Frustration at Fremont High
![Teacher Joel Vaca reacts as the bell signaling the end of class rings at the wrong time.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5869431/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F88%2F58%2F5e6a5f12e0fc04313f4aa4f1c810%2Fla-fremont-gz1sufke.jpg)
Teacher Joel Vaca reacts as the bell signaling the end of class rings at the wrong time. (AL SEIB / LAT)
![Yawning Student](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e5ebbc8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc6%2Fe1%2F6f6b28d2cada99a264d62f407b07%2Fla-fremont-gz1swxke.jpg)
Light from an overhead projector casts the shadow of a yawning student in a basic reading classroom. (AL SEIB / LAT)
!['Hall of Fame' logo](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d25eb82/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2F28%2F95ff1aa52f23a56b34c50ace6874%2Fla-fremont-gz1sv0ke.jpg)
A “Hall of Fame” logo adorns a hall at Fremont High School, where most students don’t reach their senior year. (AL SEIB / LAT)
![Principal Margaret Roland](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d7e3764/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F31%2F99%2F22caf52f78f121417d3d408775c3%2Fla-fremont-gyp35vke.jpg)
Principal Margaret Roland, shown in the quad area at Fremont High, is tasked with implementing state-mandated reforms. (AL SEIB / LAT)
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![Ray](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/897ad23/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe2%2Fc6%2F57cbb8f37ab8e1ee96cfe696abff%2Fla-fremont-gxlvhrke.jpg)
Concerns about the quality of education at Fremont prompted Dolores Torres to transfer her son Ray Torres, 15, to Mark Keppel High in Alhambra, where the academic bar is higher. (LUIS SINCO / LAT)
![Auditor](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b220f8c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x300+0+0/resize/400x300!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7f%2Fd7%2F6ca7d1b20762966d6516827054dd%2Fla-fremont-gn684ike.jpg)
Audit team leader Gordon Jackson talks with Fremont students during a visit to the school last winter. After spending five days observing classes and interviewing students, parents, teachers and administrators, Jackson said his team felt “blown away.” School officials, he said, were “faltering right and left.” (GENARO MOLINA / LAT)