Sunday, January 25, 2009

Nothin' but blue skies ahead.


4LAKids: Sunday, Jan 25, 2009
In This Issue:
News Story: LAUSD TO BROADCAST INAUGURATION + Press Release: LAUSD STUDENTS WILL WATCH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION + A 4LAKids Reader Poll
L.A. UNIFIED TEACHERS' JOBS SAFE FOR NOW: Superintendent announces that no teachers will lose their jobs this school year.
DOLORES STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL REASSIGNED
STUDY SEES AN OBAMA EFFECT AS LIFTING BLACK TEST-TAKERS
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.
"And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

— President Obamas's Inaugural Address - 20 Jan 2009

Hope in our wake, the corner turned, the Promise before us: Hard Work ahead. And that's the good news and we rightfully bask in it.

• Superintendent Cortines called for the presidential inauguration to serve as the universal teachable moment for all students in all classrooms.
• TV's and cable and Internet connections hopefully (that word) worked; young people saw with their own eyes that the part of the American Dream about how - with talent and hard work - all things are possible for them.
• Also on Tuesday the teachers at Dolores Street Elementary School decided that civil (and principal and superintendential) disobedience was the teachable moment.
• The New York Times reports that Obamamania produces positive measurable results: the Obama Effect improves young black students test scores. Hopefully (again) true.

Superintendent Cortines has decided - and 4LAKids agrees - that laying off teachers mid-year/this-year to meet the demands of a non-existent state budget would be foolish.

But read the story and you will see that the danger of bankruptcy and fiscal failure of public education in California is palpable. In our own county Centinela Valley Union High School District already teeters on the edge, there are over a thousand school districts in California. Others will follow to the brink …and (again) hopefully, no further.

Eventually the foolishness in Sacramento will sort itself out. That means eventually the cuts must come because the funding/credit/economic crisis is very real. The cuts that must come must come with tax increases and considered funding flexibilty. And good luck. Otherwise we will educate this generation of young people - a generation that can and will survive these crises - not for success and excellence but to a lesser standard.

Futurist Alvin Toffler says: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." Of all the lessons never-quite-learned is that "minimally adequate" is mutually exclusive — and good enough never is. Not here, not now, not ever.

¡Onward/Hasta adelante! - smf


News Story: LAUSD TO BROADCAST INAUGURATION + Press Release: LAUSD STUDENTS WILL WATCH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION + A 4LAKids Reader Poll
►LAUSD TO BROADCAST INAUGURATION
Friday, January 16, 2009

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The inauguration for President-elect Barack Obama is in just a few days and local schools will be watching the ceremony along with the rest of the country.
The Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent says the event will be widely broadcast on televisions and computers in schools throughout the district.
Teachers are also planning assignments and activities to get the children involved with the historic event.


►LAUSD STUDENTS WILL WATCH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

LAUSD Press Release - For Immediate Release Jan. 15, 2009

Los Angeles – On Tuesday, Jan. 20, students and staff in all schools and offices of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will have the opportunity to watch the swearing-in of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.

“It’s historic,” said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, who made the decision to make the broadcast widely available on televisions and computers. “I want all students to watch, including very young children in kindergarten and first grade.”

The Superintendent also directed teachers to incorporate the Inauguration into the instructional day.

Young students, for example, can discuss what President-elect Obama’s daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will face in their new home and school. Through reading stories, listening to, and discussing, news; drawing pictures and writing poems, elementary students can become more familiar with the Presidency.

Secondary assignments may include: Interviewing parents, grandparents, friends and peers in order to write an essay on “What does it means to witness this historic event;” Asking grandparents and older relatives about their earliest memories of voting; Doing a comparative analysis of the new President with an earlier President; Writing a plan for the President’s first 100 days; Determining the lessons a student can learn from the experience. Students also will be asked to read excerpts from previous Inaugural addresses to compare to that of Presidentelect Barack Obama.

Teachers are already making plans. At Leapwood Elementary School in Carson, there will be a school-wide celebration of the Presidential Inauguration. Students plan to observe the ceremony together in the auditorium,

which will be decorated in patriotic colors with balloons and streamers. Various classes will recite poems and excerpts from President-elect Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech. All students are encouraged to wear Obama T-shirts or red, white and blue colors, and each will receive a keepsake bookmark and or sticker to remember the historic occasion.

To help elementary school students understand the significance of the Inauguration, Calahan Elementary School in Northridge has been celebrating “Patriotic Week,” (January 12-16) in preparation for the Presidential Inauguration next Tuesday.

Students have participated in daily activities and discussions. American flags will be distributed to youngsters on Tuesday during a morning assembly. Red, white and blue will be the colors of the day as students assemble in their classrooms to watch the Inauguration, with each classroom door decorated with an American Presidential theme.

Fairfax High School, in a partnership with CBS Studios, will show a live high definition (HD) broadcast of the Inauguration from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. All juniors and seniors have been invited to attend the presentation in conjunction with their U.S. History or Government classes.

“This will be a great historical and educational experience for these students,” said Edward M. Zubiate, principal at Fairfax.

Not all LAUSD students will watch the activities on television.

Jacqueline Mendoza, an eighth grade student from Florence Nightingale Middle School in South Los Angeles, departs Saturday for the nation’s capital. Selected by the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference, she raised the $3,500 needed for the trip with the help of her teacher, who contributed $1,200; with donations from other teachers at the school as well as contributions from family and friends. She will watch the new President and First Lady walk into the White House. She also will attend an Inaugural ball.

Stephanie Calix, a student at Canoga Park High School in the San Fernando Valley, is headed to Washington, D.C. and the Inauguration after being named winner of “Your First Vote,” a video contest sponsored by CNN and Time Warner.

Students from The Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles will also celebrate in the nation’s capital.

Chanel Hall and Asia Taylor, both 10th grade students at the Foshay Learning Center, are scheduled to attend a pre-Inauguration ball featuring NetGeneration of Youth (NGY) Ambassadors, a high school group of roving cyber-journalists who will interview guests and dignitaries at the Foreign Diplomats Inaugural Ball. Upon returning to their school, the young journalists will write digital stories that will be disseminated locally, nationally and internationally.

LAUSDnet Kids (http://kids.lausd.net), the official web site for LAUSD students, also features suggestions for viewing the Presidential Inauguration at schools as well as links to resources put together by the Joint Congressional Committee for the Inauguration. Information ranges from the official oath of office to the history of Presidential Inaugurations complete with photos and fun facts for younger students.

The District’s television station, KLCS-TV will broadcast the Inauguration live, starting at 8 a.m. It will be re-broadcast later that day at 4:30 p.m. and again at 11:30 p.m., and at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21. The station will air the Inauguration again at 11:30 a.m. on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 16.


●●smf's 2c:
• In EduSpeak: This was a fabulous example of seizing and leveraging the Teachable Moment. Plus a number of students would undoubtedly've stayed home - or been kept home by parents (losing the District ADA per-capita!) - to witness Tuesday's constitutional miracle of the democratic transfer of power - made all the more miraculous with the ascendancy of the United States' first black chief executive.
• We need also recognize what an important asset the District possesses in KLCS (Channel 58) — a broadcast public television station whose potential is spectacularly under-realized by the District. KLCS has four digital channels of programming - 24/7 - often given over to Barney reruns and Board of Ed broadcasts! What's with that?
• Even with the promises of Props BB through Q - which promised Internet, cable TV and telephone access in every classroom — plus the federal E-Rate program and Cable in the Classroom member companies like Time Warner in LA that have installed a free cable connection and provided free monthly basic cable service to more than 81,000 schools. Some classes were unable to get cable and/or internet reception of the inauguration. Some classrooms had to resort to 'rabbit-ears' to get reception! Not to put a damper on a truly grand day - but if your class tried to watch the inauguration from a classroom - whether or not successful - please take the online survey below.


4LAKids PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION VIEWING SURVEY



L.A. UNIFIED TEACHERS' JOBS SAFE FOR NOW: Superintendent announces that no teachers will lose their jobs this school year.
BUT THE DECISION WILL BOOST NEXT YEAR'S DEFICIT.

By Jason Song and Howard Blume | LA Times

January 24, 2009 - No teachers will lose their jobs this school year, Los Angeles Unified School District officials announced Friday, a calculated gamble that will preserve classroom continuity in the short term but lead to a larger deficit next year.

The decision reverses course from last week, when the school board voted to give Supt. Ramon C. Cortines the authority to send pink slips to nearly 2,300 instructors. The district is facing at least a $250-million shortfall this year because of the state's financial crisis.

If layoffs were mandated, thousands of students would have had to change teachers mid-semester, classes could have grown in size and administrators who have not taught for years might have been bumped back into schools.

"The price of disruption is just not worth it," said Cortines, who had always called the layoffs a last resort.

But the decision could push the district's general fund into the red by June 30, and it postpones -- and could even worsen -- the district's long-term budget woes. Before classes resume next fall, the district would have to cut $500 million to $600 million, a process that will start soon. The district must notify teachers by March 15 if they are in danger of losing their jobs next year, and Cortines said layoffs are inevitable.

Cortines, who took over as leader of the nation's second-largest school district earlier this month, is taking a bold step -- superintendents do not typically propose carrying over deficits from year to year. The district already is undergoing especially close scrutiny from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which has the authority to reject the district's financial plan.

"It's a risk -- it could exacerbate our spending problems in the summer -- but it's a risk worth taking," said board member Richard Vladovic.

Cortines also decided to delay layoffs because about 2,000 teachers have signed up for early retirement, a move that could save millions of dollars next year.

The district had offered a $300 bonus to any eligible employee who filled out the paperwork to retire early.

Other measures, including a freeze on many consultant contracts and optional spending, remain in effect. Cortines said that other cost-cutting proposals, including using the district's legally required reserve fund, remain on the table.

The $250-million deficit isn't the only financial problem looming. At a news conference Friday announcing legislation that would provide emergency funding for school meals, Cortines said the district could soon run out of funds to pay for the school breakfasts and lunches of low-income students who qualify for free- or reduced-priced meals. The number of applicants statewide has ballooned this year.

Cortines insisted that L.A. Unified will not go into the red this year, but that may depend on whether the final state budget resolution allows school systems to dip into funds that normally are reserved for specific purposes, such as transportation or class-size reduction.

Other districts also have had trouble balancing their books.

The county education office, which oversees the 80 districts in Los Angeles County, recently installed a financial advisor at the Centinela Valley Union High School District, which serves the Hawthorne-Lawndale area, over fears that the school system would not be able to meet its financial obligations. The fiscal advisor has the power to veto spending decisions.

County officials said they would permit a school district to run in the red, provided it could pay bills and meet payroll -- and provided that the deficit was remedied in the subsequent two budget years.

Cortines didn't need school board approval to make the decision, but board members said they were relieved.

"I'm thrilled," said Yolie Flores Aguilar. "We didn't want to interrupt classes in the middle of the year."

A.J. Duffy, president of the teachers union, also said it was the right decision. "The last thing you want to do is affect the school and the school site."

Some teachers union leaders had suggested the district make a political statement by continuing to fully fund schools until state money ran out -- a pressure tactic aimed at forcing Sacramento to provide more dollars. United Teachers Los Angeles is still fighting to win teachers a salary increase and has planned a march and rally for next week.

Some local business leaders also have suggested letting the district go bankrupt. But in their scenario, the desired outcome is to compel change at the district level, which would include abrogating the lengthy teachers union contract and weakening employee unions overall.

Duffy vowed to continue pushing the district to oppose job cuts, preserve low-cost health benefits and reduce expenses from the district's central offices. "We have no illusions. We're looking at cuts in the spring," Duffy said.


DOLORES STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL REASSIGNED
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer | LA Newspaper Group

1/22/09 -- An embattled Carson elementary school principal who last year was the subject of emotional teacher and staff protests was removed from her post this week.

District officials said they temporarily reassigned Anna Barraza from Dolores Street Elementary School to a Los Angeles Unified administrative office as of Wednesday.

Local District 8 Superintendent Linda Del Cueto provided few details on what she called a "personnel matter."

"I'm working with due process, but I'm also going to do what's best for the school," she said.

Asked if Barraza would return to campus - where teachers on Wednesday said they were "rejoicing" - Del Cueto would not comment.

Barraza, who was in her second year at the campus, had been the center of an attention-generating firestorm that drew in unions for both administrators and teachers, as well as district officials up to Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

At two previous schools, Barraza was removed from her post after instructors protested, claiming she was domineering, cold and not collaborative.

Those complaints were echoed in weekly protests by Dolores Street teachers that began in May - culminating in a sleepover protest that attracted television news crews in July. The attention prompted debate on the aggressive tactics of United Teachers Los Angeles and on the so-called "dance of the lemons," in which unpopular principals are moved from campus to campus.

On Wednesday, Barraza and the president of her union, Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, stressed that the reassignment is temporary.

"We are confident she'll be returned to duty," said Mike O'Sullivan, the president of AALA.

The administrators union has fiercely defended Barraza against what O'Sullivan called "grandstanding" by UTLA.

"This was massive overreaction," O'Sullivan said of the district's action this week.

Barraza said she was told her reassignment was part of a district investigation into an incident on campus Friday in which teachers spontaneously moved their classes onto the playground.

The principal's supervisor, Director Valerie Moses, arrived at the school after receiving calls from parents who saw children amassed on the asphalt, Barraza said.

"It wasn't out of control," Barraza said. "I'm not really sure what there is left to investigate."

Barraza said she had not been informed by teachers about any plans for outdoor instruction, but she allowed the activities to continue when she observed adequate supervision and teaching.

"I found out later it was a protest" against her, Barraza said. "I thought it was very irresponsible for teachers to put students in the middle of the whole thing."

Teachers on Wednesday denied that the incident was a protest, saying outdoor teaching was related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and was for some instructors a lesson about civil disobedience.

Earlier last week, teachers had found out that the school's well-liked office manager would be transferred away from campus. They reacted with fury, and Moses met with them Jan. 15.

"Most teachers were crying. The fact that we were losing this person was the last straw," said fourth-grade teacher Keri Porter. "Everyone was pouring out their hearts, saying they were on anxiety medication."

Del Cueto said she couldn't comment on the office manager's status, again because it is a "personnel matter."

Teachers didn't hear anything else from the district until they were notified of Barraza's reassignment in a memo that was distributed late Tuesday after most instructors had left campus. On Wednesday, the district gave a memo to students to take home to parents.

An interim principal, veteran LAUSD administrator Rita Davis, has been assigned to the campus.

"It felt like a breath of fresh air without Anna Barraza on campus," said teacher Gloria Cook.

Several teachers expressed relief but said they planned to downplay their reactions until it was certain that Barraza would not return.

"No one knows why they made this decision," Porter said.


STUDY SEES AN OBAMA EFFECT AS LIFTING BLACK TEST-TAKERS
By Sam Dillon - New York Times

January 23, 2009 - Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks, to higher academic performance.
Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.

The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans, the researchers conclude in a report summarizing their results.

“Obama is obviously inspirational, but we wondered whether he would contribute to an improvement in something as important as black test-taking,” said Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, one of the study’s three authors. “We were skeptical that we would find any effect, but our results surprised us.”

The study has not yet undergone peer review, and two academics who read it on Thursday said they would be interested to see if other researchers would be able to replicate its results.

Dr. Friedman and his fellow researchers, David M. Marx, a professor of social psychology at San Diego State University, and Sei Jin Ko, a visiting professor in management and organizations at Northwestern, have submitted their study for review to The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Dr. Friedman said.

“It’s a very small sample, but certainly a provocative study,” said Ronald F. Ferguson, a Harvard professor who studies the factors that have affected the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students, which shows up on nearly every standardized test. “There is a certainly a theoretical foundation and some empirical support for the proposition that Obama’s election could increase the sense of competence among African-Americans, and it could reduce the anxiety associated with taking difficult test questions.”

Researchers in the last decade assembled university students with identical SAT scores and administered tests to them, discovering that blacks performed significantly poorer when asked at the start to fill out a form identifying themselves by race. The researchers attributed those results to anxiety that caused them to tighten up during exams in which they risked confirming a racial stereotype.

In the study made public on Thursday, Dr. Friedman and his colleagues compiled a brief test, drawing 20 questions from the verbal sections of the Graduate Record Exam, and administering it four times to about 120 white and black test-takers during last year’s presidential campaign.

In total, 472 Americans — 84 blacks and 388 whites — took the exam. Both white and black test-takers ranged in age from 18 to 63, and their educational attainment ranged from high school dropout to Ph.D.

On the initial test last summer, whites on average correctly answered about 12 of 20 questions, compared with about 8.5 correct answers for blacks, Dr. Friedman said. But on the tests administered immediately after Mr. Obama’s nomination acceptance speech, and just after his election victory, black performance improved, rendering the white-black gap “statistically nonsignificant,” he said.

“It’s a nice piece of work,” said G. Gage Kingsbury, a testing expert who is a director at the Northwest Evaluation Association, who read the study on Thursday.

But Dr. Kingsbury wondered whether the Obama effect would extend beyond the election, or prove transitory. “I’d want to see another study replicating their results before I get too excited about it,” he said.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
• LA Times: LAUSD CHIEF SCRAPS TEACHER LAYOFF PLANS + Daily News: URGENT – NO MIDYEAR CUTS, SAYS LAUSD

"Due to the lack of clear information from Sacramento, the need for stability at schools in the second semester, and the high level of interest in a retirement incentive program, there will be no mid-year teacher layoffs."- Superintendent Ramon Cortines

• WeHo News: FAIRFAX BAND TO MARCH IN D.C.’s MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

Thursday, January 22, 2009 - West Hollywood, California – The Fairfax Marching Lions, a generation ago the very flower of Los Angeles area bands and only recently resurrected into a local powerhouse by Raymundo Vizcarra, WeHo Mayor Jeffrey Prang’s husband, has been invited to represent the State of California in the nation’s 2010 Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C.

• NY Times: CREATION v. EVOLUTION: In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives the Debate

January 22, 2009 — AUSTIN, Tex. — The latest round in a long-running battle over how evolution should be taught in Texas schools began in earnest Wednesday as the State Board of Education heard impassioned testimony from scientists and social conservatives on revising the science curriculum.

The debate here has far-reaching consequences; Texas is one of the nation’s biggest buyers of textbooks, and publishers are reluctant to produce different versions of the same material.

• LA Weekly: CHICAGO SCHOOLS vs. LAUSD: Their supe is Obama's new education man. Our supe is nice, but ...

Jan 21, 2009 - It’s been a rocky start for Ramon Cortines.
The genial 76-year-old bureaucrat — who was never on anyone’s list of tough-minded academic reformers — was thrust into the top job at the woefully problem-plagued Los Angeles Unified School District because he seemed the steadiest hand after Superintendent David L. Brewer was booted out the door.

Almost immediately, critics questioned whether Cortines has the chops to helm wholesale changes in the city’s failing middle and high schools. He was seen as a good-intentioned man who paled in comparison to change agents like Chicago Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan, chosen to be Barack Obama’s secretary of education, and Washington, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee, a young freethinker lauded by Time for her “battle against bad teachers” in the abysmal schools of the nation’s capital.

• Imperial Valley News: GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER APPOINTS DR. GLEN THOMAS SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

Wednesday, 21 January 2009 - Sacramento, California - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Dr. Glen Thomas as Secretary of Education.

“With over 30 years of experience as a teacher and leader at the local, county and state level, Glen is the right person to make sure California continues to uphold high academic standards during this challenging fiscal time,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “He shares my dedication to quality education for every student, and I am confident that he will work collaboratively with the educational community to improve student achievement and expand educational opportunities in our state while also working towards stronger accountability and greater transparency in our educational system.”

• Daily Breeze: LAUSD HOPEFUL CLAIMS MAYOR’S FAVOR
1/21/09 - Los Angeles Unified board hopeful Steve Zimmer has received Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement, the candidate said.



The News that doesn't fit from Jan 25th



EVENTS: Coming up next week...
*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 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 has served a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools.
• 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. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
• 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.

Monday, January 19, 2009

hOpe.


4LAKids: Monday, Jan 19, 2009 M.L. King Jr. Day
In This Issue:
NO COST @ WHAT COST: Who IS the Boston Consulting Group When They're at Home?
LAUSD's WORKPLAN OUTLINE FOR OUR FIRST 100 DAYS
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.
Triumphant, unrelenting, unrealistic; nameless, unreasoning, unjustified hope. • The glass half empty, overflowing. • 'Together we will begin the next chapter in the American story.' • Hope is the arena, the blank page, the mise en scène, for the future. • The international and national economies are in tatters • The state budget is the rock upon our chest • The school district awash in red ink. • Public Education is a mess. • Change is Hard/Change is Good. • Hope is the thing with feathers — children are fledglings; hope the wind beneath their wings. • Yes we can/Si se puede. • Together. • ¡Onward/Hasta adelante! - smf

NO COST @ WHAT COST: Who IS the Boston Consulting Group When They're at Home?
by smf for 4LAKids | originally published on 4LAKidsNews 1/14 - updated 1/19 | see note following*

Rumor (and press reports) has it that the Boston Consulting Group was the principal author and driving force behind the recent School Report Card - and BCG seemingly has a blanket consulting, planning and implementation contract with LAUSD on day-to-day operation of the District - having also had a role in the Superintendent’s 100 Day Plan. This BCG contract is reportedly funded at no cost to the District by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation* – which makes BCG an outside consultant, once or twice removed – with dubious public accountability.

* CBS news adds The California Community Foundation

FROM THE OFFICIAL STORY: "The Gates and Dell Foundations invested heavily in the district and funded the development of the Report Card. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) also provided pro-bono contribution to the effort."

MORE: “The development of the Report Card began in iDesign at the start of this year. Mr. Cortines first heard about this work as Deputy Mayor, and was able to implement this reform effort district wide when he came to LAUSD as Senior Deputy Superintendent.”

— From the LAUSD Report Card Frequently Asked Questions for Principals


The above misstates the history. The School Report Card had at least part of its genesis in the LAUSD A-G Working Group about two years ago. “(T)he start of this year” refers to 2008; iDesign didn’t exist at that time. iDesign and its progenitor iDivsion is a subset of LAUSD created to administer non-traditional programs, such as The Mayor’s Partnership Schools, The LMU Partnership, etc.

MSNBC gets it closer to right when they report: “These reports were originally developed through collaboration between the LAUSD and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for LA Schools.”

Searches of the Dell and Gates Foundations websites for grants to Los Angeles, LAUSD, Los Angeles Unified School District or Boston Consulting Group show no evidence of this investment “in the district”.



MORE FROM THE OFFICIAL STORY [Report Card Frequently Asked Questions for Principals]:

Q: DOESN’T THE SCHOOL SCORE REFLECT POORLY ON THE SCHOOL, PRINCIPAL AND TEACHERS?
A: No. The school score holds schools accountable for their performance and progress by identifying strengths and areas for improvement. The school score will help teachers, Principals, Local District staff, Central District staff, parents and students work together to determine ways individual schools can improve their performance to better meet the needs of students.

Q: WON'T THE REPORT CARD BE USED TO POINT FINGERS AT PRINCIPALS? NONE OF THE METRICS IN HERE RELATE TO PRINCIPAL PERFORMANCE.
A: The Report Card is focused on student outcomes and leading indicators of student academic performance. There are also qualitative metrics about teaching, leadership, school culture, safety and parent/ student satisfaction.
These metrics are about joint accountability for student outcomes and progress and will be collaboratively developed by Central staff, Local District staff, school administrators, teachers, parents and students. We are measuring progress over time with the Report Card, not pointing a finger at any one particular group.


Mayor Villaraigosa, at the press conference unveiling the School Report Card, asked what would happen if schools don’t improve, said the cards “could ultimately lead to reorganizing schools. (It) means we have to change the leadership, the teachers, everybody," he said. Who “we” is is worrisome; the mayor is constitutionally precluded from this sort of decision making; the case law is LAUSD v. Villaraigosa.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist – but sometimes there are conspiracies: Remember the words of the shadowy man in the parking garage: “Follow the money.”

Remember also that the consulting contract did not pay the $700,000 to $1 million it cost to distribute the School Report Card.

• If that was money well spent and valuable information parents want-and-need (the “qualitative metrics”) was effectively shared that’s a good thing;
• But if it was an ineffective ‘data download’ — misinterpreted and/or mis-or-over understood by parents and leveraged by critics in agreement with the pro-charter/privatization-of-public-education/mayoral control agenda of the sponsors of BCG it is not.

At a recent District meeting with parents I was asked:
Q: WHY WASN'T THE INFORMATION POSTED ON THE WEB?
A: It was and many parents don’t have web access.
Q: …AND WHY IT WASN’T SIMPLY SENT HOME WITH CHILDREN?
A: Backpack mail doesn’t work in Secondary school …though I’m not sure how effective direct mail/’junk mail’ is either.

At that same District meeting Superintendent Cortines promised full public accountability and disclosure as to the cost, effectiveness and results of all District consultant contracts. The BCG contract – because it is technically free to the district it may be outside this oversight …. all the more reason why disclosure and accountability is merited. No cost at what cost?

Has LAUSD held off a takeover by the Mayor only to have takeover accomplished through other means?

A search of the Internet and Wikipedia shows The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm and a leading advisor on business strategy. BCG partners with clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their businesses.

BCG believes it differs from competition by its customized approach that combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. The Group is a private company with 66 offices in 38 countries.

Founded in 1963 by Bruce Henderson the firm prides itself on its employee focused culture: from early implementation of an employee stock ownership plan to winning ‘Best small company to work for’ by Fortune magazine 3 years in a row.

STARS, QUESTION MARKS, CASH-COWS & DOGS: THE BCG GROWTH SHARE MATRIX - In the 1970s, BCG created and popularized the "growth-share matrix", a simple chart to assist large corporations in deciding how to allocate cash among their business units. The corporation would categorize its business units as "Stars", "Cash Cows", "Question Marks", and "Dogs", and then allocate cash accordingly, moving money from "cash cows" toward "stars" and "question marks" that had higher market growth rates, and hence higher upside potential.

The chart was popular for two decades and - BCG claims: "continues to be used as a primer in the principles of portfolio management".

Per the BCG website: one of the "Industries" (their word) they serve is PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist (again) but note BCG's work for charter and charter management organizations and support and for the New Orleans School District. The strategy - implemented by BCG for New Orleans Schools post-Katrina- is to make every school a charter school. (Like Huey Long's "Every Man a King" …only Charter Schools!)

Remember also that some say politics in New Orleans and Louisiana exist to make Chicago and Illinois look good!



And please note this: the words "Child", "Children", "Student" and "Students" appear nowhere on the BCG website or on it the Wikipedia entry about them — and certainly nowhere in the BCG vision or mission statements.

Boston Consulting Group is a multi-billion-dollar for-profit growth-and-performance-model-driven business consulting practice.

FROM THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION: Alexander Russo's inside scoop on education news. Russo wrote in his EdWeek Blog last June:
HERE COME CONSULTING FIRMS (AGAIN)

"Today's Washington Post has an interesting piece about the use of high-priced management consultants -- Deloitte, KPMG, McKinsey, Alvarez & Associates (of St. Louis and NOLA fame) -- in urban school districts, a good reminder that it's not just the policy wonks and think tanks that drive real live schoolpeople crazy. "Two dozen high-priced consultants have set up shop on three floors of the D.C. public schools' headquarters, wearing pinstripe suits, toting binders and BlackBerrys and using such corporate jargon as "resource mapping" and "identifying metrics," begins the piece (Big-Name Consultants Greeted With Wariness).
'They come from big-name restructuring firms, and the city is paying $4 million for their services this summer.'
"It's not just DC, of course. Chicago has used Boston Consulting Group on several projects, some of which haven't turned out particularly well. St. Louis and New Orleans have both used Alvarez, to mixed reviews. And, as the article points out, few of the consultants offer project management services or stay on to implement the plans that they make. Binders and powerpoints are all well and good, but making the plans work and building buy-in and capacity are the real keys.


*note :|: 1/19 update: Upon rereading the above I must allow for misunderstanding because of WHAT I DO NOT KNOW. I have been unable to ‘follow the money’ – and the timeline - from the foundations to the District to BCG, or from the foundations to the BCG.

Caveat emptor gentle reader! - smf


Full NO COST @ WHAT COST? Article with links to references.



LAUSD's WORKPLAN OUTLINE FOR OUR FIRST 100 DAYS
LAUSD’S WORKPLAN OUTLINE FOR OUR FIRST 100 DAYS
Los Angeles Unified School District
Office of the Superintendent
Ramon C. Cortines
January 7, 2009

We are in the final stages of developing a workplan for the first 100 days under new leadership
• The first 100 days exercise is not a strategic plan, nor a transformation plan for the district
• It is a set of priorities and activities that we will be working on over the next 100 days
• It is meant to both stabilize the district and focus me, the Board, and the leadership at LAUSD on the most important activities across the district to drive increased success at schools and to better serve our children
• We will have a full version to share with you shortly, but please know that this will be a document that will evolve and, over the coming months, we will be reaching out to you to provide input into the creation of a comprehensive roadmap for the district.

We intend to build on the plans for the district that were jointly developed in 2000 and 2008, as well as the focus on high priority schools.
• We will be transparent and inclusive in our planning process
• We will also publicly hold ourselves accountable to meeting milestones and delivering results

The priorities for the district will, of course, be shaped by the deep budget cut environment we are in -- we will need to do more with less, reorganize and provide services differently, and be extremely focused. In addition, we will have contingency plans if economic conditions worsen.
• As such, we will drive resources and efforts towards achieving our ultimate goals for LAUSD – high academic achievement and progress, graduation, and career readiness and college preparedness for all

To achieve these goals, we will start by developing plans to implement the following strategies and priorities:

1. Guide, train and equip teachers, administrators and those providing support services to achieve consistently high levels of achievement through effective, evidence-based pedagogy, as well as encourage our leadership to ensure they are responsive to the needs of our students– without this our students can not reach their potential. Some examples of near term priorities are:
• Demonstrate a results-based focus on improving student achievement and service delivery through a laser-like focus on the District’s priorities, including but not limited to: early childhood education, English Language and Standard English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and schools that are not showing academic progress.
• Intentionally work with Local Districts and schools sites to differentiate instruction while caring for the whole child using student behavioral and health supports so that a safe environment for learning is provided

2. Streamline the district – reduce inefficiency and redundancy, and bring funding and decision-making closer to schools, as those closest to our students are best equipped to decide on how to allocate resources. Some examples of near term priorities are:
• Create lean, support focused central and local district offices; focus on this first before exploring ways to streamline schools
• Begin the pilot implementation of per pupil funding, and other innovative ways for schools to manage funds, to ensure more transparency and control of funds at school sites
• Clarify Central and Local District roles and realign them to instructional and operational priorities


3. Provide safe, modern, and orderly schools – our teachers can not teach and our students can not learn without this. Some examples of near term priorities are:
• Identify schools with the most need for the pilot mapping program and implement this program which identifies safe passage routes to and from our schools
• Revise our facilities master plan which starts with teaching and learning priorities, and also addresses supports for charters, partnership schools and innovative programs

4. Implement an accountability and support system across all public schools – with greater local decision making must come greater accountability. Some examples of near term priorities are
• Launch the Accountability and Performance Management system with the roll-out of school report cards and increase the use of data-based decision making across the district
• Celebrate those schools, including teachers, administrators, classified and other certificated staff, throughout the district who have made a difference, as well as embrace and share innovative models – e.g., charters, partnership schools, iDesign, magnet schools, etc.

5. Provide transparency to and gather input from employees, parents, students, and the community – we have a long way to go to help our students and faculty to achieve state goals and we need to work as a team to get there
• Conduct community “meet and greets” and use multimedia to promote transparency
• Develop a specific plan for frequent discussions and collaboration with parents, communities, collective bargaining units, elected officials, etc

This is just the beginning. The priorities and accomplishments in the first 100 days will set the stage and momentum for even greater change and improvement across the district.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
• KLSC ANNOUNCES TWO SPECIAL BROADCASTS ON THE BUDGET CRISES: The first primarily on the LAUSD Budget Crisis, the second 0n the State Budget Crisis

…both affect you, your children, your school.

• BOUND FOR WASHINGTON: Jacquelín Mendoza earned an invitation to Obama’s inauguration

January 15, 2009 -- There is very little time left before Barack Obama becomes the first African American president of the United States. And Jacquelín Mendoza is keeping perfect track of the time.

“I’m very nervous because it’s a great event, and I only think that the moment will be historic and I will be there to see it,” she says.

This eighth-grade student at Nightingale Middle School in Cypress Park will attend Obama’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., next Tuesday, January 20.

• CORTINES PROPOSAL APPROVED: It includes cutting 2,290 teacher positions in LAUSD; the union announces protests

January 14, 2009 -- The Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has approved a proposal by Superintendent Ramón Cortines that cuts 2,290 positions of teachers who have been teaching for two years or less, within 14 days of their being notified.

The proposal, which Cortines maintained is “tentative,” would eliminate 1,690 elementary school teachers, 300 math teachers and 300 English teachers in middle and high schools. These cuts would save LAUSD 50 million dollars.

“This is strictly a precautionary measure. I’m trying to put pressure on Sacramento. I’m still trying to find options,” maintained Cortines.

• Jan 29, 2008: STATE BUDGET CUTS PROTEST, MARCH & RALLY

Published on United Teachers Los Angeles (http://www.utla.net)

3:30- 4:00 p.m
Demo at LAUSD Beaudry Bldg
333 So. Beaudry Avenue,
Los Angeles 90017

• A Call to Action: PTA LEGISLATIVE ALERT

California State Budget:

Our responsibility to children cannot be cut in bad economic times

· We must find a balanced approach to the budget crisis that includes sufficient new revenues to protect children and the future of California.

· Support continued funding for programs and services that help ensure that all children can succeed, such as smaller class sizes, arts and physical education, science, counselors, nurses, librarians, and health and social services for children.

We cannot build a world class public education system by going backwards in funding for education and other children's services.

• A PARENT SOUNDS OFF OVER LAUSD BUDGET CUTS

Here's one parent's response, in an open letter to the superintendent ....she doesn't buy it!

• The return of Don Mullinax: POTENTIAL FOR BAILOUT MONEY FRAUD PROMPTS EXPANSION OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

A prominent forensic accounting firm has opened a new office in Los Angeles and added one of the nation's leading forensic investigators to its team of experts in anticipation of an expected increase in fraud, waste and abuse as billions in Federal bailout money are about to be injected into the economy.

• VALLEY ART EDUCATORS EXHIBIT THEIR OWN WORK

Valley Art Educators Exhibit Their Own Work | Art displayed at the Armory Center for the Arts now through Feb. 22

LAUSD art teachers from throughout the San Fernando Valley are currently on exhibit at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

"An Art Educated Collection" is an exhibit, which showcases the collective work of the many talented artists who teach in San Fernando Valley public schools," said Spike Dolemite, founder of the Arts in Education Aid Council.

• BUDDY SYSTEM BLOSSOMS

Local schools use innovation, collaboration and other approaches to boost student learning

Experiments often produce unintended results, and that is exactly what happened between Angeles Mesa Elementary School and its big brother down the street—Crenshaw High School.

“Last year (2007) Crenshaw students came and read books t our kids, and we called it a Family Fun Day. Mr. Griffin last year loaned us his A.P. (Advanced Placement) English students one or two times a month for one hour, and they read stories to the kids,” explained Elaine Wrice, categorical programs advisor at Angeles Mesa.

• NEW SCHOOL TAX EYED FOR 2010 BALLOT

Just two months after winning approval of a $7 billion bond measure, Los Angeles Unified School District officials are considering another proposal to fund local schools.

For now, there are no details on how much a proposed parcel tax would cost homeowners or generate for the district.

But with LAUSD facing a $400 million shortfall this year and expecting chronic underfunding for years, district officials said they need more revenue to keep the quality of education from getting worse.

"It's becoming more and more apparent, based on the economic situation the district is in, that we need to look at a tax," said Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

• THE FULL TEXT OF THE GOVERNOR’S STATE-OF-THE-STATE SPEECH

“It doesn't make any sense to talk about education, infrastructure, water, health care reform and all these things when we have this huge budget deficit.

“I think you would agree that in recent years California's legislature has been engaged in civil war. Meanwhile, the needs of the people became secondary.

“No one wants to take money from our gang-fighting programs or from Medi-Cal or from education.

“No one wants to pay more in taxes or fees.

“But each of us has to give up something because our country is in an economic crisis and our state simply doesn't have the money.”

More than you ever wanted to know about the school report card: REPORT CARD FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR PRINCIPALS

LAUSD BOARD VOTES TO POSSIBLY LAY OFF 2,300 TEACHERS

The 4-2 vote authorizes the job actions if no other options are found to decrease a potential $250-million budget shortfall this year caused by the state's financial problems.

Because of the state's budget uncertainty, the Los Angeles school board agreed Tuesday to potentially lay off up to 2,300 teachers if no other options become available this year.
The Los Angeles Unified School District faces up to a $250-million shortfall, and the move could shave about $50 million from that figure. But Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, in his first board meeting as head of the district, said he hoped not to send the notices.

"This is strictly a place-holder," he said. "I am still trying to find alternatives."

• QUALITY COUNTS 2009 | The other Report Card + charts+graphs: The ED WEEK QUALITY COUNTS SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA

50-State Report Card: Amid national political turnover and financial worries, states remain on the front line in the push for school improvement.

• STATE BUDGET WOES COULD LEAD TO SHORTER SCHOOL YEAR

Facing a massive budget deficit, California is considering shortening the school year by five days, a move that would save the state $1.1 billion. But the proposal is causing uproar among families and educators, who say the consequences would be disastrous, the Los Angeles Times reports. State schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell told the paper the move would hurt low-income and minority children because affluent school districts will most likely have the funds to remain open all 180 days of the school year. If the California legislature agrees to cut the school calendar, the state will join North Dakota, Kentucky, and a few other states that require the least number of school days.

• CA SUPREME COURT TO TAKE ON DISCOUNTED TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Should illegal immigrants pay discounted tuition rates at state colleges? The California Supreme Court is expected to take up that question later this year when it hears arguments on the constitutionality of California's law granting in-state tuition to undocumented students. Expect educators and lawmakers across the country to pay close attention to the case. The outcome will likely influence other states' college tuition policies for immigrant students who are not legal U.S. residents. At least nine states offer tuition breaks to illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions, including Illinois, Kansas, and New York.

• EDUCATION FOR ALL STUDENTS

letters to the Editor | LA TIMES 12 Jan

Re “High court to consider tuition law,” Jan. 5

While your coverage regarding California state law AB 540 has highlighted some important issues, I'd like to underscore that the law -- and good policy -- dictate that we not discriminate against undocumented students who reside in California when offering in-state tuition to California high school graduates.

• LAUSD TEACHERS: STRIKE, BOYCOTT POSSIBLE

LAUSD teachers say they may boycott or strike if their contract needs aren't met.

Massive state budget shortfalls are leading to cuts in education.

Union leaders say the district has other options than to lay off teachers and cut their health care.

• SCHOOL GAINS ARE PUT AT RISK

Mockler: “The budget bell is ringing for California's schools to take a recessionary recess from reform.”

It's inevitable that California public schools soon will be whacked with hefty program cuts. And that's a shame because students recently have been making significant gains.
A decade of academic advancement due to class-size reduction, tougher curriculum, higher standards, testing, accountability and other reforms could be stalled -- even reversed -- by the necessity to cut spending.

• LAUSD SENDS OUT REPORT CARDS EVALUATING SCHOOLS

Supt. Ramon C. Cortines pushed for the mailings to give parents a clearer view of students' graduation and dropout rates, math and English proficiency, college preparation and more.

Parents in Los Angeles this week will receive a one-page report card that will provide a less varnished and more accessible picture of how well their child's school is doing.


Link to the news that didn't fit from Jan 19th



EVENTS: Coming up next week...
*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 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 has served a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools.
• 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.
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