Sunday, November 09, 2008

Firsts.


4LAKids: Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008
In This Issue:
Rooney Redux: “WHAT PART OF ‘UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A MINOR’ IS IT THAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND?”
Having your Kate… and Edith too: SCHWARZENEGGER SEEKS TAX BREAKS FOR MOVIE AND TV PRODUCTION WHILE PROPOSING TO RAISE SALES AND OTHER TAXES
EDUCATION LEADERS AND EARTHQUAKE EXPERTS CELEBRATE PARTICIPATION OF THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS IN "THE GREAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHAKEOUT"
Q, RATED: WHY THE LAUSD BOND PASSED, AND BIG
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:
FLUNK THE BUDGET, NOT OUR CHILDREN Website
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: an investment we can't afford to cut! - The Education Coalition Website
4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!
4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc.
A pundit last week observed that Tuesday's election has produced the nation's first Hawaiian president.

In 1962 - the year Barack Obama was born in Honolulu - I spent the final week of school in the auditorium of Joseph LeConte Junior High, waiting for the next thing to happen. Our work was done, our permanent records sealed, tests taken, our books returned; we were in "graduation rehearsals' — a metaphor for our academic careers for the previous three years.

I was a troubled kid. If I had a hero it was JFK - whose tragedy had not yet played out - the only president I have ever framed a picture of. I was the always-a-suspect-but-never-caught provocateur who had spent middle school testing the limits personified by Le Conte's Boys Vice Principal - a hapless petty martinet who carried a reserve police officer badge and thought that his true calling. Hollywood High awaited, the Boys VP there was a totally unhappy major martinet of the same stripe. The Authorities LAUSD presented to be Questioned in the early sixties were not up to task.

I spent that week in the auditorium reading James Michener's Hawai'i - a historical novel of monumental scope, populated with larger-than-life adults behaving both audaciously and adulterously. The book was taken away from me at some point by a moral guardian. I was reprimanded for reading such smut - endangering the likelihood getting my diploma. Another idle threat wasted, I wrapped the banned tome in a Le Conte book cover and read on when it was returned.

Hawai'i the novel, bawdy and adulterous; a good story well told, is bookended by two chapters that changed - if not my life - my way of looking at it.

The first chapter, "From the Boundless Deep", is unpopulated with human life but overflows with life at the pinnacle of narrative description - it isgeologically, biologically and zoologically alive - and as transcendent of reality - as a piece of literature can be. A post-Darwinian creation myth, written by a novelist at the top of his game. Melville wrote a better novel but never a finer chapter.

And the final chapter, "The Golden Men" narrates a vision of the future - an anti-apocalypse to the opening anti-genesis. It is the story of the multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial utopia - the families and the cultures and the people merged - that Hawai'i can become/has become/will become. Who the narrator is - who the hero of the previous thousand pages is, is unresolved until the final lines.

It could well be Barack Obama.

¡Onward/Hasta adelante! -smf


The Budget is a mess. Again. So "A State Without a Budget, A Government Without a Clue" - 4LAKids' blog about the budget and lack thereof is back.



Rooney Redux: “WHAT PART OF ‘UNLAWFUL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A MINOR’ IS IT THAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND?”
opinion by smf | 4lakids

In the PILLSBURY REPORT LAUSD’s hired gun/outside counsel $209,000. Investigation of the Rooney Matter [see http://4lakidsnews.blogspot.com/2008/11/3-from-homeroom-rooney-redux.html] where an alleged serial child molester allegedly serially molested his way thought three schools in Local District 7 - blame for allowing Rooney's alleged further predations is assigned to Dan Isaacs, then the District’s Chief Operating Officer for the memo he sent out following Rooney’s initial arrest.

The report finds that Isaacs did not make clear the allegation that Rooney was a suspected child molester.

The ‘smoking gun’ part of the Isaacs Memo - the part that supposedly doesn't make it clear - says: “Mr. Rooney was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon in an incident that occurred on January 1, 2007. LAPD is also investigating allegations that he had an unlawful sexual relationship with a minor.”

ANY AND EVERYONE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MEMO WHO READ THOSE WORDS AND DIDN’T IMMEDIATELY UNDERSTAND THE ALLEGATIONS WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION.

Superintendent Brewer correctly observes that there must be leadership beyond memos, but LAUSD is governed by memos and bulletins; informatives, resolutions and policy.

The skill set required of a leader in such an environment is separating the important from the trivial; failure is defined in the inability to do so. The EdSpeak word for this is “Decoding”. We expect it of the kindergarten student-beginners and we must expect it of the senior staff administrators.

As memos go, Isaacs' was as clear as they come.

The Pillsbury report further faults Isaacs in that he did not spell out that the person Rooney allegedly assaulted with a deadly weapon was the stepfather of the girl Rooney was suspected of having an unlawful sexual relationship with.

• Please… Mr. Rooney was (and continues to be) an alleged perpetrator, innocent until proven guilty. He continued to be a District employee, albeit one under suspicion of two very serious offences.
• The alleged assault-with-a-deadly-weapon victim and the alleged sexual abuse victim – a minor – are entitled to a certain amount of privacy; the young girl an extraordinary amount of it.

Mr. Isaacs is also faulted because he did not circulate this memo to the Employee Relations Office and the Staff Relations Office (two silos in the Beaudry bureaucracy) — although it was circulated in a timely manner to those two offices by others on the circulation list.



We must stop the blame game and the witch hunt because there is plenty of blame to go around …and no witches! There is however darkness and evil. There is black and white and infinite shades of gray.

And though the word has descended into overuse and discredit — there are evildoers preying on children.


_________________


DARKNESS TO LIGHT, new training and conversations with parents, the District and the community on the subject of Sexual Abuse of Students had a rocky rollout last Saturday morning at Santee High School. The rockiness was not due to the program or the parents or district staff (a novel and to-be-encouraged partnership between the Parent Community Services and Student Health Services - hopefully a harbinger of more and better to come!) but rather to technology failing catastrophically at exactly the wrong moment. The result was real dialog between real people without the benefit of video clips and PowerPoint slides. Watch these pages for the announcement and save the date of D2L Done Right - scheduled for Saturday morning Nov. 22nd at 8:30 AM at the Roybal Learning Center.



The complete PILLSBURY REPORT with all the trimmings - on the LA Times Website, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request.



Having your Kate… and Edith too: SCHWARZENEGGER SEEKS TAX BREAKS FOR MOVIE AND TV PRODUCTION WHILE PROPOSING TO RAISE SALES AND OTHER TAXES

by smf for 4LAKids from articles in the LA Times, the FATR website and wire services reports

Last week California lawmakers headed back to work in Sacramento to address a state budget that is projected to go as much as $25 billion into the red in the next two years.

In the midst of this, Gov. Schwarzenegger will seek to push through over $100 million in tax credits for film industry companies that do business in state during the budget-focused special session. Schwarzenegger and film industry officials claim the credits are needed to keep California a competitive location for such activity.

FRIENDS OF AMERICAN TAX REFORM seems to at least philosophically supportive of this ….but question:
• raising the sales tax - as the governor proposed in August and will once again push for in the special session,
• raise(ing) corporate and individual income taxes as Democrat legislators initially sought to do (and are certain to continue to ask for)
• And one can't picture FATF, legislative Republicans or the Governor being that receptive to a return of the Vehicle License Fee, the "Car Tax". And it is the VLF that, dollar-for dollar appeared most directly responsible for the steadily worsening state budget deficit before the Wall Street/Main Street/Your Street credit default swap market fiasco.

And because California is so dependent on bonds and credit financing - the state budget mess directly contributes to the international credit mess.

The governor is expected to unveil the proposal this week, after the Legislature opens a special session to address the state's fiscal crisis. Schwarzenegger's proposal, part of his plan to stimulate the state economy, is similar to his previous bids for such a tax break - rejected in the past.

The tax concessions would probably cost the state at least $100 million a year. They are being proposed at a time when the state budget is $10 billion in the red less than halfway into the fiscal year. The tax cut could be overshadowed by billions of dollars in sales tax hikes the governor has told education officials he wants lawmakers to approve.

Administration officials say the cut is necessary to stop the industry's migration out of state. As an example, they cite the recent departure of Disney's hit television series "Ugly Betty," which relocated to New York.

Five years ago, 66% of all feature film production took place in California. Last year, the state claimed just 31%. About 250,000 Californians work in the industry.

The governor's proposal tries to address the critics' concerns by extending the tax breaks only to new shows and those relocating to California from elsewhere. Productions already in California and unlikely to move elsewhere would not qualify.

Lenny Goldberg, executive director of the nonprofit California Tax Reform Assn. in Sacramento suspects that companies the tax break is not intended to help would find ways to take advantage of it. Goldberg also is troubled by the way the credits would be structured. Even companies that pay no state taxes could cash in.

"We're sort of skeptical of this happening because so many times it's been dangled out there, and so many times it's disappeared," said Barry Broad, a Sacramento lobbyist for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents thousands of film industry workers. Broad also questioned the timing of the bid. He said his union did not support the tax break if paying for it would require more deep cuts in government services.

But filmmakers say the state's dismal finances should bring more urgency -- not less -- to the proposal.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Stanley Brooks, president of Once Upon a Time Films in Santa Monica and chairman of the California Film Commission.
Brooks, whose company produces television movies and miniseries, said the tax credits would boost local production, creating jobs that would bolster the state economy.

The GOP lawmakers who typically line up behind tax breaks have been wary of the governor's concept in the past. The tax concessions would aid an industry dominated by deep-pocketed Democratic political contributors.

And Republicans have questioned whether they would create the jobs that Schwarzenegger and other backers promised.

The Republicans in the legislature continue to beat the drum for "No New Taxes"; against that wall of sound it becomes easy to call for no new tax breaks.



EDUCATION LEADERS AND EARTHQUAKE EXPERTS CELEBRATE PARTICIPATION OF THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS IN "THE GREAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHAKEOUT"
MORE THAN 4,000 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS WILL JOIN MILLIONS OF CALIFORNIANS AT 10AM ON NOV. 13 FOR LARGEST U.S. EARTHQUAKE DRILL

from PriWeb: The Press release newswire

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 31, 2008 -- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell; U.S. Geological Survey Chief Scientist, Dr. Lucy Jones; Los Angeles County Office of Education Superintendent, Dr. Darline Robles; and Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent, Admiral David Brewer III, joined representatives of Team SAFE-T and the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles to celebrate the participation of more than 185 school districts (4,000+ schools) and more than 480 additional public and private schools (totaling more than 3.68 million school participants) in The Great Southern California ShakeOut taking place on Nov. 13, and to teach young students how to be prepared when disaster strikes.


AT 10 A.M. ON NOV. 13, over 5 million people total, in homes, schools, businesses, government offices, and public areas throughout Southern California's eight counties, will DROP to the ground, take COVER under a table or desk, and HOLD ON to participate in The Great Southern California ShakeOut - the largest earthquake drill in United States history.

"Participating in efforts like The Great Southern California ShakeOut drill, not only helps our schools lead the nation in emergency readiness initiatives but also bolsters our education system by delivering the message that preparedness, knowledge and skills can save lives, prevent damage and empower communities," said Jack O'Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In preparation for the massive ShakeOut, students at Eagle Rock High School experienced a simulated shaking inside "The Quake Cottage," followed by a classroom presentation where Team SAFE-T and SCEC representatives taught the proper way to Drop, Cover and Hold On, and shared general preparedness information using educational materials provided free of charge for schools though www.teamsafe-t.org.

With only two more weeks to go before the Great ShakeOut, all Southern Californian schools, families and businesses are being urged to participate. Drill instructions, visuals, interactive games, participant statistics, and registration forms are available at www.ShakeOut.org, where more than four million participants have registered to date.

To help Southern Californians prepare for the ShakeOut drill, a fun and informative game called "Beat the Quake" is also available at www.ShakeOut.org and at www.dropcoverholdon.org. Players secure objects in a virtual living room before a simulated earthquake shakes and breaks those items not secured.

"'Beat the Quake' allows us to engage a large portion of the population in a fun, interactive way so that they are prepared when the Big One hits. It also makes for a great teaching tool for kids and families," said Dr. Lucy Jones, of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Preparing for a major earthquake is a community effort. While the ShakeOut already has drawn more than 4.7 million participants, we're challenging all of Southern California to recruit more neighbors, colleagues, friends and classmates," said Mark Benthien, Director of Communication, Education and Outreach at the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC.

"We have witnessed the widespread repercussions of both man-made and natural disasters, and we encourage every classroom to participate in the ShakeOut Drill," said Hillary Mendelsohn, Executive Director, Team SAFE-T. "Our free classroom and family materials, which are available in multiple languages, will help make participation easy and ensure that California's students and families are prepared to respond to earthquakes and other emergencies."

ABOUT THE GREAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHAKEOUT:

With a goal of at least five million participants, the ShakeOut Drill will be the largest in U.S. history. To participate, go to ShakeOut.org/register and pledge your family, school, business, or organization's participation in the drill. Registered participants will receive information on how to plan their drill, connect with other participants, and encourage a dialogue with others about earthquake preparedness. There are many ways to take part, but at the least participants should "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" at 10 a.m. on Nov. 13. It all begins with registering, which is free and open to everyone.



For more information, visit www.ShakeOut.org.



Q, RATED: WHY THE LAUSD BOND PASSED, AND BIG
• Measure Q is 70 pages in length and the detail on proposed spending seems infinite.
• But there are also long passages where it gets vague and speculative.
• Less like a hard business plan, you might say, and more like a prophecy of Nostradamus.

By Marc B. Haefele | LA CityBeat

November 6, 2008 -- In the end, it was more about school bucks than school books.

The folks who most actively backed Prop. Q – the $7 billion educational bond measure that passed Tuesday with almost 70 percent – were not the 45,000 teachers and the 700,000 pupils in the LAUSD. Sure, the district itself dropped 20 grand on Prop. Q “informational” materials. This was reported by the Times as undue influence, but didn’t matter a bit in the end.

What was really at issue was voter confidence in the LAUSD itself. The passage means it’s somehow still there.

The truly big spenders behind the proposition were actually the region’s biggest contractors and building-trade unions: They collectively socked in most of the $700,000 funding for Yes on Q, which was on your ballot if you lived in the 710-square-mile school district that includes Los Angeles, unincorporated East L.A., and eight entire L.A. County cities. There was a terrific reason for this support in the form of thousands of potential new construction jobs in a time and place where such jobs are getting scarce.

The $7 billion will build, complete, or renovate hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools in the 878-school LAUSD. If the idea sounds overfamiliar, that’s because this was the fifth multi-billion-dollar LAUSD bond measure proposed since 1997. Q’s better-publicized predecessors were BB, K, R, and Y. Their passage provided $19 billion in school construction funds. The results were a rare and widely proclaimed LAUSD success story. In the late ’90s, the much-maligned LAUSD was running year-round multi-tracked class schedules in 227 schools, seriously blunting teaching quality, such as it then was. Now the facilities, at least, are a lot better. All that handsome new school construction you see all over town has made the big difference, with lots of shiny new classrooms and about half as many year-round multi-track schools.

As the LAUSD tells it:

“Since 2002, the District has completed 72 new K-12 schools and 30 early education centers and expansions, built 59 additions to existing schools, and added approximately 75,000 new K-12 classroom seats. There is progress being made at older schools too. More than 17,110 repair and upgrade projects and approximately 1,200 technology projects have been completed at schools throughout the District.”

Not bad for starters. But there’re still 200,000 kids in temp classrooms, the average school is 45 years old, and the average class is still supersized. Also, those prior spending measures did nothing for the aspiring, burgeoning charter schools outside the LAUSD’s official Big Top, and they want help too.

Enter Q. It is 70 pages in length and the detail on proposed spending seems infinite. But there are also long passages where it gets vague and speculative. Less like a hard business plan, you might say, and more like a prophecy of Nostradamus. These waffley fringes occasioned the Times’s and the Daily News’s editorial opposition. On the other hand, while there was a well-bankrolled “Yes on Q” organization, there was no corresponding “no” group. LAUSD’s long-serving hordes of angry critics seemed to be sitting this one out.

Not all critics did. Now is a good time, if you are in the pundit biz, to talk tough about slashing public spending, particularly if you subscribe to the century-old economics dicta recently embraced so passionately by Sen. John McCain. Otherwise you might, like the contractors and building trades unions, support the idea of $7 billion creating new jobs and thus trickling back into the increasingly parched local economy. On the other hand, servicing the bonded debt is to cost district homeowners an additional $60 per $100k in assessed valuations – something like an average extra $250 a year (in addition to the $123 per $100k already being assessed). That’s the kind of wealth redistribution many recessioning property owners might not be expected to embrace.

Another possible negative was the fact that the LAUSD (which has had nearly $5 billion in assistance from the state in recent years) was taking a likely $440 million lop in anticipated state operating funding this year and might best concentrate on dealing with that rather than building more schools. Nor has Superintendent David Brewer III earned the public confidence inspired by his dynamic predecessor, Roy Romer. There’s less accountability, as the Monday Times story about former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney suggests. After this alleged pistol-wielding child molester was transferred around the system instead of being fired, the only disclosed result was an orgy of fingerpointing. This is irresponsibility of the kind one associates with the LAUSD of the ’90s. To an uncertain extent, the voter approval of Q suggests that despite increasing problems, the recent eight-year era of voter confidence in the district’s self improvement may not yet have ebbed.

What of the long fruitless war between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the LAUSD? As we all know, despite certain campaign promises, the mayor still isn’t running the L.A. schools the way mayors do in Chicago and Washington DC. But he’s taken charge of a handful of bad schools and embedded his capable education sidekick, Ramon Cortines, as Brewer’s deputy. Now peace reigns between City Hall and the district, relatively speaking – yet even this comity somehow affected Q. The story goes that the district originally wanted just $4 billion in new bonds. The mayor’s polling found public support for $7 billion. Was this “what the public will bear” approach the right way to assess the actual need, in tough times, for a school spending package equaling roughly half the LAUSD’s entire $14 billion annual budget?

Apparently it was.

____________________


THIS JUST IN: MEASURE A, the LA City anti-gang parcel tax and MEASURE R, the MTA sales tax increase initially counted as winners are hovering dangerously close to failure to reach the required 2/3 majority.
• A has 65.74%
• R has 67.22
(66.67% is required for both) - with provisional ballots and some mail in ballots yet to be counted. Expect a recount.


Election Results from the LA County Recorder



HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
From the Associated Administrators Los Angeles Weekly Update of October 27, 2008
4LAKids doesn't necessarily agree with all the points below - but agrees wholeheartedly that LAUSD had a great tendency to leave business unfinished, responding to crises and not following through on the business at hand.
This is a failure of the Superintendent, The Board Of Education, District Staff - and because it's ingrained in the culture - of administrators and even the employee unions. If
We the District actually stayed the course and followed through on the reforms and initiatives we started out on we'd be farther along! – smf

AALA, in its continuing effort to keep LAUSD on track, is publishing this list of unfinished business facing the Superintendent and Board of Education.

• High Priority Schools Initiative
• Promising Practices
• Foster Care Initiative
• Senior Staff Development Program.
• Performing Arts High School
• Support For Principals
• Health Benefits

ARTS EDUCATION NEWS: CALIFORNIA BUDGET UPDATE
The Legislature is scheduled to convene a special session in the coming days to deal with the deficit in the state budget that has emerged since the budget was signed in September. Further cuts in state services, including education, will certainly be discussed, along with proposals to raise revenues.

ALLOW OUR SCHOOLS FREEDOM TO INNOVATE
by School Boardmember Tamar Galatzan in her Galatzan Gazette newsletter
At a meeting of the Governance Committee last week, Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines mentioned something very interesting that I’ve been thinking about ever since.
When addressing ways the District can support school-led innovation, he used Title I funding as an example.He said that many people wrongly believe that federal law prevents the use of Title I dollars for class-size reduction.This prohibition is actually imposed by the District.

STATE ALLOCATION BOARD DIVVIES UP $225 MILLION AMONG SCHOOLS
Thursday, November 06, 2008 -- The State Allocation Board, the state office that decides how state funds are disbursed for the construction and renovation of public schools, has approved payments totaling $225 million for some 310 public schools, or an average of nearly $726,000 per school. The board, in the state government flow chart, is linked to the Office of Public School Construction and the Department of General Services.

LOCAL ELECTIONS/NATIONAL TRENDS - VOTERS PASS ALL 23 L.A. COUNTY SCHOOL BOND MEASURES:
Fifteen receive more than a two-thirds majority, including LAUSD’s $7-billion Measure Q and LACCD's $3.5-billion Measure J + 82% OF BONDS PASS NATIONALLY
It wasn't Los Angeles County's 23 school bonds that drove people to the polls Tuesday, but voters willingly added all of them to the Barack Obama victory parade.
Despite a long ballot, national economic duress and competing tax measures, most of the bonds easily cruised to victory, including the largest ever for a California school district: the $7-billion Measure Q for Los Angeles Unified. It won support from 68.9% of voters.

3 FROM THE HOMEROOM: ROONEY REDUX
• LAWSUIT ALLEGES SCHOOL OFFICIALS KNEW ABOUT SUSPECTED MOLESTER
• OUTSIDE REVIEW ON MOLESTATION EPISODE GETS BAD MARKS
• L.A. UNIFIED'S NEW MEASURES TO PROTECT STUDENTS

LA UNIFIED SEEKS TO BUILD APARTMENTS ON ITS SURPLUS LAND
The district says the low-cost units could house teachers, helping to reduce the attrition rate. Families of students could live there as well, facilitating house calls by teachers.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is looking to develop low-cost apartments on as many as 12 campuses in an effort to help teachers find less expensive housing and live closer to their jobs.
District officials have begun asking real estate developers to submit housing proposals on school campuses in Hollywood and Harbor Gateway and are reviewing other campuses where apartments could be built on surplus land.

GROWING PAINS AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS
The premise of this series of blogs in the NYTimes is “How would you rebuild it if a hurricane came through and blew your school district away?” Unfortunately it isn’t a hypothetical.
As part of our professional development sessions at the start of this school year, the faculty at my school participated in a team-building exercise to learn more about our leadership styles. Each corner of the room was labeled for one of the four compass points, and included a brief description of a guiding personality style — action, care, detail, and, the corner I chose, speculation: “likes to look at the big picture before acting.”


The news that didn't fit fron Nov. 9th



EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Thursday Nov. 13, 6-8PM
►AN EDUCATIONAL SUMMIT/PARENT-COMMUNITY MEETING IN LOCAL DISTRICT 3 sponsored by the Local District 3 Parent Community Parent Advisory Council
WEBSTER MIDDLE SCHOOL
11330 West Graham Place
West Los Angeles, 90064
@ the corner of National and Sawtelle
• An educational summit to make a positive impact on your child's learning today.
• Discuss current issues.
• Meet district staff.
• Learn how to help.

Local District 3 is the Crenshaw, Dorsey, Hamilton, LACES, Los Angeles, University, Venice and Westchester High School attendance areas including their middle and elementary feeders and Marlton, McBride and Widney Special Education Schools.
_________________

Wednesday Nov 12, 2008
South Region Elementary School #7: Pre-Construction Meeting
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: 96th Street Elementary School - Auditorium
1471 E. 96th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90002

Wednesday Nov 12, 2008
South Region High School #2: Pre-Construction Meeting
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Bethune Park - Social Hall
1244 E. 61st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Wednesday Nov 12, 2008
Valley Region High School #5: Construction Update Meeting
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: San Fernando High School - Auditorium
11133 O'Melveny Ave.
San Fernando, CA 91340

Thursday Nov 13, 2008
East Valley Area New HS #1B Addition: Construction Update Meeting
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: East Valley High School
5525 Vineland Ave.
North Hollywood, CA 91601

*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-893-6800


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



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.


Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?




Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is immediate past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He is a Community Concerns Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is a PTA officer and/or governance council member at three LAUSD schools.
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