needs students and our program.