4LAKids: Special - MARCH ON CITY HALL!

4LAKids: Special MARCH ON CITY HALL! In This Issue: • PARENTS (& Others) MARCH ON CITY HALL: Thursday August 24th - 9AM - BE THERE 4LAKids! • NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION: GALLUP POLL DELIVERS STRONG MESSAGE ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC'S DISTASTE FOR MAYORAL TAKEOVER • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • READING TO KIDS: Read to some kids the second Saturday morning each month. Make a difference. Change some lives (including your own!). • The Blueprint for Effective School Reform: MAKING SCHOOLS WORK — Get the Book @ Amazon.com! • THE BEST RESOURCE ON CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING ON THE WEB: The Sacramento Bee's series • 4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc. PARENTS (& Others) MARCH ON CITY HALL: Thursday August 24th - 9AM - BE THERE 4LAKids! Parents, Taxpayers, Community Members, Teachers, Concerned Citizens, Concerned Non-Citizens & Students Who Are Not In School: JOIN OUR MARCH TO SAVE OUR SCHOOLS! NO MAYORAL TAKEOVER! WE ARE MARCHING THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2006 FROM PERSHING SQUARE TO CITY HALL CALLING ALL CONCERNED TAXPAYERS!!!! YES, PARENTS ARE TAXPAYERS, TOO !! YES, PARENTS ARE VOTERS, TOO!! ...AND YES, KIDS MATTER!! ASSEMBLING AT 9:00 A.M.AT PERSHING SQUARE NEAR THE RED LINE STATION AIN'T NO STOPPING US NOW! WE'RE ON THE MOVE!" STOP AB 1381 FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: DR. PRINCESS SYKES - (323) 610-9651 ROSALIA (310) 261-2260 HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT OUR CITY STREETS LOOK LIKE JUST LESS THAN A MILE FROM CITY HALL? IS THIS WHAT OUR SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE? MR. MAYOR, CLEAN UP OUR CITY BEFORE YOU TRY TO TAKE OVER OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT!!!!!!!!! SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS: BE THERE! If you need transportation buses will leave Audubon Middle School Century Park Elementary School and the Parent Community Services Branch on Cesar Chavez at 8:30 AM! Bus Info: 213.241-6382 Map NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION: GALLUP POLL DELIVERS STRONG MESSAGE ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC'S DISTASTE FOR MAYORAL TAKEOVER This just in: Press Release from nsba.org Alexandria, Va. – August 22 – Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, said that the 38th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools released today delivers a strong message about the importance of local communities and local governance. In a commentary invited and published by PDK as part of this year’s poll, Bryant noted that the poll continues to reflect “that the closer the public is to its schools, the higher it rates them. Interestingly, we see that a majority of the public prefers that local school boards have the greatest influence over what is taught in the public schools. School boards need to set local high academic goals that reflect state and national standards and also incorporate the needs and desires of their local communities. “Further,” Bryant said in her commentary, “the poll shows the public’s distaste emerge for mayoral interference as nearly 70 percent of the public opposes having a mayor take over the public schools even as an answer to turning around low-performing schools. This public sentiment aligns closely with a recent policy adoption by our governing body that strongly opposed mayoral takeovers. Instead, mayors should work on other factors that impact academics such as crime, housing costs, and health care.” She also noted that pre-school comes to the forefront this year, as a majority of respondents say that they would be willing to pay more taxes for funding preschool programs for children from low-income or poverty-level households. This is a dramatic increase over past years’ numbers and emphasizes the value the public puts on early childhood education. Bryant noted that “The public continues to see funding as the biggest problem for public schools, which remains a concern for all of us as Congress backs away from its promise to fully fund programs that can make a difference for children who desperately need help.” This reinforces the results of NSBA’s own poll of 1,200 likely voters in which 70 percent of respondents said that Congress should restore funding for No Child Left Behind and special education programs in next year’s budget to the authorized levels. To read the details of this year’s PDK/Gallup Poll, please visit http://www.pdkintl.org. • The National School Boards Association is a national federation of state school boards associations that represent more than 95,000 school board members who govern the nation’s public schools. The organization’s mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education throughout the United States through local school board leadership. FROM THE REPORT: 1) FINDINGS: a) While 58% still prefer that the local school board make decisions as to what is taught in local schools, that percentage is down from 68% in 1980. b) The shift has been in the direction of the state level, where the percentage has grown from 15% to 26%. c) The percentage saying the federal government should have the greatest influence has gone up from 9% to 14%. d) Contracting out the operation of entire public school systems is now approved by 24% of respondents, down from 31% in 2002. e) Having the mayor take over control of schools with a large number of low-performing students is favored by only 29%. CONCLUSION: The public's preference is that the local school board make decisions about what the schools teach. Of those favoring decisions at the state or federal level, two-thirds opt for the state. True to its preference for change through the existing school system, the public opposes contracting with private firms for the operation of schools and having mayors take over schools with large numbers of low-performing students. What can YOU do? BE THERE AND MARCH 4LAKids! Bring Water. Wear Sunscreen. Wear a Hat. Be Right and Righteous! ►CONTACT YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON AND STATE SENATOR [link below to find them]. Tell them what you think about their wasting their time, effort and the taxpayer's money on the mayor's attempt at takeover or makeover – an effort that is patently unconstitutional and will never survive a court challenge. Their time, the mayor's time, the board of education's time – all of our time, thinking and hard work - is better spent working together rather than at odds to continue and support the very real efforts at reform already begun. Their time is better spent helping LAUSD find a new superintendent, guaranteeing an improved funding stream for all California schools and helping kids in the classroom, on the playground; during, before and after school. • LAUSD ASSEMBLY DELEGATION Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Montanez@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Levine@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Pavley@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Koretz@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Frommer@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Liu@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Nunez@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Bass@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Ridley-Thomas@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Chu@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.DeLaTorre@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Richman@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Horton@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Lieu@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Karnette@assembly.ca.gov Assemblymember.Oropeza@assembly.ca.gov • LAUSD SENATE DELEGATION Senator.Alarcon@senate.ca.gov Senator.Scott@senate.ca.gov Senator.Cedillo@senate.ca.gov Senator.Kuehl@senate.ca.gov Senator.Romero@senate.ca.gov Senator.Vincent@senate.ca.gov Senator.Murray@senate.ca.gov Senator.Lowenthal@senate.ca.gov Senator.Bowen@senate.ca.gov Senator.Escutia@senate.ca.gov • TO DETERMINE WHO YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON & SENATOR IS & GET THEIR ADDRESS PHONE & FAX NUMBERS: http://192.234.213.69/smapsearch/framepage.asp • E-mail, call or write your school board member: Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Mike.Lansing@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Jon.Lauritzen@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 David.Tokofsky@lausd.net • 213-241-6383 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! Call or e-mail Governor Schwarzenegger: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ • 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. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or 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. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids. • FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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