Sunday, September 26, 2004

Lies, Fear-and-Loathing ...and Red Tape!

8-Article Newsletter Template

4LAKids: Sunday, 26 September 2004
In This Issue:
APPROACHING THE AMBASSADOR
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: The President of the United States of America:
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
4LAKids Book Club for August & September—THE HUMAN SIDE OF SCHOOL CHANGE: Reform, Resistance and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation—by Robert Evans
What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
MAKING SCHOOLS WORK: Get the Book @ Amazon.com
THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee's "Paying for Schools"
FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target 5� from every federal tax dollar for Education
Last Wednesday the Daily News published a story under
the headline: "Did a lie sway school bond voters?" –
followed the next day with an editorial "Rubin's Ruse".
[links follow]

The article screeches accusations of deliberate falsehoods
against the chairman of the Bond Oversight Committee
and the same-and-worse of committee's consultant that
are impossible to refute or confirm because they quote a
confidential document that in turn cites secret testimony
(and an alleged apologetic confession of deliberate
prevarication) issued by the LAUSD Inspector General.
Neither the committee nor the accused parties have been
permitted access to this report ...even though the
document has been leaked to the Daily News!

• The "secret" report is addressed to the Board of
Education and LAUSD senior staff.
• The Bond Oversight Committee under it's charter and
memorandum of understanding with the Board of Ed is
entitled to access to all information provided the board.
• But the IG – custodian of ethics – refuses to comply.

I publicly and formally requested that the document –
whose "confidentially" has obviously been violated – be
released at a School Board Facilities Meeting on
Thursday – as did members of the school board at a
subsequent meeting on ethics. The allegations of
wrongdoing were publicly spoken of at that board
meeting. The accused parties and the Bond Oversight
Committee Counsel have also requested disclosure.

In a great moment of Orwellian Logic the Inspector
General continues to refuse – citing a need to "protect the
rights of the accused".

There is a undeniably a turf war ongoing within LAUSD
over oversight. Both the Inspector General and the
Oversight Committee are authorized as watchdogs: The
IG by the School Board; the OC by the State of
California.

The Oversight Committee in the person of Consultant
Tom Rubin discovered the infamous $600 million
overspent in the original BB modernization effort. This
money was spent on repairs, but because of inadequate
accounting in the early years of BB $600 Million more
was spent on school repairs than the voters authorized!

• Q: Did the money get spent on projects to fix, repair and
modernize schools in accordance with the voters wishes?
A: YES!
• Q: Bad accounting? A: SURE!
• Q: Unsound business practices? A: YOU BETCHA!
• Q: Inept leadership? A: EXACTLY!
• Q: Reflects poorly on the District's former Chief Financial
Officer (who let it happen) and on the Inspector General
and the District's auditors (who should have caught it)?
A: YOU TELL ME.

Tom Rubin caught this error within months of being
hired. Superintendent Romer hailed Tom's work. School
Board President Caprice Young called Tom "the foremost
forensic accountant in the business."

The problem has been corrected with much better and
more stringent audit processes, many proposed and
developed by Mr. Rubin.

But because no good deed goes unpunished, animosity
remains. This is aggravated by Rubin's whistle-blower
status with his very politically powerful and well
connected former employer: The MTA. They do not
appreciate the irregularities he identified there. MTA and
the Daily News also don't appreciate Rubin's successful
(but independent of LAUSD and the Oversight
Committee) efforts to block development of the Orange
Line in the Valley. Rubin has proven MTA's continuing
malfeasance in court documents. Like whistle-blowers
everywhere, he has not made friends!

So now, in a report purportedly about ethics at LAUSD,
the Inspector General makes secret accusations that are
promptly leaked to media but cannot be publicly disclosed
...replete with proofs, evidence and ostensible confessions
that must remain secret.

The Daily News howls and calls for the end of the
Oversight Committee. They want "true independent
oversight"!

Maybe the Star Chamber ...or perhaps The Inquisition?
Ship the Oversight Committee off to Guantanamo?

Perhaps this exceeds Orwellian. All the way to
McCarthryesque? Or is it just the usual LAUSD
Wonderlandian mantra of "couriouser and couriouser?"
—smf


LA Daily News Sep 22, 2004: Did a lie sway school bond voters?



LA Daily News Sep 23, 2004: Rubin's ruse



APPROACHING THE AMBASSADOR
"We must have education.
Not education but . . . ,
not education if . . . ,
Not education except . . . ;
we need the MOST of the BEST education it is within our power to give our children."
—Robert F. Kennedy, Los Angeles, October 21, 1966


• Letter to the Editor/LA Downtown News (9/20/04)

Dear Editor:

Thank you for a solid introductory article on the
Ambassador Hotel debate at LAUSD ("Ambassador
Battle Heats Up, Again," Sept. 13). There is a clear way
to build seats at the 23-acre school fast and economically
while preserving the historic Ambassador. Anyone who
pits the seats, their cost and timeline against preservation
is biased from the get-go. Where there is a will there is a
way.

If you want cost or timeline problems, try the Belmont
Learning Complex, which could cost the school district
over $300 million by the time it is completed. The plan to
mix preservation and schools at the Ambassador will cost
far less. Secondly, the new Belmont site adjacent to the
Belmont Learning Complex came in $30 million over
expected budget and not a peep was heard from this new
"save money" crowd. Additionally, the facilities leaders
did not even try re-bidding for a lower cost. They moved
ahead to build one high school right next to another.

Thirdly, the Science Center School at Exposition Park is
nearly $100,000 per seat and no one has complained
about this school preserving the historic Armory.
Fourthly, there was a new elementary four blocks from
the Ambassador costing $30 million for 400 kids and no
one complained until the project was folded into the
Ambassador project next door.

Fifthly, we at LAUSD still spend $20 million a year
renting conference and hotel space for training sessions in
spaces akin to the Ambassador. Finally, there is a regional
administration building for LAUSD's subdistrict near the
Ambassador; no one has ordered them out of their
expensive newly furnished site and into the Ambassador
location in order to save money and put administrators
closer to real kids. Waste and abuse can occur at LAUSD
but don't let people, whether the superintendent, a board
member or some special interests, put it all on
preservation. Kids can get seats fast at the Ambassador
and we can still preserve history, space and meaning in
Los Angeles.

It will take more creativity and common sense than is
usually shown in "tear down and build anew" plans. After
all, it has been nearly 20 years since LAUSD laid claim to
the site. Whatever delays can be noted have already
happened. The kids in the Wilshire corridor deserve the
same high quality education, architecture and attention as
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's kid gets at the elite
Archer school in Brentwood, a marvelously restored
building like the Ambassador school can be.

-David Tokofsky, LAUSD School Board

• My colleague and neighbor David Tokofsky raises some
interesting points. Personally I think he's right on some
and wrong on some; differences of opinion are what hone
our thoughts and shape new directions.

• David is flat out right on the Belmont Learning Center,
an albatross around the neck of LAUSD that still drains
the finances and morale of the District. The BLC is the
poster child for the unhappy confluence of Hubris,
Murphy's Law and The Law of Unintended
Consequences. Back in the "Bad Old Days" in the
settlement of Higuchi vs. LAUSD the District – which
wanted to charge Belmont off to the BB Bond was
instructed by the court that it had to open its books to the
original BB Bond Oversight Committee. The District
balked and instead chose to fund the BLC through other
means — in effect picking up it's marbles and going home
— keeping the books closed to oversight and
guaranteeing it's own general fund debt long into the
future. No bond funds are involved in the BLC or its
successor project, Vista Hermosa — or, for that matter:
The purchase of the District HQ at 333 S. Beaudry. The
continuing misadventures at those places persist at the
expense of the general operating (textbooks and teachers)
fund.

• The added costs at the Science Center School in
Exposition Park were born by outside funders, not
LAUSD or the bonds — most notably by the California
Science Center and the Annenberg Foundation. The
project is an exemplary joint effort bringing the District
and other public and private sector donors to the table to
build an extraordinary school that incorporates the
historic armory building. This should be the model for
restoration at the Ambassador site.

• On the "Fourthly" elementary school project nearby the
Ambassador: The District quite wisely abandoned that
proposed schoolsite when it proved impossible to relocate
a pre-school already there that served the community. We
simply cannot displace a preschool to build an elementary
school ...not in a school-deprived community like
Wilshire Center/Koreatown!

• Finally, on the Ambassador site itself : The
Superintendent's proposal – a "compromise" reached
without outside discussion or debate – is not resonating
with anyone! The "City Walk" false front facade
impersonating the old hotels' "view corridor" is a farce,
the preservation of the lobby's columns as a ruin in a
courtyard is a slap in the face and the proposal to crate
up the RFK assassination site and put in storage is a
half-hearted attempt that appeases no one. The Cocoanut
Grove has been rebuilt too many times already since it's
glory days. The Embassy Ballroom (where my parents
met!) deserves to have more than it's ceiling preserved if
it is to be preserved at all.
________________________________________

fol•ly n. 4. Architecture: a whimsical or extravagant
structure, either useless or having an appearance
completely unrelated to its purpose, built to serve as a
conversation piece, lend interest to a view, commemorate
a person or event, symbolize a religious, political or
philosophical attitude, etc.: built esp. in England in the
18th century.
— Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the
English Language. (1989)
________________________________________

David Tokofsky – echoing a proposal by American
Institute of Architects President Emeritus John Dale –
proposes that the Ambassador building be preserved; not as a hotel but as offices, conference rooms and learning labs/instruction incubator for the school district — with restoration and renovation funded from outside sources. The schools that need to be built can be built behind and around the perimeter of the hotel building. The "view corridor" can be saved – with the actual view of the actual building ...not a Hollywood false front!

This proposal has merit. It allows the needed schools to
be built on a fast track. It doesn't spend bond dollars on
preservation and it doesn't wait for outside funding to be
secured before construction can be started. It preserves
history in a city infamous for bulldozing it's past.

It may seem late in the process to say this, but it's not too
late: As ideas go, it's a good beginning for a genuine
compromise. —smf


"Ambassador Battle Heats Up, Again," Downtown News – Sept. 13 (fee required)



Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: The President of the United States of America:
" I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy
on teaching children to read and having an education
system thatÂ’s responsive to the child and to the parents, as
opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will
make America what we want it to be—a literate country
and a hopefuller country."

— George W. Bush, January 11, 2001


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• Monday Sep 27, 2004
Hillside Elementary School Playground Expansion
Ribbon-cutting Ceremony
Please join us to celebrate the completion of the playground expansion project at Hillside Elementary School!
Ceremony will begin at 1:00 p.m.
Hillside Elementary School
120 East Avenue 35
Los Angeles, CA 90031

• Tuesday Sep 28, 2004
Central Region Elementary School #18
Phase II Presentation of Recommended Preferred Site
Local District 5
At this meeting we will present and discuss the site that will be recommended to the LAUSD Board of education for this new school project.
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
28th Street Elementary School Auditorium
2807 Stanford Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90011

• Wednesday Sep 29, 2004
Local District 3
Phase III Community Meeting - Defining New School Projects
Please join us at a community meeting regarding the additional new school seats for your area.
At this meeting, you will:
* Hear about new school projects being built in your area
* Learn about new opportunities to alleviate school overcrowding
* Continue to help define new school construction projects in your community
* Find out the next steps in this process
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Audubon Middle School
4120 11th Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Ramona Elementary School Addition Pre-Construction Meeting
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Ramona Elementary School
1133 N. Mariposa Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90029

• Thursday Sep 30, 2004
Central Region Elementary School #13
Phase II Presentation of Recommended Preferred Site
Local District 3
At this meeting we will present and discuss the site that will be recommended to the LAUSD Board of education for this new school project.
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Pio Pico School Auditorium
1512 S. Arlington Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
*Dates and times subject to change.
____________________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213.241.4700
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213.633.7616


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



4LAKids Book Club for August & September—THE HUMAN SIDE OF SCHOOL CHANGE: Reform, Resistance and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation—by Robert Evans
Publisher: Jossey-Bass Paperback: 336 pages ISBN: 0787956112

This book was pressed into my hands by a senior
educator, high in the DistrictÂ’s hierarchy.

We were wary of each other. She undoubtedly viewed me
as a wild eyed parent activist — intent on upsetting the
apple cart. I am a proponent of the bottom-up reforms
espoused by William Ouchi in “Making Schools Work”; a
would-be empowerer of parents and school site
administrators.

I viewed her as the protector of the status-quo of slow,
steady improvement as measured by test scores — and
the great top-down centrally-driven bureaucracy that is
LAUSD.

WeÂ’d both be right. I have no respect whatsoever for
apple carts; I come from the film industry and apple carts
are always the first to be smashed in the big chase scene!
I press Bill OuchiÂ’s book into as many hands as I can. She
and I discussed at length the LEARN reforms at LAUSD,
a too-brief wrinkle-in-time where principals and parents
were empowered ...until the interest waned and the
political will and money ran out. Until other agendas
took hold. Time passed LEARN by before it had a chance
to work or fail.

I expected EvansÂ’ book to be an apologia for things as
they are, instead I found a truly enlightening vision of
where we are in public education and just how difficult
the very necessary change will be. I returned the borowed
copy with many thanks and bought my own.

Evans is a psychologist - and his analysis is of the
teaching profession and the business of public education.
Imagine youÂ’re a teacher. Imagine you are faced with the
challenges of the classroom, the politics of the schoolsite
and the dynamics of the administration, children, parents
and school district. Now mix in the politicians – right, left
and center – and activists, bureaucrats and theorists. All
call for every flavor of reform imaginable ...and embrace a
new one with every lunar cycle! Even if youÂ’re a good
teacher every successful practice you have and every
decision you make is second-guessed and compared to a
rubric that measures success – or lack thereof – in a new
way every day. And all the while your friends from
college are making three times more money than you!

Evans analyzes management styles and models of reform
and suggests strategies for building a framework of
cooperation between leaders of change and the people
they depend upon to implement it. He is no fan of
top-down central-control — but he truly abhors
‘change-of-the-month-club’ reform! Evans does not tell
us to be slow in school reform, only to be thoughtful,
thorough and respectful of the true instruments of change:
Those in the classroom working with young minds.

Two thumbs-up, one for Ouchi and another for Evans!

—smf

• Dr. Robert Evans is a clinical and organizational
psychologist and director of the Human Relations Service
in Wellesley, Mass. A former high school and preschool
teacher, he has consulted to hundreds of schools and
districts throughout America and around the world and
has worked extensively with teachers, administrators,
school boards, and state education officials.

• Editorial Reviews:
"A unique, superb, and penetrating analysis of the human
side of educational change. Evans knows the human
realities of change and portrays them vividly in both
individual and organizational terms. His discussion of
hope and realism in the final chapter is a gem." —Michael
Fullan, dean, Faculty of Education, University of Toronto

"Evans certainly understands what gets in the way of real
school change and what the simple, key elements are that
can make it happen. No board member, superintendent, or
school principal should make one more decision or host
one more meeting without reading this book." —Judy
Cunningham, principal, South Lake Middle School,
Irvine, Calif.

"Evans has written a realistic yet hopeful book that sets a
new standard for providing the leadership needed to
implement school improvements. An engaging and
much-needed update of the critical, but often overlooked,
human side of change." —Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Lillian
Radford Professor of Education and senior fellow, Center
for Educational Leadership, Trinity University

"School leaders will find this book realistic about the
difficulties of change, rich in practical advice about school
improvement, and useful in showing how to transcend the
limits of their own experience to practice effective
leadership." —Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent,
Boston Public Schools


Get CHOOSING EXCELLENCE from your local library, bookstore - or order it by clicking here.



What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member. Or your city councilperson, mayor, assemblyperson, state senator, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think.
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• Vote.


Contact your school board member




Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is Vice President for Education of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council.
• In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited.
• To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.
• THE 4LAKids ARCHIVE - This and past Issues are available with interactive feedback at http://4lakids.blogspot.com/

Update Profile | Unsubscribe | Confirm | Forward




Sunday, September 19, 2004

I'll 'ave 'is Spam. I luv it!

8-Article Newsletter Template
4LAKids: Sunday, September 19, 2004
In This Issue:
 •  LAUSD RESTORES AFTER SCHOOL FUNDING
 •  Daily News: AUTHORITIES BACK AWAY FROM PLEDGE - Goal of making the LAUSD a top district runs into pitfalls
 •  Politics as (Un)usual: VOTING W OFF THE ISLAND / LEAVE NO TEACHER BEHIND / HOUSE PARTIES TO DEFEND OUR SCHOOLS
 •  Back2School: BACKPACK SAFETY TIPS
 •  EVENTS: Coming up next week...
 •  4LAKids Book Club for August & September—THE HUMAN SIDE OF SCHOOL CHANGE: Reform, Resistance and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation—by Robert Evans
 •  What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
 •  MAKING SCHOOLS WORK: Get the Book @ Amazon.com
 •  THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee's
 •  FIVE CENTS MAKES SENSE FOR EDUCATION- Target 5 cents from every federal tax dollar for Education
Welcome back to LAUSD staff and retirees who have not
been receiving 4LAKids for the past few months ...about 25% of our subscriber base! For those of you who thought 4LAKids had ceased publication for some reason: Think again ...or: Dream on!
4LAKids has been here all along ...tilting @ windmills!

LAUSD e-mail servers with e-mail addresses ending with
lausd.12.ca.us, lausd.net and laschools.org have
automatically been blocking 4LAKids as “spam” –
apparently since LAUSD changed its e-mail software
early last year. Last February the laschools.org (the
Facilities Division e-mail server) began “bouncing”
4LAKids - sending it back undelivered. However the
lausd.k12.ca.us and lausd.net servers (handing the senior
staff, administration and educational end) simply deleted
4LAKids - the messages vanished into the ether and no
one - sender or addressee - knew the better!

I truly donÂ’t believe this was a plot to quash the First
Amendment and silence 4LAKids and as much as it was
some overaggressive anti-spam software programming. I
certainly understand that the District - which assigns
e-mail accounts to students as well as teachers and
employees - must be vigilant against e-mail abuse.
However, sometimes people have to monitor the software
and the hardware ...and once the good people in
LAUSDÂ’s Information Technology Department became
involved this problem sorted itself out quickly. Thank
you!

• If you missed past issues of 4LAKids you can check
them out at 4LAKids.blogspot.com.
• And if you agree with the software that 4LAKids IS
SPAM you can delete yourself from the mailing list
once-and-for- all by hitting the UNSUBSCRIBE button
at the end of this and every issue of 4LAKids.
• One person’s spam is another person’s journalism: In
the immor(t)al words of Third Monty Python Viking from
the Left : “I’ll ‘ave ‘is spam! I luv it!!!” —smf


Past Issues



LAUSD RESTORES AFTER SCHOOL FUNDING
• “Don’t it always seem to be that you don’t know what
you’ve got ‘till it’s gone?”

This is another of those stealth budget cuts that no one
noticed until the unintended consequences bit them on the
butt. And isnÂ’t it interesting that the money to restore
unpopular cuts can always be found?

Isn’t it interesting that there is a “surplus” at all — let
alone $140 million left over – after last year’s
cut-to-the-bone budget? ThatÂ’s $187 for every child in
the District!

Maybe ‘interesting’ is too kind a word!

Hopefully the District will also ‘find’ the after school
program money for “Professional Development/Early
Dismissal” Tuesdays ....otherwise children will STILL be
unsupervised after school! —smf


Daily News: LAUSD RESTORES DAY-CARE FUNDING

By Jennifer Radcliffe - Staff Writer

Prompted by a deluge of phone calls from angry parents
and community leaders, Los Angeles Unified School
District officials agreed on Friday to restore an hour of
after-school care that had been cut to save money.

The Daily News reported Tuesday that the district had
given parents just two days' notice that it was shortening
the hours of its Beyond the Bell after-school program in
order to save about $3 million.

After being flooded by phone calls protesting the change,
officials realized that the shortened hours -- children had
to be picked up by 5 p.m. rather than 6 p.m. -- put some
of the 50,000 students who use the program in danger of
being left unsupervised.

"Whether it's one kid or 100, you can't just put kids out
on the street," said John Liechty, associate superintendent
of Beyond the Bell programs.

The hour should be reinstated by the end of September,
officials said.

"We are pleased to be able to return to our previous
schedule," Superintendent Roy Romer said in a statement.
"We fully understand that we must accommodate the
needs of parents in their very demanding time schedules."

School board member Jon Lauritzen said he was surprised
by the number of calls and e-mails his office received from
parents who were upset by both the shortened hours and
last-minute notice.

"I didn't realize just how many people were impacted by
this."

The LAUSD will use about $2 million in surplus Title 1
federal funding -- provided to help educate economically
disadvantaged students -- to restore the hour at 540
eligible elementary and middle schools. Grant money will
pay to add back the hour at 46 other schools.

Because federal money is being added to the mix, the
LAUSD will have to add an academic component to what
had previously been a supervised play program.

"We will add a homework assistance program," Liechty
said. "We'll do some reading and literacy programs."

While there isn't enough money to provide individualized
tutoring, this will at least provide students a quiet, well-lit
place to study, he said.

The Title 1 money will be allocated from the
approximately $140 million in funds carried over from last
year. Some criticized the district for not allocating all the
money last year.

"We were all flabbergasted" by the high ending balance,
Lauritzen said. "It was a little disconcerting, to say the
least."

Board and district officials said Friday that they are
looking into the substantial carry-over, which Lauritzen
said he'd like to use to hire more teachers and counselors
for impoverished schools.

Valerio Street School Principal Judy Franks said she's
thrilled that the district freed up money to restore the
extra after-school hour. Working parents at her school
needed the after-school care so much that Franks opted to
use about $9,000 of the campus budget to keep the
previous Beyond the Bell schedule in place.

"I'm delighted. I knew, in my community, that 5 p.m. was
just not doable," she said. "I'll be looking forward to
getting my money back."


Daily News: AUTHORITIES BACK AWAY FROM PLEDGE - Goal of making the LAUSD a top district runs into pitfalls
By Jennifer Radcliffe - Staff Writer

Thursday, September 16, 2004 -

Los Angeles Unified School District officials have backed
down from a highly publicized pledge to become one of
the nation's top urban districts, saying it's too difficult to
compare themselves with their peers.

After announcing the goal to nearly 2,000 campus leaders
at last month's State of the District meeting, board
members now say trying to develop a relevant ranking
would distract from the district's basic problems: high
dropout rates and wide achievement gaps.

"It was a great sound bite, but ... we really need to focus
on our own challenges here," said Marlene Canter, the
board's vice president.

But board members insist they will set high-reaching
goals as they adopt a mission statement and set specific
performance targets by the end of the year. They expect
to present their ideas to the public at town hall meetings
in November.

"It's an absolutely basic step for the board to have a
vision," board President Jose Huizar said. "The process
itself is just as important as the product."

In an editorial published in the Daily News on July 7,
Huizar said the LAUSD hoped to develop a plan that
would enable its students to perform among the top 10
percent of those in other urban districts. Both he and
Superintendent Roy Romer reiterated the goal at a State
of the District address in late August.

While teachers and principals welcomed the challenge, the
board started to realize the pitfalls of the "top 10 percent"
goal in discussions this month.

"They sort of jumped the gun. They got a little excited,"
Canter said of Huizar and Romer's announcement.

While the board still wants high goals, they've found it's
nearly impossible to rank school districts, officials said.

"There's certainly no noncontroversial ranking of districts
that's out there," said Jon Fullerton, vice president of
strategy, evaluation, research and policy for the Urban
Education Partnership, an independent, not-for-profit
organization.

The LAUSD could use the National Assessment of
Educational Progress assessment test, but it's not aligned
with California standards, he said. Results of the SAT
college entrance exam and Advanced Placement tests also
aren't good measures.

Board member David Tokofsky said he supports the
board putting in the work to develop a national standard
for comparison.

"It may be as hard as comparing (baseball) teams from the
American League and the National League, but in the
end, they're going to play in the World Series -- just like
the children of L.A. will have to compete in the big league
of work with the children of New York and Philadelphia."

George Clowes, a senior fellow with the nonprofit
Heartland Institute, said the debate over measures is a
distraction. School districts know the proven techniques,
including offering choices such as vouchers and charter
schools, that improve the quality of education.

"Talk is cheap and I guess most elected officials like to
say things that sound good," he said.


Politics as (Un)usual: VOTING W OFF THE ISLAND / LEAVE NO TEACHER BEHIND / HOUSE PARTIES TO DEFEND OUR SCHOOLS
All politics are local and 4LAKids is about the most local
of politics. It was the politics of the elementary school
that got me engaged - the dynamic of parents, kids,
teachers and community working on a common mission:
The education of the neighborhoodÂ’s children. My child,
your child. The children of the village.

I have since been drawn in deeper than that ...and further
afield; into the deep, dark, downtown world of the school
district headquarters, the superintendent and the board of
ed. Into multi-billion dollar bond issues and
six-hundred-million-dollar cost overruns; into policy and
strategic execution plans and debates over standardized
testing. But always, ALWAYS itÂ’s about a local school -
that place where oneÂ’s own child and the children one
knows is supposed to be getting an education — that
takes center stage.

But things happen – good things and bad things – in other
arenas that effect our local schools. Decisions in
Sacramento and Washington drive what happens or
doesnÂ’t happen in our neighborhood schools; decisions in
other places can-and-do change test scores! And to
ignore them - or pretend that they are beyond our control
- is a perilous course.

No Child Left Behind, the Bush AdministrationÂ’s federal
education reform plan is an unmitigated disaster. It is not
a disaster because itÂ’s a poor idea or bad policy; itÂ’s a
disaster because it teeters in the nether-world between
unfunded-and-underfunded; between bait and switch. ItÂ’s
all stick and no carrot – a cruel hoax – not on the
taxpayer (because a great deal of our taxes ARENÂ’T
being spent on it!) but on the school children of this
nation (the ones who will ultimately pay the bill for all the
stuff the government IS getting ...but putting on the old
credit card!).

It makes a promise: “No Child Left Behind” that is truly
laudable; it MUST be good, it feels good just to say it!
NCLB sets important goals and high priorities. There was
an advertising slogan a while back that says it all: “You
get what you pay for” ...and the Bush Administration has
been consistently reducing itÂ’s investment in NCLB ever
since it enacted the legislation. This year itÂ’s cut $9.4
billion further. In addition entire plans for arts education,
parents and pre-school childrenÂ’s literacy and dropout
prevention are eliminated!

Trapped on a desert island with George W. Bush and
John F. Kerry I’d probably vote ‘em both off the island!
Both would be charming company IÂ’m sure, but IÂ’m tired
of the war stories. The future is not about Vietnam or
Iraq — those both are already history!

The future is about the kid who canÂ’t read and the teacher
who canÂ’t help. The future is about opportunity and hope.
The future is the dividend our children earn by our
investing in them now. They donÂ’t pay us back, they pay
THEIR kids back! We need to invest money in buildings
and textbooks and teachers NOW ...and not in that order!
We need to invest our human capital and our sweat
equity. We need to think hard and come up with good
ideas — and then we need to work hard to make them
happen.

Voting ‘em both off the island isn’t an option, so I say for
for this episode we form an alliance and vote W off.

Sorry George, the tribe has spoken! —smf
____________________________________________

BUSHÂ’S CUT-AND-SPEND PLAN IS MATH-CHALLENGED

— Headline in Today’s LA Times

____________________________________________

T W O • W A Y S • Y O U • C A N • H E L P:

• LEAVE NO TEACHER BEHIND

TODAY – Sunday, September 19 — 3-6 PM
A Fundraiser Honoring Mary Rose Ortega ,2004 Winner
of the Ted Bass Award Recognizing an Outstanding
Teacher in Politics
Galleria Mundo
4022 Figueroa
Los Angeles, CA 90042


Special Guests include:
Congressman Xavier Becerra
Los Angeles Community College Board Trustee, Mona
Field
LAUSD School Board Member, David Tokofsky
UTLA President, John Perez
Kevin De Leon
Candidate for Judge, Donna Groman

Live entertainment by
THE GREGER WALNUM BLUES BAND
Suggested Donation: $25
Make Checks Payable to "Northeast Democratic HQ
PAC"


• HOUSE PARTIES TO DEFEND OUR SCHOOLS
The Bush administration has tried desperately to build the
appearance of progress on public education. But the
reality is that the White House and Congress continue to
shortchange our schools -- cutting billions of dollars
promised to our kids while burdening local districts with
new costs and new bureaucracy. And now, instead of
coming to the rescue of desperate school districts, a
memo leaked from the president's budget office reveals
Bush plans for even deeper cuts in nearly every education
program.
It is time to hold Washington's feet to the fire, time to end
the pattern of broken promises and get serious about our
schools.
Next week, on Wednesday September 22nd, MoveOn.org
will join more than 40 groups in co-hosting house parties
across the nation. The goal is to highlight the failures of
our national leadership on public education, and to begin
to build solutions. More than 2000 house parties are
already planned. With your help we will build the largest
national mobilization for public schools ever.
Despite his lip service, President Bush is NOT taking the
action our schools need. Washington is handing out tax
breaks to millionaires while forcing school districts to lay
off teachers. And while our tax dollars fund school
construction in Iraq, Congress has slashed the budget for
school construction here at home.
The facts speak for themselves:
More American children than ever are pouring
into already overcrowded schools.
Many attend their first day of school without the
preschool education so vital to learning.
America now faces the largest wave of teacher
retirements in our history, while young teachers
leave the classroom at alarming rates.
14 million children are home alone after school,
but after-school programs are the first to be cut in
the current budget crunch.
College costs are soaring, but loan and grant
programs are not keeping up.
The only way great public schools will become a REAL
priority in Washington is when teachers, parents, students
and concerned citizens join together to demand that
empty rhetoric be replaced with results. That's what
Wednesday night's house parties are all about.

Join us in this exciting movement to change America's
schools. We're growing, one living room at a time!


Sign up for the house party in your neighborhood by clicking here. Or go to www.greatpublicschools.org



Back2School: BACKPACK SAFETY TIPS
ThereÂ’s probably a notice about the PTA membership
drive at the school ....but also check to see that your child
isnÂ’t carrying too much weight. Statistically kazillions of
schoolchildren are injured each year by carrying
too-heavy backpacks!

The 15% rule (below) becomes interesting - especially as
an average history or biology textbook runs six or seven
pounds!

(There is actually pending legislation in Sacramento
limiting textbook weight!) —smf

• Choose Right: The proper size backpack is 75 percent
of the length of the childÂ’s back - approximately the
distance between the shoulder blades and the waist.

• Pack Right: The maximum weight of the loaded
backpack should not exceed 15 percent of the childÂ’s
body weight. (a sixty-five pound child should carry only
9¾ lbs, a 100 pound child should carry only 15 lbs.) Pack
only what you need for the day. If the backpack forces
the wearer to lean forward to carry, itÂ’s overloaded!

• Don’t use just one shoulder strap. Use both shoulder
straps. They should be snug but not too tight.

• Make sure that pens, pencils and other sharp objects are
stored in a safe spot so they donÂ’t poke through and
injure the wearer or someone else.

• When lifting the backpack follow these procedures:
1. Face the pack.
2. Bend at the knees.
3. Using both hands, check the weight of the pack.
4. Lift with your legs. Apply one shoulder strap at a time.
Avoid slinging the pack onto your back.

And roller backpacks, though “un-kewl” and noisy in the
hallway, make tons oÂ’ sense!


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
NOTE: The public debate about the future of the
Ambassador Hotel and LAUSDÂ’s mission to site schools
at that location begins in earnest this week.

• Tuesday evening Sept 21st there will be a public briefing
at Berendo Middle School. (see below)

• Wednesday morning Sept 22nd a special committee of
the Bond Oversight Committee will hear the issue in the
LAUSD Boardroom at 10AM.

Check BOC website [http://www.laschools.org/bond/] for details.

________________________________________
• Tuesday Sep 21, 2004
Central Los Angeles New Learning Center No. 1 aka
Ambassador Community Update Meeting

Please join us at a community meeting with School Board
President José Huizar regarding the new school project at
the Ambassador Hotel Site.

At this meeting you will learn about:
* Status of the project and timeline
* The Construction Alternative that Facilities Staff will
recommend to the LAUSD Board of Education
* Next steps in this process
* How you and the entire community needs to get
involved!

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Berendo Middle School Auditorium
1157 S. Berendo Street
Los Angeles, CA 90006


• Wednesday Sep 22, 2004
Central Los Angeles High School #11 aka Vista Hermosa
Pre-Demolition Meeting

6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Plasencia Elementary School
1321 Cortez Street
Los Angeles, CA 90026



Oxnard Elementary School Addition Pre-Construction
Meeting

6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Oxnard Elementary School
10912 Oxnard Street
North Hollywood, CA 91606

• Thursday Sep 23, 2004

East Los Angeles High School #1 Schematic Design
Meeting

Please join us for a community meeting regarding the
design for East Los Angeles High School #1.

At this meeting we will:
* Review community suggestions and comments from the
previous meeting
* Present schematic design
* Collect community input on the design of the project

6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Utah Street Elementary School Auditorium
255 Gabriel Garcia Marquez St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033

• Friday Sep 24, 2004
San Miguel Elementary School Playground Expansion
Ribbon-cutting Ceremony

Please join us to celebrate the completion of the
playground expansion project at San Miguel Elementary
School!

Ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m.

San Miguel Elementary School
9801 San Miguel Avenue
South Gate, CA 90280

*Dates and times are subject to change.
____________________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213.241.4700
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213.633.7616


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



4LAKids Book Club for August & September—THE HUMAN SIDE OF SCHOOL CHANGE: Reform, Resistance and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation—by Robert Evans
Publisher: Jossey-Bass Paperback: 336 pages ISBN: 0787956112

This book was pressed into my hands by a senior
educator, high in the DistrictÂ’s hierarchy.

We were wary of each other. She undoubtedly viewed me
as a wild eyed parent activist — intent on upsetting the
apple cart. I am a proponent of the bottom-up reforms
espoused by William Ouchi in “Making Schools Work”; a
would-be empowerer of parents and school site
administrators.

I viewed her as the protector of the status-quo of slow,
steady improvement as measured by test scores — and
the great top-down centrally-driven bureaucracy that is
LAUSD.

WeÂ’d both be right. I have no respect whatsoever for
apple carts; I come from the film industry and apple carts
are always the first to be smashed in the big chase scene!
I press Bill OuchiÂ’s book into as many hands as I can. She
and I discussed at length the LEARN reforms at LAUSD,
a too-brief wrinkle-in-time where principals and parents
were empowered ...until the interest waned and the
political will and money ran out. Until other agendas
took hold. Time passed LEARN by before it had a chance
to work or fail.

I expected EvansÂ’ book to be an apologia for things as
they are, instead I found a truly enlightening vision of
where we are in public education and just how difficult
the very necessary change will be. I returned the borowed
copy with many thanks and bought my own.

Evans is a psychologist - and his analysis is of the
teaching profession and the business of public education.
Imagine youÂ’re a teacher. Imagine you are faced with the
challenges of the classroom, the politics of the schoolsite
and the dynamics of the administration, children, parents
and school district. Now mix in the politicians – right, left
and center – and activists, bureaucrats and theorists. All
call for every flavor of reform imaginable ...and embrace a
new one with every lunar cycle! Even if youÂ’re a good
teacher every successful practice you have and every
decision you make is second-guessed and compared to a
rubric that measures success – or lack thereof – in a new
way every day. And all the while your friends from
college are making three times more money than you!

Evans analyzes management styles and models of reform
and suggests strategies for building a framework of
cooperation between leaders of change and the people
they depend upon to implement it. He is no fan of
top-down central-control — but he truly abhors
‘change-of-the-month-club’ reform! Evans does not tell
us to be slow in school reform, only to be thoughtful,
thorough and respectful of the true instruments of change:
Those in the classroom working with young minds.

Two thumbs-up, one for Ouchi and another for Evans!

—smf

• Dr. Robert Evans is a clinical and organizational
psychologist and director of the Human Relations Service
in Wellesley, Mass. A former high school and preschool
teacher, he has consulted to hundreds of schools and
districts throughout America and around the world and
has worked extensively with teachers, administrators,
school boards, and state education officials.

• Editorial Reviews:
"A unique, superb, and penetrating analysis of the human
side of educational change. Evans knows the human
realities of change and portrays them vividly in both
individual and organizational terms. His discussion of
hope and realism in the final chapter is a gem." —Michael
Fullan, dean, Faculty of Education, University of Toronto

"Evans certainly understands what gets in the way of real
school change and what the simple, key elements are that
can make it happen. No board member, superintendent, or
school principal should make one more decision or host
one more meeting without reading this book." —Judy
Cunningham, principal, South Lake Middle School,
Irvine, Calif.

"Evans has written a realistic yet hopeful book that sets a
new standard for providing the leadership needed to
implement school improvements. An engaging and
much-needed update of the critical, but often overlooked,
human side of change." —Thomas J. Sergiovanni, Lillian
Radford Professor of Education and senior fellow, Center
for Educational Leadership, Trinity University

"School leaders will find this book realistic about the
difficulties of change, rich in practical advice about school
improvement, and useful in showing how to transcend the
limits of their own experience to practice effective
leadership." —Thomas W. Payzant, superintendent,
Boston Public Schools


Get CHOOSING EXCELLENCE from your local library, bookstore - or order it by clicking here.



What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member. Or your city councilperson, mayor, assemblyperson, state senator, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think.
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• Vote.


Contact your school board member



Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is Vice President for Education of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is also the elected Youth & Education boardmember on the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council.
• In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited.
• To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.
 Â• THE 4LAKids ARCHIVE - This and past Issues are available with interactive feedback at http://4lakids.blogspot.com/

 Update Profile  |  Unsubscribe  |  Confirm  |  Forward