In This Issue:  | | • | Steve Lopez I + II: PONYING UP FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION + SCHOOLS BEGGING, AND WE'RE ALL THE POORER FOR IT | | | • | L.A. PARENTS SAY "NO!" TO BUDGET CUTS | | | • | Senator Runner: LAUSD, NOT GOVERNOR, AT FAULT FOR BUDGET WOES | | | • | THE EFFECT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN PHILADELPHIA ON MAN IN THE MOON MARIGOLDS | | | • | HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources | | | • | EVENTS: Coming up next week... | | | • | What can YOU do? | |
Featured Links: | | | | Steve Lopez, in the second of two excellent essays on the sorry state of public education funding in California, asks the question: "What happened to the days when public education was not just valued, but was seen as a great equalizer in American society, offering a pathway to upward mobility for even the least fortunate students?"
The answer, Shakespeare says, lies not in our stars but in ourselves. Or perhaps, to quote another bard, it is blowin' in the wind.
¡Onward/Hasta adelante! —smf
_________________________
►24 LAUSD SCHOOLS HONORED AS THE ‘BEST OF THE BEST’ CALIFORNIA DISTINGUISHED SCHOOLS
District Press Release
April 9, 2008 - Los Angeles – Twenty-four elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have been recognized as 2008 California Distinguished Schools by the California Department of Education, an honor that recognizes exemplary educational programs and academic excellence.
The LAUSD elementary schools honored as 2008 California Distinguished Schools are:
Balboa Gifted/High Ability Magnet, Beckford Avenue, Beethoven Street, Calahan Street, Chatsworth Park, Coeur D’Alene Avenue, Danube Avenue, Dearborn Street, Fourth Street, Hancock Park, Haskell Elementary Math/Science Magnet, Kester Avenue/Magnet, Marquez Charter, 156th Street, Overland School for Advanced Studies, Parthenia Street, Stagg Street, Stonehurst Avenue, Superior Street, Synergy Charter Academy, Van Gogh Street, Welby Way, Wilbur Avenue and Woodland Hills.
“It is wonderful that these schools are recognized for their excellence and hard work,” said Board President Mónica García. “The educators, students and families of these schools are a model for not just the LAUSD, but the entire state.”
This year, the selection criteria from the Distinguished School program were more stringent than ever. Schools wrote a substantive narrative application and were then subject to an extensive site validation.
“These exemplary schools all have a common vision of excellence, dedication and a commitment to succeed,” said Superintendent David L. Brewer III. “I congratulate the teachers, staff, students and parents for this distinguished honor.”
The California School Recognition Program is now in its 23rd year and identifies and honors the state’s most exemplary and inspiring public school with the California Distinguished School Award.
• 4LAKids notes: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FACULTIES, PARENTS, SCHOOL COMMUNITIES AND MOSTLY THE STUDENTS AT THESE 24 SCHOOLS. Adults work very hard to apply for this distinction, (been there!) but it is the kids who earn it!
California Distinguished Elementary Schools are selected in even numbered years, secondary schools (middle and high) are recognized in even numbered years.
Steve Lopez I + II: PONYING UP FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION + SCHOOLS BEGGING, AND WE'RE ALL THE POORER FOR IT
►Steve Lopez I: PONYING UP FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
"I CAN'T HELP BUT THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF BUDGET CUTS AT SCHOOLS WHERE THERE'S NOT A CHANCE OF PARENTS RAISING ANYWHERE NEAR $180,000."
by Steve Lopez: LA Times Columnist
April 9, 2008 - Twenty-five years ago, I had a child enter kindergarten.
And now here I go again.
Yes, I take full responsibility for my actions. I just never imagined, as a native of a state with a once-great reputation for the quality of its public schools, that I'd attend a meeting like the one I attended Monday night at Ivanhoe Elementary in Silver Lake. That's where my daughter will start school in September.
The auditorium was packed; the mood somber. About 200 parents had come to hear what everyone knew would be disturbing news. An anticipated $180,000 budget shortfall might well cost three critically important Ivanhoe educators their positions at the school, though they might be transferred elsewhere.
The parents group at the school had summoned families to tell them the news. And to present an alternative: a public education that would no longer be free.
Get out your checkbooks, parents were told. All those wrapping-paper sales and pancake fundraisers wouldn't be enough. We could either pony up some hard cash, or see Ivanhoe's standing as one of L.A. Unified's best schools threatened.
"We shouldn't be here tonight," parent Perry Herman told the crowd. "Our nation chooses to bail out investment houses rather than insuring our children."
But here we were, with the Friends of Ivanhoe urging parents to pay whatever they could to cover the shortfall and save the jobs of math coach and academic advisor Lynda Rescia, technology coordinator Carlos Hernandez and literacy coach Mary Frances Smith-Reynolds.
"She knows the reading strengths and weaknesses of every child in this school," a parent named Nancy Berglass said of Smith-Reynolds, praise that was echoed by parents and teachers for both of the others.
A parent across the aisle from me wiped away tears. So did a teacher who had to interrupt her own tribute to Rescia, Hernandez and Smith-Reynolds.
The principal, Jumie Sugahara, told me she hadn't yet received final budget numbers from district headquarters and couldn't say for sure how bad the hit would be. But the parents group did some math and decided to start the fundraising drive now, assuming Ivanhoe and other high-performing schools would get bigger cuts than schools that have greater challenges.
Pay $25, if that's all you can afford, Herman said. But he pointed up to a screen encouraging parents to dig a little deeper. Those three jobs can be saved, he said, if 80 parents contribute $250 apiece, 75 contribute $500, 50 fork over $1,000, 20 give $2,000 and six bust the bank with $5,000 contributions.
Four other L.A. Unified schools have already gone this route, Herman said, citing Canyon, Wonderland Avenue, Carpenter Avenue and Mar Vista.
If anyone in the audience was shaken by the reality of public school finance in the coming year, Berglass said, they'd better brace themselves for what might follow.
"The cuts we are talking about are just the tip of the iceberg," Berglass said, explaining that LAUSD has to cut $100 million districtwide this year, but may have to trim an additional $350 million in the two years after that.
She urged parents to tap grandparents, their religious congregations and their trust funds.
For several reasons, I find this all rather extraordinary. I feel more than a little lucky to live in a good neighborhood with a great public school that parents are passionate about. At the same time, I can't help but think about the impact of budget cuts at schools where there's not a chance of parents raising anywhere near $180,000.
At nearby Micheltorena Street School, where more than 90% of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, the principal told me that of course she can't match that kind of parental support. She's hoping that given the greater needs of her students, she'll be spared harsh cuts. But like other principals, she doesn't yet know how bad the news will be.
And the cuts were initiated, as you know, by a man who has tried to pass himself off as the education governor -- a man who doesn't have to worry about the impact of budget cuts on his own children. They go to private school.
David Goldberg, an Ivanhoe parent and an official with the teachers union, stood up and told parents that in addition to opening their checkbooks and fighting for their school, they needed to participate "in a broader movement that rejects all cuts."
Goldberg said he was a student at Micheltorena in 1977, when voters approved Proposition 13, saving homeowners billions in the coming years but delivering one blow after another to funding for education and other public services.
If corporate property taxes were reassessed upon sale, as are homes, it would help fill the budget gap, Goldberg said. And if the governor hadn't scaled back the car registration fee, parents might not be forced to start paying for schools that have always been free.
Berglass suggested that parents take the rebates promised by President Bush and donate them to Ivanhoe. Not a bad idea, but when will we ever stop playing this shell game in which politicians rise to power promising prosperity without pain, even as working folks and retirees pay through the nose?
After hearing how deeply parents and teachers care about Ivanhoe, I was all the more convinced to write a check and send my daughter there.
I was sitting with Jeff Kelly, who moved into a costly fixer-upper last year just to be in the Ivanhoe neighborhood so he could avoid the cost of private school. He said he'll pony up too, although on principle he's conflicted. And so will Rob Schnapf, who noted that if he pays $1,000 a year for two his two children, it's a fraction of what he'd pay at private school.
Parent Brigid LaBonge said the take for the evening was $30,000, with more expected soon in pledge envelopes parents picked up at the door.
Only $150,000 to go.
_______________
• Welcome back Steve to the alternate reality of kindergarten parenthood. We (and your daughter) are so lucky to have you writing to us in The Times of the experience - in the tradition of the late Jack Smith and his interaction with Mount Washington School - Ivanhoe's crosstown rival at least in terms of property values and API scores.
________________
► Steve Lopez II: SCHOOLS BEGGING, AND WE'RE ALL THE POORER FOR IT
by Steve Lopez, L.A. Times columnist
April 13, 2008 - My column Wednesday about the growing cost of public education seems to have touched a nerve in a state where we've moved way, way beyond candy sales and pancake fundraisers.
If you missed it, I wrote about a meeting at the L.A. Unified elementary school my daughter will attend in the fall. More than 200 people attended, and leaders of the parents group asked us to reach for our checkbooks and help fill an anticipated $180,000 budget gap so the school doesn't lose the literacy coach, math coach and computer guy.
"Welcome to the club," wrote Mitch Lane, who said he has been asked since 1997 to donate to his daughters' public schools in La Cañada Flintridge. Without parental support, he said, "our schools would be seeking disaster relief. . . . Best wishes on shedding light on one of our state government's most embarrassing blunders -- not making education funding a priority."
And what about schools where parents can't come up with the dough, as they can at my school and Lane's?
"Our fundraising was not as fruitful," said Cynthia Santos-Decure, whose son is a student in Long Beach. "We will lose our computer instructor, librarian and only have a nurse one or two days a week. Those are just the preliminary cuts. . . . I ask myself, what's next?"
It's anybody's guess. What happened to the days when public education was not just valued, but was seen as a great equalizer in American society, offering a pathway to upward mobility for even the least fortunate students?
And there's nothing to guarantee that districts won't cut deeper at schools where they know parents can afford to make up the difference. David Tokofsky, a former Los Angeles Unified board member, predicted a civil war if middle-class and upper-middle-class schools get hit harder than low-performing schools that can't afford to get by with less.
Tokofsky said he warned district leaders there should have been a parcel tax on the ballot this year to cover massive slashing by Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $4.8-billion fleecing of the state's children -- but no one had "the guts" to tell the public the truth.
And what is that truth?
The truth is that political leaders love lying to us about what a civil society costs. They're even willing to trade our children's futures for their political futures, and California is now plummeting toward the bottom tiers in funding per pupil in the United States.
Though it might be hard for Sacramento's pols to understand, sometimes you've got to find the courage to tell yacht owners you're closing their tax loopholes, tell drivers there's a stiff price to pay for a break on the car tax, or do what Reagan and Wilson did, and raise taxes temporarily to avoid draconian cuts.
Darrin James, a teacher in Santa Ana, said teachers could be laid off by the hundreds in his district.
"State and federal governments are trying to get out of the education business. They try to blame it on teachers, students, immigration, whatever they can think of. The truth is that the pillar of free education in the world, the United States, is failing its children."
And Malcolm Sharp, president of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified board, said 60 layoff notices have gone out and parents are being asked to come up with $1.2 million by May 15.
Sharp said parents, teachers and students in his district will march to Sacramento this week to protest budget cuts and screwy funding formulas that are virtually impossible to figure out.
Sharp isn't the only one I heard from who wanted to shake a fist at Sacramento. Others were ready to start a recall of Schwarzenegger, who of course once referred to 2008 as the "year of education."
Not that he's the only target of angry teachers, parents and administrators. It is not possible to write about public education without some readers arguing that balancing budgets is as simple as eliminating bureaucracy or deporting illegal immigrants.
I'm not going to tell you there aren't a few slugs wandering the halls at L.A. Unified headquarters and other district shops. Nor would I suggest that illegal immigrants don't pose huge challenges at great cost.
As for bureaucratic and administrative fat, there's always room for a little more trimming, but nowhere near enough to offset the kind of shortages districts are looking at.
As for illegal immigrants: They're here, hell will freeze over before Washington produces a reform bill -- and until that time, the cost of educating illegal immigrants is lower than the alternative.
One more subject came up in response to my column:
Is it legal, a handful of readers asked, for parents at my daughter's school or any other to raise money that is not shared with the rest of the district?
I checked with two attorneys, former LAUSD general counsel Kevin Reed and the ACLU's Mark Rosenbaum, a member of the governor's committee on academic excellence. Both have investigated the legalities of parental support, both have written checks at public schools attended by their children, and both say there is no constitutional prohibition against it.
They both also said it's a sad state of affairs when all schools are left begging, and parents in middle-class neighborhoods, where the students already have huge advantages, are writing checks to pay for what their tax dollars once covered.
Amen.
L.A. PARENTS SAY "NO!" TO BUDGET CUTS
smf | 4LAKidsNews
Saturday, April 12, 2008 - FOUR THOUSAND PARENTS from across the Los Angeles Unified School District rallied at the 12th Annual Parent Summit today at the L.A. Convention Center - and left with a singled unified message: The budget cuts proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger are totally unacceptable.
"No cuts to education!" was the call - echoed with a heartfelt "¡Si se puede/Yes we can!" to calls for activism and resistance to the catastrophic budget reductions proposed in Sacramento.
Superintendent David Brewer addressed the crowd along with school board members and parent leaders from across the almost 700,000 student district.
His call to action was seconded by Congressman Xavier Becerra, who reminded the group that the governor and the legislature - and indeed he - are their employees and that the dictionary definition of 'constituent' is 'one who authorizes another to act as their agent'.
"Your agents are failing in Sacramento," Becerra said. "In the end parents and voters must take responsibility for having elected folks who do not send their kids to public schools …and then expecting them to respect public education."
"It cannot be about just cutting the budget," he continued. "It must be about addressing needs by raising revenues." Becerra went on to question the leadership of any officials who would propose or vote to spend $7 billion for prison hospitals - and slash education $x billion.
Keynote speaker George McKenna described the false alternative being posed in Sacramento as a 'Sophie's Choice'; leaving parents, educators and school board members to choose which children get an education -- and which are doomed to lives of ignorance. "Which kids?" he asked. "Special Ed? English learners? Poor? Black? Brown?"
Parent leaders agreed, promising to take their message to their legislator's local offices and to Sacramento:
• Children did not cause this crisis, they cannot be expected to pay for it by sacrificing their futures.
• Parents are a special interest group.
• Our special interests are the six million schoolchildren in California and each and every one of them are our children.
The Parent Summit also featured workshops and breakout sessions on Special and Gifted Education, Parenting, Advocacy, Organizing PTAs, Student Health, Nutrition, Safety and other community concerns. The Parent Summit is a joint effort of all the constituent parent groups in LAUSD, including English Language Learners, Title One, Special and Gifted Education Parents and the two districts of the State PTA; organized and put on by the parents themselves.
Senator Runner: LAUSD, NOT GOVERNOR, AT FAULT FOR BUDGET WOES
by George Runner Op-Ed in the LA Daily news
04/08/2008 - Over the past few weeks, the Los Angeles Unified School District has been lamenting the hardships that the district will face because of proposed budget cuts.
The district listed the possibilities of shutting down 22 schools (which officials claim would displace 62,000 students), laying off 6,000 employees, reducing benefits, or even shutting down the entire district for more than two weeks to make up for the shortfall.
But the budget troubles plaguing the LAUSD should come as no surprise to district officials, especially since decisions they made last year led to the troubles this year.
In March of 2007, the LAUSD agreed to a new union contract that would raise teachers' salaries by 6percent, as well as funds to reduce class sizes.
At the time, Superintendent David Brewer III admitted that this contract would create a $213million deficit for the next three years. In other words, LAUSD officials promised benefits they knew they could not afford.
The LAUSD continues to make noise about the looming budget cuts because officials would like to distract us from the systematic fiscal mismanagement that has been occurring for years.
The $95 million dysfunctional payroll system, which left many teachers overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all, comes to mind.
And it has recently been reported that attempts to fix the system might cost taxpayers between $24million and $37.5million over the next 15 years. Ironically, the system meant to save money became yet another episode of embarrassment for the district.
Recently, the district "misplaced" $400 million in computers and software for classrooms. The school district claims that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts amount to $460 million for 2008-2009, but it seems most of these cuts would have been absorbed were it not for the LAUSD's own ineptitude. This type of abject incompetence cannot be rewarded with continued funding in the absence of common-sense accountability.
Let us not forget that even as the district complains this year, during the previous five years, the LAUSD's enrollment has actually declined by nearly 40,000 students while its revenues rose by $1 billion.
So while the district howls about alleged cuts, in reality it has been receiving more resources while simultaneously dealing with fewer students.
The bureaucratic waste of the LAUSD harms the quality of education for all children, but especially those from low-income households. The longer the district resists reform, the more generations of children get cheated out of a decent education under this hapless system.
It seems disingenuous that district representatives lobby the Capitol and blame their troubles on budget cuts, yet ignore the fact that were it not for their own ineffectual "leadership," the resources they receive would be enough. The fact that they can shrug off a $400 million loss or waste tens of millions on a broken payroll system demonstrates this.
I have no objection to making sure our schools have the resources they need, and I have consistently advocated for more money reaching the classroom.
This is clearly not the case in the LAUSD.
There needs to be greater transparency and accountability in the way this district spends its money.
Without reforms, further investment would be an investment in failure.
•Sen. George Runner, R-Palmdale, is the chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus. Contact him through his Web site, http://republican.sen.ca.gov/web/17.
___________
▲4LAKids 2¢: Senator Runner, who represents 1.8% of LAUSD by enrollment - and many other school districts in Northern LA County also struggling with fiscal crisis caused by 10.5% across-the-board cuts to all school districts - blames the budget crisis on LAUSD ...and accepts none of it for poor bi-partisan (Share the pain/share the blame!) leadership from Sacramento.
THE TEACHABLE MOMENT: There is a website with an application called the CALIFORNIA BUDGET CHALLENGE where one gets to play lawmaker and balance the budget. With two clicks, rolling back the governors elimination of the so called "Car Tax" and splitting the rolls on Prop 13 - so that big corporations pay their fair share of property tax - the state returns to budget surplus.
•This is not an anti-business tax gouge, of these two fixes it is the Car Tax that returns by far the most revenue. (For real controversial thinking see Warren Buffet's comments on Prop 13 when he was Candidate Schwarzenegger's advisor!)
•This does not solve any of the issues of inadequately funding public education over time; it only solves the state's current budget deficit. Only.
Much more work needs to be done. —smf
THE EFFECT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN PHILADELPHIA ON MAN IN THE MOON MARIGOLDS
an adventure in data-driven/research-based education by smf
April 11, 2008 -- Some might find it hard to believe, but I was minding my business (rather than the school district's) answering e-mails this afternoon and came across one from EDin08, Roy Romer's political action committee to raise the level of debate about public education in the current presidential campaign.
I'm with Roy on this. I bought one of his EDin08 t-shirts, they mailed it back the next day! And then mailed another one two weeks later. Roy is my friend!
When I wear the t-shirt my wife wonders aloud if it doesn't mean "Erectile Dysfunction in '08". She is my wife.
Anyway, the EDin08 email invited me to visit the EDin08 Facebook page and I was way impressed! Facebook. I don't have a Facebook page and Roy does? This will not do.
On Roy's Facebook page I found an article by Roy. Bloggery is like that:
"A colleague of mine came across an interesting working paper published by RAND on "Evaluating the Performance of Philadelphia’s Charter Schools" and I thought I’d share it with you. The paper reports that Philadelphia has seen a dramatic increase in the number of charter schools since 1997. Beginning with only three, the school district now has over 60. The report examines the effects that charter schools have had on student achievement in Philadelphia and its results are quite impressive.
"'Charter schools have exhibited an increase in the percent of students reaching proficiency in recent years.'
"The report illustrates that the percent of charter students reaching proficiency in math increased from 24.1 percent to 46.7 percent. Student’s proficiency in science also increased from 16 percent to 45 percent.
"The creative ways in which charter schools use the additional time is instructive to policy-makers and practitioners around the nation and could explain some of the great achievement results students have gained."
Roy, I concluded, has drunk the charter school Kool Aid!
We have even more charters in L.A. than Philly - though not as many in terms of percentage of students. And the dollar-per-student is higher there, Philly charters can give more bang for more bucks. Roy opposed the charters when he got them in L.A. …but now he's read the study and been drawn into the light.
Because I'm wary of "research based" anything, I looked into who wrote the study.
A: RAND.
Q: RAND is a "think-tank-for-hire". Who paid RAND to do the study?
A: The William Penn Foundation was the primary funder
Q: 'Who are they when they're at home?' wondered I. Lickspittle toadies of the international charter school conspiracy? Billionaire developers? Or died in red wool NeoCon NCLB'ers?
A: No.
Then I read THEIR summary of the study they paid for:
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CHARTER SCHOOLS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN PHILADELPHIA?
"Not much, according to a new RAND study funded in part by the Foundation.
"Researchers at the RAND Institute examined the effect charter schools are having on student achievement in Philadelphia by looking at student performance in a variety of areas, including reading and math, as well as student turnover rates.
"In general, RAND found that achievement among Philadelphia’s charter school students was statistically indistinguishable from students at traditional public schools. They also found no evidence that neighborhood public schools facing competition from charter schools performed any differently."
Really? So I read the study.
After the first few pages of fuzzy writing, muddy prose and foggy thinking - essentially saying 'there are lots of outstanding questions about charters and we are going to address a very few of them' - I stopped.
The Penn Foundation's version is right and they should ask for their money back.
And I fear somebody slipped some caffeine into Roy's Kool Aid.
-smf
COMING SOON: The 4LAKids Facebook page!
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
• DESTROYING PUBLIC EDUCATION IN AMERICA: Is there a charter school, Voucher, Neo-Con, NCLB conspiracy against public education?
• THE DISTRICT AND THE BIG ONE: Duck and Cover - Advance notice of earthquake drills in LAUSD.
• EIGHTH GRADE WONDERS Eighth Graders in LAUSD are excelling in writing! Who knew? (Certainly not Senator Runner!)
• CORTINES CUTS HIS OWN PAY Our high hopes are hopefully not commensurate with compensation!
• TEACHERS LAUNCH BUS TOUR TO PROTEST BUDGET CUTS
• HELP WANTED: The Mayor's Partnership is advertising for help!
• TEXAS CHARTER SCHOOLS OWE $26 MILLION FOR OVERSTATING ENROLLMENT. A story that has more to do with Texas than charter schools.
• Everybody loves Ramón II: MAN FOR THE MOMENT The love just keeps coming!
• Charters+Prop 39: TURF FACE OFF MAY BE IN STORE + CHARTERS IN A TIGHT SQUEEZE - Overcrowding redux?
• SCHOOL PLANS RILE SAN PEDRO RESIDENTS
• Excerpt from: TUNE IN FOR THE RERUNS @ CITY HALL
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
FLUNK THE BUDGET / SAY NO TO THE BUDGET CUTS!
Hollywood to the Docks: BUDGET RALLY
Tuesday April 15
Manual Arts High School
4131 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90037
http://hollywoodtothedocks.org/eventdetail.asp?eventid=10
_______________
Tuesday Apr 15, 2008
Central Region Elementary School #20: Pre-Design Meeting
6:00 p.m.
Virgil Middle School - Auditorium
152 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Wednesday Apr 16, 2008
South Region Elementary School #9: Presentation of Recommended Preferred Site
6:00 p.m.
South Gate High School - Auditorium
3351 Firestone Blvd.
South Gate, CA 90280
Thursday Apr 17, 2008
Central Region Elementary School #19 and East LA High School #2: Construction Update Meeting
6:00 p.m.
Hammel Elementary School
438 N. Brannick Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Thursday Apr 17, 2008
South Region High School #8: CEQA Scoping and Schematic Design Meeting
6:00 p.m.
Heliotrope Elementary School
Auditorium
5911 Woodlawn Ave.
Maywood, CA 90270
________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
Meets Wed April 16 @ the LAUSD Boardroom
333 S. Beaudry Ave, LA 90017
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-893-6800
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383
Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600
• 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.
• Register.
• Vote.
|
