Doing one thing and saying another

4LAKids: Sunday 19•Dec•2010 In This Issue: • SCHOOL BOARD MUSCLES THROUGH NEW CALENDAR; PARENT VOICES MISSING • THIS CLASS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY…. • L.A. TEACHERS UNION WON’T ACCEPT PAY CUTS, ‘VALUE-ADDLED’ EVALUATIONS + TEACHERS UNION OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE NOT ‘VILLAINS OF EDUCATION’ • Green Dot’s Animo Justice Charter High School: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CHARTER SCHOOL FAILS? • 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: • Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404 • 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. EVERY TWO OR THREE YEARS The District reviews+renews its commitment to Parent Involvement and/or Engagement. A new resolution is resolved - and from that point forward LAUSD is parent-friendly and the voices of mothers and fathers and guardians is heard and heeded. This new commitment is carefully defined, described and resolved with all the whereases and wherefores - and it is invariably semantic. The 2010 version of the District Parent Engagement Policy contains the word 'family' in the definition: "Parent and Family Involvement". That fixed it! This lasts as long as the parents are properly appreciative-of-and-compliant-in their new role/voice/power ...and when parents ask questions or would like an actual say it ebbs away like any metaphor escaping containment - drawn by gravity downward in a clockwise spiral north of the equator. This year's flavor lasted less than Tuesday's marathon eight-hour board meeting as the new calendar change was imposed upon the district and the parents and families thereof. Parents are a troublesome bunch. They rarely agree with each other, let alone Board Rules, the Ed Code and the current conventional wisdom in the schools of education. They have not universally bought into the thinking of the US Dept of Education or the charter-centric thinking of bought-and-paid-for school reformers. They have no collective bargaining so parent involvement is purely voluntary on the part of The District. There isn't a boardmember up there on the horseshoe who doesn't wrap themselves in the flag of parent engagement - but the lack of clothing is not disguised by the colorful bunting. It isn't about the flag - it's about the practice. THERE WAS A MOMENT IN TUESDAY'S MEETING when the board came to a unanimous and uncomfortable conclusion: They saw the future and it sucks. El Camino Real High School, a the jewel in the crown and LAUSD's only remaining non-Title One high school is going to go charter. Driven by the State of Reality: The Charter Law, the union contract, the economy; a lack of leadership from Beaudry and Sacramento. It has no choice. Within a year or two this will be true of every non-Title One school in the district, K through 12. The superintendent predicted that this flight/decline would soon bring LAUSD to a total enrollment of 400,000 - down from a high of 747,000. And LAUSD will find itself in the business of educating English Language Learners, Special Ed and Children of Poverty - while high achieving and middle class kids will go to privately subsidized public charter schools - separate and unequal. . Public education moves from a universal to an institutional part of the social safety net. SUPERINTENDENT CORTINES told the Tenth District PTA president and I on December 6th that he would be retiring effective 'after April first' - naming the date. When asked if that date was official and/or public knowledge he said he had informed the board president the day before and he considered it public knowledge. I have been waiting for an official announcement and have yet to see it. THIS MAY BE THE LAST 4LAKids UNTIL JANUARY 9th. It all depends on whether I can find an Internet connection and/or LAUSD news in the middle of the ocean. And on how hard I try. There is no truth to the rumor that I have fallen off the edge of the earth, but I am on a voyage exploring those regions. A transatlantic crossing on the maiden voyage of a great ship in the middle of the winter - proving, I suppose, that some of us did not get the message of "Titanic". It's not all that bad. No phone. No internet. No email. There's a signpost up ahead: Welcome to the Olden Days. Happy/Merry/Onward/Adelante! - smf LAST MINUTE GIFT GIVERS: Nothing gives and keeps on giving like a subscription to 4LAKids. The Revealed Truth about Public Education in LA (or what passes for it) in one's email box every Sunday. SUBSCRIBE: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com SCHOOL BOARD MUSCLES THROUGH NEW CALENDAR; PARENT VOICES MISSING Diana L. Chapman in CityWatch Vol 8 Issue 100 | http://bit.ly/hcIazJ Dec 17, 2010 - Despite one school member’s wariness that a calendar change had limited parent input, the Los Angeles Unified School Board forged ahead and adopted a policy Tuesday to begin school Aug. 15 district wide – a decision that will impact thousands of students and their families. The board voted 6-1 to begin school in one of the hottest months of the year -- mid-August in summer of 2011 while not all campuses have air conditioning. The only schools not included are those that remain on a multi-track calendar. School Board Member Richard Vladovic, who heads the Harbor area and parts of northern Los Angeles, heatedly dissented. In the lone no vote, Vladovic urged other board members to wait until more data had been collected and parents received more information and time to respond to the change. “There was clearly not enough information given to parents about this calendar change,” said Vladovic, who is up for re-election in June. “Parents and families need to be part of the process. Though I think that educationally the early start calendar change makes sense, I supported the parents who have expressed to me that they have not been given enough information.” The new calendar does not garner students any additional educational time. While Los Angeles Unified will start earlier in the year, students will be released at the beginning of June rather than toward the end of that month – as was done in the past. Besides seeking further information from parents, Vladovic argued that the district should wait for such a change until all its schools were off multi-track, a system that school officials determined later to be a failure for its students, but was forced into due to intense overcrowding. With bond measures, the district has been able to build new schools and slowly return most schools to the traditional schedules, starting in September and ending in June. Vladoic’s amendment – which asked for the board to allow school complexes by community to decide their fate -- died on the table. LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the district would incur higher costs by implementing the early start by complex, citing additional transportation and special education expenses. David Kooper, Vladovic’s chief of staff, said it was ironic how the board voted after spending several hours earlier in the day debating how they could get parents involved and engaged. And yet, families were only notified about this as a proposal in October on a Los Angeles Unified website. “It’s not fair to families,” said Kooper, who added that he received emails from upset parents. “It is incredibly unfortunate for those families who already planned vacations. Now these families have to make the decision whether or not to cancel their trip and perhaps incur a cost in doing so or go on the trip and miss school. If this was done next year, this issue would not be a problem. “This is a clear example of doing one thing and saying another.” Should families decide to go on vacation the district will lose funds from ADA, or average daily attendance. States fund schools about $30 per day per student One mother agreed with Kooper’s assessment. “Here goes LAUSD again making a desperate stab in the dark to make changes with little data to support it,” said mother Jennifer Marquez, who has two children in a San Pedro elementary school. “I think families were defeated again and students are being treated like nothing more than test scores. I know many families that are upset over this and wonder if LAUSD knows that they may end up losing more students over this decision.” Seventeen high schools – driven by their principals – urged Cortines to allow them to begin school early this past fall so that its students could end their first semester before the winter break. Many administrators believe adding three weeks to the beginning of the year – and loping off June, which one principal called a “dead” month, would raise student test scores. Most of the year is dedicated to working toward the test, which are taken in May. After that, both teachers and students are exhausted, school officials said. Linda Del Cueto, the superintendent who heads 14 of the high schools that started early this year, said while she’s heard few complaints she has not been able yet to delve into the data of how successful the early start has been. At the end of the semester, Del Cueto said they will be able to look at students grades, but test scores will be unavailable until the summer. (Diana Chapman has been a writer/journalist for nearly thirty years. She has written for magazines, newspapers and the best-seller series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. You can reach her at: hartchap@cox.net or her website theunderdogforkids.blogspot.com ) -cw THIS CLASS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY…. Charles Feldman in the Huffington Post | http://huff.to/eUlgtM December 16, 2010 05:07 PM - "Good morning class. Before I begin, let me just say that this section of Biology 101 is brought to you by the makers of genuine Bayer aspirin. If you get a headache from this class, remember to reach for Bayer -- the brand doctors trust! Now, if you can please open your text books to chapter three." Far-fetched? Maybe not. The cash-starved Los Angeles Unified School District has chosen the path of least resistance to the corporate world at a time when companies are anxious to get their hands on the young minds of school children at the earliest age possible. The board is apparently going ahead with plans to seek corporate sponsors for such things as school auditoriums and athletic fields. Off limits, at least for now: corporate promotions for alcohol, tobacco and firearms, according to the New York Times. Well, thank God for that, right?! Imagine how embarrassing it would be if the next time there is a campus shooting, it turns out the weapon used was actually sponsored by some gun maker? Ramon Cortines, the L.A. schools superintendent, is quoted by the LA Times as saying, "we're not going to put advertising where it offends." Really? Well, Mr. Cortines, that sort of misses the point, doesn't it? The point is, all corporate advertising in school in order to raise cash offends. Doesn't matter where it is. The pity is, the LAUSD is willing to sell its soul to the devil in exchange for very little money, really. School district officials are quoted as projecting potential ad revenue at about $18 million. The operating budget for the district, however, is reportedly about $5.4 billion. So, any money raised by corporate advertising is a drop in the bucket, in exchange for a bucket of KFC chicken potentially plastering its logo on a school's cafeteria's walls. Some might argue, especially teachers facing layoffs, that better this than have more cutbacks. I doubt it. Opening up LA's schools to corporate sponsorship is a major step in a very wrong direction. Students are better off with more crowded classrooms than they are with minds crowded with corporate logos. Charles Feldman is a journalist, media consultant and co-author of the book, "No Time To Think-The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle." He has covered politics and police in L.A. since 1995 and is a regular contributor of investigative reports to KNX1070 Newsradio. L.A. TEACHERS UNION WON’T ACCEPT PAY CUTS, ‘VALUE-ADDLED’ EVALUATIONS + TEACHERS UNION OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE NOT ‘VILLAINS OF EDUCATION’ L.A. TEACHERS UNION WON’T ACCEPT PAY CUTS, ‘VALUE-ADDLED’ EVALUATIONS: UTLA leaders dispute criticisms from the mayor and others, but reiterate their firm opposition to furloughs, larger classes and use of students' test scores to evaluate teachers' performance. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/hYGfGb December 16, 2010 - The state's largest teachers union Wednesday fired an early salvo in contract negotiations, serving notice that it wouldn't accept pay cuts easily and that it won't consider linking teacher evaluations to student test scores in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The afternoon news conference, at union headquarters in Koreatown, was a familiar exercise in rallying the rank and file. But it also marked a renewed effort to lead the public debate over school reform, coming shortly after L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa labeled United Teachers Los Angeles the primary obstacle to improving schools. The union "today is setting the record straight," said vice president Julie Washington, who heads the union's negotiating team and is running for president. "We are not the villains of education. We are the solution. We are dedicated and care about the children and the community. … We are going on the record pushing back." Save Up to 90%: Sign up for our free daily e-mail to get in on exclusive deals around L.A. Powered by Groupon. Subscribe Now. The union contract expires at the end of June, but both the district and the union can reopen the current contract on a few selected issues. Top union priorities include resisting class-size increases and restoring the five days cut from the current school year through employee furloughs, Washington said. The former would spare teachers from layoffs; the latter would return teacher pay to prior levels. Washington insisted that the underlying goal is to promote the best interests of students as well as employees. Washington didn't completely rule out furlough days but she echoed the union call of past years as she challenged the district to "open its books" and cut out waste and high-priced consultants. District officials countered that they face a projected $142-million deficit for next year — and that seven furlough days would only make up $97 million. The nation's second-largest school system already has laid off about 5,000 employees since July 1, 2009, and reduced pay for thousands of others. The union remained firm on another point: No part of teachers' evaluations should be based on their students' standardized test scores, said treasurer David Goldberg. The union supports using data to improve instruction, he added, and wants to fix a broken teacher evaluation system. The district wants test scores to count for at least 30% of evaluations through a "value-added" system that measures student improvement, taking into account past performance. Some unions elsewhere have accepted value-added formulas as one measure of teacher effectiveness. The union also took a swipe at a proposed lawsuit settlement that aims to prevent a school's staff from being decimated by layoffs based on seniority. The union has defended traditional seniority rules. The best solution would be to avoid having schools staffed with mostly new teachers — who are the first to be laid off, said Kirti Baranwal, a teacher at Samuel Gompers Middle School in South Los Angeles. Gompers was among three middle schools especially hard-hit by layoffs. Baranwal credited the mayor's education team for giving teachers at some schools under its control the freedom to make strides. But she said the mayor himself is "speaking from a lack of knowledge of what's going on at his own schools." ____________________ TEACHERS UNION OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE NOT ‘VILLAINS OF EDUCATION’ By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/icrUvd 12/15/2010 07:06:48 PM PST - After receiving several public bashings amid unprecedented political and community pressure for school reform, leaders of the Los Angeles teacher's union said Wednesday that they are not "the villains of education." Union leaders also laid out their plan to push for teacher-led reforms, as they prepare for a new round of salary negotiations with school district officials. The teachers union has faced growing criticism in recent months from Los Angeles Unified officials, community groups and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for opposing key proposals for school improvement, including key changes to teacher evaluations and the hiring and firing process of educators. At a news conference Wednesday, labor leaders denounced the idea that they are "defenders of the status quo." "Too often we are painted as greedy and uncaring, well today, we are setting the record straight.. that is not true and we are pushing back," said Julie Washington, a vice-president for United Teachers Los Angeles. Facing one of the toughest rounds of contract negotiations to date, UTLA leaders said they want LAUSD to stabilize schools by reducing staff layoffs. Union leaders also said they wanted to push for more freedom for educators to decide how they teach state required subjects and how they measure student success. "District mandated programs have killed ingenuity," said teacher Queena Kim, who works at the UCLA Community School in Koreatown. However, union leaders maintained their opposition to using test scores and to the elimination of the seniority system, which forces the district to keep teachers who have worked with LAUSD the longest, regardless of performance, during layoffs. In an interview this week, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said he saw the union as a critical and integral part of the district, however he said recently his own negotiation invitations to labor leaders have gone ignored. "I've always felt the union has to be a part of the reform agenda," Cortines said. "But they cannot continue to stonewall." Union leaders said they have not turned down any district negotiation meetings. Some in the community though have grown increasingly impatient with the union, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who last week blasted the teacher's union as "one unwavering roadblock to reform." "We all welcome a more progressive teachers union in Los Angeles .... but up until now they have been the party of no," said LAUSD school board member Yolie Flores. Green Dot’s Animo Justice Charter High School: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CHARTER SCHOOL FAILS? “The school was the only one in the Green Dot network that offered classes in English as a Second Language” Bertha Rodríguez Santos, New America Media, News Report, Translated by Elena Shore | http://bit.ly/ePMLCZ Dec 13, 2010 - LOS ANGELES—California leads the nation in charter school growth this year, according to a report released last month by The Center for Education Reform. With 912 charter schools in the state, up 114 from the 2009-2010 academic year, charter administrators are being praised for developing what many believe is one of the most effective models for educating low-income students. But far less attention has been paid to the closure rate of charter schools. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, over the past two academic years, 281 charter schools, or about 6 percent of the total open in 2008-09, closed nationwide. In California, there have been 150 closures since in 1992, when the state’s charter school law was enacted, and 72 in just the past three years. What happens to kids when a charter school fails? Thalía Saavedra, 17, has a sweet and mild demeanor, but she grows angry when discussing the unexpected closure of her school, Animo Justice Charter High School, earlier this year. “They didn’t even give up the opportunity to share our opinions,” said Thalia.“They never gave us a voice, they never notified us in advance. They just told us, ‘It’s closing,’ and that’s it.” The news came one Friday morning in late March, when Saavedra and her classmates were asked to gather in the school gym. The students assumed they were to attend an ordinary assembly, though none was scheduled. Instead, representatives from Green Dot, the L.A-based charter school network that opened Animo Justice in 2006, informed the students that the school was being shut down in June. In an interview, Marco Petruzzi, president of Green Dot, blamed the decision on financial problems, low enrollment, and poor academic performance, in addition the failure of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to provide the school with promised facilities. Teachers learned the news just 20 minutes before the announcement to students. Green Dot’s chief academic officer, Cristina de Jesús, and vice president of education, Megan Quaile, gave a Power Point presentation on the school’s attendance and test scores, then informed teachers of the closure. Science teacher Judy Riemenschneider called the process of evaluating and shutting down the school unfair and “truly insulting.” Another teacher, who asked not to be identified, said she was told not to say anything to students and warned that if she “opened her mouth,” she would be in trouble The school’s 500 students, meanwhile, were shocked—and devastated. More than 90 percent of them were Latinos, nearly half were English Language Learners, and the school was the only one in the Green Dot network that offered classes in English as a Second Language. Where were students supposed to go? What would happen to the community they had worked so hard to create? Fast Growth, Big Plans Founded in 1999, Green Dot is a fast-growing charter-school network that operates 18 schools in Los Angeles and one in New York with public and private funds. Supporters include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Oscar de la Hoya Foundation, the Wachovia Foundation and Wells Fargo bank, among others On its website, it says it is “leading the charge to transform public education in Los Angeles and beyond so that all children receive the education they need to be successful in college, leadership, and life.” Yet Animo Justice’s problems began even before it was launched. Originally, Green Dot had sought to take over troubled Jefferson High School, in South Central Los Angeles. But when LAUSD did not allow the charter school network to use the Jefferson facilities as originally planned, Green Dot decided to compete with Jefferson students by opening five charter schools in surrounding neighborhoods, according to Marco Petruzzi. Animo Justice’s first location was a building between Broadway and 26th Street in South Central L.A. But the next year, the school moved to Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles, where students took classes in 10 portable classrooms installed in the parking lot. In 2008, the school changed locations again, to a small building, near Long Beach Boulevard in South Central, where it remained until its closure. The industrial environment wasn’t optimal for academic achievement. Less than a block away, a train passed by every 15 minutes, and the noise made it difficult for students to concentrate, Thalia said. Ismael “Mike” Sebastián, who followed the school from one campus another and graduated in June, recalled one day when a strong odor from the bathroom’s flooded drainage system gave students bad headaches, and they had to call the paramedics. A sociology teacher said the poor air quality near the school “affects the brain cells.” Petruzzi acknowledged that the frequent moves and lack of a permanent building contributed to low student enrollment, which in turn added to the school’s financial problems. The school was under-resourced in other ways that hurt achievement. For example, Thalia said her regular math and English teachers were absent for an entire year. Instead, the classes were taught by substitutes with little experience Meanwhile, with three principals in four years, the school lacked strong leadership, Riemenschneider said According to Ed-Data, during the 2008-2009 school year, only 13.9 percent of Animo Justice students were proficient in English Language Arts, a significant drop from 26.9 percent proficiency the previous year. The percentage of students proficient in math dropped from 23.1 percent in 2007-08 to 14 percent in 2008-09 A Strong Community For all its problems, however, students deeply cared about the school. It was they and parents who chose to combine the word “Justice” with the word “Animo,” a name now borne by all of Green Dot’s L.A. schools. They also chose the school’s colors and the phoenix as the school’s mascot. The small class size allowed students to form close relationships. Everyone knew each other. Thalia said she considered the school to be her second home: the academic part of her family. Mike Sebastián said the teachers always knew what was going on with the kids. At first, students were paralyzed by the news. Then, putting their academic lessons on social justice into action, they decided to fight. The next day, they staged a sit-in protest in the hallways instead of attending class. Several days later, some 400 students spontaneously marched the six miles to Green Dot’s offices on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles. “You got your education. Now give us ours. We want justice,” the students’ signs read. But the students’ chanting and discontent had no effect. Marco Petruzzi met them for two hours to explain the reasons for the closure, but did not change his mind. Education as a Business "For them, our education is a business,” Thalia said. “They used grades to try to blame us, but in reality, they were the ones who failed.” One teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, believes Green Dot and other charter school operators mislead students and parents about what they can accomplish. They promise families a high-quality education, but unlike parents in affluent areas like Beverly Hills, low-income parents lack the resources to supplement what the schools can provide, the teacher said. In the end, many charter schools are unable to meet the expectations they set. “It’s exactly like a factory,” she said. If a school does not perform according to the established parameters, the charter school operator can close it, lay off the teachers, and kick out the students—leaving them in the lurch. In the interview, Petruzzi responded to the criticisms. “It wasn’t a decision we took lightly...The state is in bankruptcy; there’s not enough funding. The district has broken the law and not given us facilities. “We did not give up on the students,” he said. “No teachers lost their jobs because of this. We offered placement in other schools. We are just trying to face the very difficult financial situation the best way possible.” But the teacher who declined to give her name, who taught at the high school for two years, said she and her colleagues were put in a difficult position. Those who dared to support the students in their attempt to save the school were not rehired by Green Dot, she said many had to look for work in other schools or find another career. Of the 25 teachers who taught classes at Animo Justice, only half returned to teach at Green Dot schools. Students, meanwhile, were given a list of Green Dot schools they could select from. They were placed at schools through a lottery system and consideration of what schools would be the best fit for Animo Justice students. Thalia Savedra is attending a charter school outside the Green Dot network. She plans to graduate this coming June—“if they don’t close it down in the middle of the school year.” * Bertha Rodríguez-Santos, a reporter and editor at El Tequio magazine, has been a newspaper, radio, and TV reporter in Mexico and the United States for 18 years. She produced this story as part of the 2010 NAM Education Beat Fellowship for ethnic media journalists, which is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources “Doing one thing and saying another” :”SCHOOL BOARD MUSCLES THROUGH NEW CALENDAR; PARENT VOICES MISSING: Diana L... http://bit.ly/efYsNY DEADLINE TODAY: NCLB/PSC + Magnet students face deadline - Chance to move kids from low-performing schools ends ... http://bit.ly/fYGMZj THIS CLASS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY….: Charles Feldman in the Huffington Post | http://huff.to/eUlgtM December 16, ... http://bit.ly/eToQrV OXY TAKES ON THE WHITE HOUSE: Nine-member panel of students and community leaders interact with top White House ... http://bit.ly/faUP6e CALIFORNIA BOARD OF ED SEEKS PROBE OF COMPTON CHARTER CAMPAIGN: The board will ask the state attorney general to... http://bit.ly/gIBCD1 L.A. TEACHERS UNION WON’T ACCEPT PAY CUTS, ‘VALUE-ADDLED’ EVALUATIONS + TEACHERS UNION OFFICIALS SAY THEY ARE NO... http://bit.ly/fnyYFf FORMER NEW ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING $1.3 MILLION+: Ruben Vives - LA Times/LA... http://bit.ly/gZaOm3 Pick ‘n choose: TODAY’S NEWS LINKS: 16 Dec: from google news: California budget crisis poses new attacks on tea... http://bit.ly/h0WG9N QUINCY JONES CUTS RIBBON AT NAMESAKE SCHOOL: Leo Stallworth - ABC7.COM | http://bit.ly/eQ5x8l Wednesday, Dece... http://bit.ly/gLVTj4 Compton Trigger/Takeover: McKINLEY PARENTS ALLEGE INTIMIDATION, MICHELLE RHEE COMES TO TOWN: Sandra Poindexter, ... http://bit.ly/gUfGM9 LOOKING FOR ONLINE LEARNING EXEMPLARS: Posted by Eduflack (Patrick Riccards) | http://bit.ly/h87A4q 12/15/201... http://bit.ly/hGUQjT SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES NEW PARENT POLICY: MEDIA REPORTS ON CALENDAR CHANGE + SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS INSTEAD: Could ... http://bit.ly/eAdNMg Does visual skills training improve reading outcomes? KCBS IN LOS ANGELES TO AIR REPORT ON PILOT PROJECT OUTCOME... http://bit.ly/gpUrJB Rise of the iKids: SCHOOLS TEST iPADS IN CLASSROOMS: By Bruce Newman | San Jose Mercury News | http://bit.ly/hOj... http://bit.ly/gMOITa UCLA Ed Budget Forum: ANOTHER DOSE OF BROWN GLOOM AND DOOM: The latest on California politics and government Po... http://bit.ly/eBddQ0 DEFICIT DIALOGUE: By Jeff Simering, Director of Legislation, Council of Great City Schools|from Nov/Dec Urban Ed... http://bit.ly/gbDkrz REPORT OF THE RABEN GROUP: Federal Education Policy and Funding in the 111th Congress …looking forward to the 11... http://bit.ly/f425tU 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: 213-241.8700 • 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 Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • 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. • If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE. • If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE. • If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • 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 SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.

Creating the swamp.

4LAKids: Sunday 12•Dec•2010 In This Issue: • PULLING THE PARENT TRIGGER: Parents want reform at Compton's McKinley Elementary. That's fine, but the process has flaws. • AN A IN OVERCOMING THE ODDS: California schools are not as good as they should be, but they are significantly better than their reputation. • ENRAGEMENT TO ENGAGEMENT: Towards Sustained Parent Power • THE ‘REAL’ PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM + THE OTHER PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: NCLB/PSC & LAUSD 'Choices" (The Dealine is Friday!) meets LAUSD PSC • 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: • Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404 • 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. "When there is evidence of bad public policy, you can safely assume that it took two parties working collaboratively to create the swamp." As a lover+practitioner of hyperbole+metaphor that's a lead line that's gonna suck me in - especially if the article's about education. This time it's about public education in NYC, that faraway land of myth and Giants (football but no longer baseball ones) populated with characters like Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein ...and their impromptu apprentice Cathie Black. The article "Cathie Black’s Tenure Trap" | http://huff.to/fCGw0K is by a NY City Schools teacher, Marc Epstein. As Epstein is a high school history teacher I'm trusting that his history is well-researched and correct - but that really doesn’t matter. There is irony and pathos and conflict and angst; the storytelling is excellent and it has a beat you can dance to. And it contains - along with a description of the absurdity that is the NYC Schools - the best definition+puncturing-of the popular misconception of what "Teacher Tenure" is: "Tenure for public school teachers is not a lifetime sinecure. In most respects it is no different from civil service protections for police, fire, and sanitation workers. You have to have due process in order to fire an employee." Quoth the mad poet to his bust of Pallas: "Only this, and nothing more." BUT NEW YORK HAS NO EXCLUSIVE CLAIM TO SMALL CHARACTERS WRIT LARGE - surpassed only by their egos - and possessed with all the answers gained without a credential to whatever ails public education.. We in L.A. have our own ...and this week saw the recharging/re-emergence/reset of The Energizer Bunny and the grand reappearance of his alter ego: The Education Mayor! Mayor Tony was seemingly everywhere this week. see: http://lat.ms/e0eKc4 - even The Times wonders what he's up to! He made a self-described major policy address to the Public Policy Institute of California in Sacramento about education reform. Seeing as he was in Sacramento, the subject was the Los Angeles teachers union - which Tony is no longer a fan of. Apparently UTLA is "the one, unwavering roadblock to reform ...they have consistently been the most powerful defenders of the status quo. At every step of the way, when Los Angeles was coming together to effect real change in our public schools, UTLA was there to fight against the change and slow the pace of reform." 'Reform' being the direction the mayor wants to go; the 'status quo' being anything/anywhere else. This is rather sad in a way - at one time Tony was an organizer for UTLA; when he attempted to unconstitutionally take over LAUSD the the current UTLA leadership supported him. Now the romance is over. Like I said: sad. In a Huffington Post article [http://huff.to/f9P3h6] Tony waxed poetic: "In the 60s, when I was in school, the California public school system was the gold standard--a national model that complemented our State's image as a land of opportunity." That overworked theme of the mythical golden age is pure balderdash. Read George Skelton's column AN A IN OVERCOMING THE ODDS below. Tony was also there in Compton this week - speaking out for the Parent Revolutionaries and tearing down the Compton school district. Gentle readers - there is nothing so important+meaningful to local government and school district officials - and the citizens of any of the smaller cities around L.A.- than the musings of the mayor of Los Angeles on how they are running their cities and schools. They truly appreciate it that our mayor - and one of our assistant city attorneys (Parent Revolutionary-in-chief Ben Austin) are badmouthing and attempting to dismember their school system - the mayor in his spare time, Austin as part of one of his other part-time jobs. Every day I dodge the pothole-the-size-of-a-Buick at San Fernando Road and Avenue 26 I'm reminded that Mayor Tony has other things to fill his time besides running the City of LA. Every gang crime I hear of, every municipal injustice unresolved I wonder if that wasn't a case where Ben Austin might have made a difference - if he wasn't otherwise employed. There are no magic bullets in public education, no quick fixes - no short cuts to excellence. There is no substitute for the hard work that needs to be done over time. But the 'reformers' pulled the 'parent trigger' anyway in Compton; they played the parent card in a piece of theater so elaborately choreographed it would impress Guy Laliberté, the Cirque du Soleil impresario. Imagine: Compton parents, all by themselves, not only identified their troubled school - but interviewed and selected the right charter operator to turn it around - and obtained the requisite number of signatures on the petition they wrote. They all but wrote the charter. This wasn't parent driven, it was chauffeured by five paid community organizers employed by Parent Revolution - an unholy-owned subsidiary of Green Dot Public Schools. It's a hostile corporate takeover right out of the corporate arbitrageur playbook - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts couldn't have done it better! And when the dust settled and the masks were off they trotted out the big guns to celebrate their victory ...or at least the scary noise they made. Tony. Ben. Arnold. Gloria Romero. Michelle Rhee. Mission accomplished. Supermen+women? No, just the cast that proves the opening quote. And the kids? ...still waiting. ¡Onward/Adelante! - smf PS: Imagine my horrified delight at this headline on the education homepage at the Huffington Post: SHOCKING: L.A. SUPERINTENDENT ACCUSED OF MISSPENDING $5 MILLION | http://huff.to/h0KTS7. OMG! (Un)fortunately the story refers to the former Beverly Hills superintendent and alleged shenanigans in the BHUSD Facilities Division. Somehow I really don't think that Arianna & Co.suffer from mistaking 90210 for LA ...unless that's Mayor Tony's voice in their GPS. PULLING THE PARENT TRIGGER: Parents want reform at Compton's McKinley Elementary. That's fine, but the process has flaws. LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/eDfQ3N December 12, 2010 - If anyone has reason to overthrow the public school establishment, it's parents in the Compton Unified School District. Five of the district's 35 schools are listed among the worst 5% statewide. In July, an auditor reported that the schools were run to benefit adults more than students and that the district appeared incapable of fixing the problem. And the school board recently fired its superintendent for charging thousands of dollars of personal expenses to her district credit card. So it's no great surprise that Compton Unified became the first school district targeted for the so-called parent trigger, which allows parents to force radical change at a particular school if 51% of them sign a petition. Among their options are replacing the school's management or most of its staff, or turning it into a charter school. Parents organized by the group Parent Revolution, the leading force behind the parent trigger movement, delivered their petition to district headquarters last week, demanding that McKinley Elementary School become part of the Celerity Education Group charter organization. Of the various ingredients that went into California's sloppily assembled school reform bill last year, the parent trigger was the most intriguing and potentially the most transformative. When schools stubbornly resist looking for new ways to help students, when the board of education won't listen and when business-as-usual means students can pretty much count on not going to college, what are parents supposed to do, short of coming up with $28,000 a year for private school? Get the best in Southern California opinion journalism delivered to your inbox with our Opinion L.A. newsletter. Sign up » The simple logic of the trigger, and its quick and direct empowerment of parents, rightly drew nationwide interest and praise from the Obama administration (which nonetheless rejected California's application for a federal Race to the Top grant, which the legislation was intended to secure). Yet there were reasons for concern. As the law is written, parents can pull the trigger on schools that are by no means those most in need of turnaround. What's more, there is little evidence that reconstituting schools or converting them into charters will appreciably improve their performance. Too little is known about how the reform will be carried out. So we're glad that the law limits the number of schools that can launch a petition drive to 75 for now. That gives reformers a chance to show what the trigger can accomplish while limiting unforeseen consequences. As it turned out, the first pull of the parent trigger provided cause for both appreciation and disquiet. McKinley Elementary is a very low-performing school, in the bottom 10th of schools statewide and even among schools with similar demographics. Parents complain that the staff doesn't communicate with them and that students who get good grades at McKinley go on to get Ds in middle school. Celerity is a well-regarded charter operator that might make significant improvements. We're also glad to see Celerity agree, as charter schools must under the parent trigger, to enroll all students within the same attendance boundaries as the public school it would replace. Under the traditional lottery system charter schools must use to enroll students, they generally end up with fewer special-education students and children with behavior problems than similar public schools, a situation that gives them a greater chance of shining on the California Standards Tests. Yet McKinley's teachers have clearly been working hard to improve scores. With the exception of one year, the school has brought its test scores up and met state growth targets each year since 2004, more than 100 points in six years. There's an inherent disconnect in a state law that punishes teachers — who would have to reapply for their jobs if Celerity were to take over — when they have met the state's improvement criteria. The McKinley experience also makes it clear that the parent trigger law was written with inadequate safeguards for public transparency. Apparently, neither the school district nor the teachers realized that a petition was making the rounds. Some parents have complained that they were not shown the petition or that they signed it without a clear explanation of its purpose. There was no opportunity for public discussion or for other charter operators to show interest in the school. Parents learned about Celerity because Parent Revolution staff shuttled them to visit existing Celerity schools and no others. We sympathize with the explanation of Ben Austin, chief executive of Parent Revolution, that mounting a successful petition drive would have been difficult if the district knew in advance. Teachers, who are the most adamant opponents of the transformation of McKinley, have daylong access to students, making it easy for them to fight any attempt at change. During the first round of Los Angeles Unified's Public School Choice initiative, which allows outside operators to apply to run low-performing schools, teacher groups engaged in appalling tactics, falsely warning that undocumented parents would be deported if they chose a charter, or that they would be charged tuition. Some charter operators disseminated inaccurate information about the schools as well. But instead of shutting off public debate, the L.A. school board set down new rules intended to tamp down unethical behavior during the second round of Public School Choice. That's what is needed for the parent trigger. Public schools are just that — public. They shouldn't be handed over to new operators through secret agreements and petitions and campaigns that offer only partial information. All parents should have the opportunity to learn about and weigh in on any petitions, and schools should be required to notify all parents about any relevant meetings. As the movement grows, the parent trigger should not be a way for individual charter operators to take over schools by funding petition drives. And although parents should be consulted, the school district or state Board of Education should choose the reform or charter operator that would work best at each trigger school. At the same time, school staff who try to intimidate parents into rejecting the petitions should be disciplined, and reformers should be provided with a way to contact all parents at a school, something they are not allowed now. Distaste for the messiness of democracy is an unacceptable excuse for secret proceedings. When it meets this week to consider additional regulations for the parent trigger, the state board — of which Austin is a member, though he recuses himself on this issue — should tighten the rules to ensure open proceedings. The parent trigger is a promising initiative based on the idea that parents are smart enough to have a hand in determining the future of their children's schools. If that is the case, they should be treated as though they're smart enough to engage in an open debate and make an informed decision. For a little more depth+detail Read Patrick Range McDonald's account of the Compton School Takeover in the LA Weekly. AN A IN OVERCOMING THE ODDS: California schools are not as good as they should be, but they are significantly better than their reputation. By George Skelton Capitol Journal | http://lat.ms/ghVwB3 December 6, 2010 - From Sacramento - Truth is, California's public schools never were all that great. And today, they're not nearly as crummy as critics claim. In fact, they're pretty good, especially given all the problems of funding and diversity. They've always been pretty good — not exactly A-1, but not failures either. With 1,000 districts, 9,900 schools and 6 million students — the largest K-12 system in the country — there is inescapably a scattering of winners and losers. "We're not where we ought to be," acknowledges veteran education consultant John Mockler, a Capitol legend who wrote the complex school finance law, Proposition 98. "But the 'California schools suck' industry is just full of it," he adds. "When these guys start talking about how California's schools used to be great and today they're going to hell in a hand basket, they're just wrong. Our students are making incredibly consistent academic progress." Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says, "Student test scores have been up for eight years in a row. The achievement gap is narrowing. And that's what I'm proudest of." The "achievement gap" is the difference between the higher test scores of whites and Asians versus the lower results of blacks and Latinos. Mockler, a compulsive numbers-cruncher, says that the increase in black and Latino students taking algebra in the eighth grade and scoring "proficient" or "advanced" — the highest ratings — "is one of the most dramatic, positive academic changes in the history of education in this state and the nation." I wince every time I hear some revisionist carry on about how California public schools used to be the envy of the universe and now they're not capable of teaching dogs to bark. I suspect that most of these people —the latest and loudest being Meg Whitman — never attended California schools. I did, back in the so-called golden era after World War II. And I remember that whenever a new kid arrived from out of state, the newcomer always seemed to be way ahead of us, especially in reading. My public schooling was in rural Ojai. It was basically cozy and comfortable. Some bright kids were teachers' pets and excelled. Some who needed encouragement and help got neither. Some of us were lucky enough to be inspired by just the right teacher or two. The schools were good, not great. Can't believe they were the best in America. Higher ed? That's a different story. Our excellent colleges and universities were proudly affordable and open to anyone with motivation and grades. They were a Californian's birthright. Today, they're shamefully pricey with limited space. "We have more high school students eligible for college than ever," O'Connell says. "The bad news is we have fewer seats in college." But this column is about California's improving elementary and high schools. "Look at the data," Mockler urges. For starters, one must realize that a fourth of K-12 students are English learners who go home and speak another language. "That makes it more difficult to learn," Mockler says. Mockler has computed data comparing old test scores with the most recent. For example: -- Seven years ago, 35% of all California students scored proficient or advanced in reading. This year, 52% did, a gain of 49%. For whites, the number rose from 53% to 69%. For Latinos, the figures doubled from 20% to 40%. For blacks, 22% to 39%. -- During the same period, the number of math students scoring in the top two ranks rose from 35% to 48%, a 37% improvement. Whites improved from 47% to 59%; Latinos from 23% to 39% (up 70%) and blacks from 19% to 32% (68%). -- There was a 176% increase in the number of Latinos taking eighth-grade algebra, and the percentage of these students testing in the top two ranks rose from 20 to 37. Among black eighth-graders, there was an 85% increase in algebra students, with the percentage achieving the highest rankings, rocketing from 17 to 41. -- High school students are taking 60% more college-prep math and science courses than seven years ago, and the number testing proficient or advanced has doubled. Credit a decade of reforms, mainly started by Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis: class-size reductions, tougher curriculum, higher standards and lots of testing. Much of that is in jeopardy, however, because of program cutbacks as Sacramento attempts to fill a seemingly bottomless budget hole. Class-size reduction is practically history. "It pains me to see larger class sizes," O'Connell says, noting that as a legislator he wrote the class-size law and Wilson found the money for it. "We've seen a major disinvestment in public education the last few years. Schools are operating with $21 billion less than anticipated three years ago." Here are some other Mockler data: -- California was spending $825 less per student than the national average two years ago. And it's undoubtedly gotten worse, he says. -- Forty years ago, California allotted 5.6% of its personal income to K-12 schools. As of 2008, that had fallen to 3.7%. --The average American school has 34% more teachers, 40% more administrators and 75% more counselors per student than California does. "If California education was a baseball team, we'd be playing the other states with six players and they'd have nine," Mockler says. Still, California's public schools have been performing far better than anyone would think from listening to the catcalls of a cranky crowd. ENRAGEMENT TO ENGAGEMENT: Towards Sustained Parent Power Themes in the News for the week of Dec. 6-10, 2010 By UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/9k0ADx 12-10-2010 - This week, hundreds of parents whose children attend McKinley Elementary School in Compton petitioned the Compton Unified School District to convert their neighborhood school into a charter. This petition represents the first use of California’s new “Parent Trigger” law through which a majority of parents can force a district to dramatically change a “persistently” low-achieving school—by converting it to a charter, firing its principal, replacing its staff, or closing the school outright. (Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times 2, New York Times, LA Weekly, KPCC) The Compton action was supported by the nonprofit Parent Revolution, an organization originally created by the Charter Management Organization, Green Dot Public Schools. Over the last several months, staff from the Parent Revolution have supported the campaign for change at McKinley Elementary (LA Weekly). Together, Parent Revolution staff and McKinley parent leaders gathered signatures from more than 60 percent of the school’s nearly 500 parents. Critics have said that some parents signed the petition without full knowledge of the consequences or the ability to weigh all available options (Los Angeles Times). The Compton parents and the “Parent Trigger” law have served a valuable purpose in focusing public attention on the meaning of “empowered parents” within education reform. But many questions remain. For example, will these parental actions accomplish something more than a singular and maybe temporary change in the structure of their local school? Will all of McKinley’s students—including English Language learners and special education students—be fully welcomed in the new charter school? Will the hundreds of parents who signed the petition be provided with an ongoing role in shaping the work of the new school? Will they be able to galvanize their community into securing the additional public resources that are needed to realize quality education in their neighborhood schools? Over the past decades, we’ve heard much about parents’ and the public’s voice. Reformers have spoken of participation, involvement, and choice to evoke the power of democratic action to achieve just, equitable, and excellent schools. And yet, in spite of countless community and parent efforts to reform some of the country’s lowest performing schools, these schools remain, on average, stuck at the bottom and concentrated in the poorest neighborhoods. Public Engagement book coverA recently released book co-edited by IDEA Director John Rogers and Brown University Political Science Professor Marion Orr addresses this dilemma. In “Public Engagement for Public Education: Joining Forces to Revitalize Democracy and Equalize Schools,” chapter authors identify public engagement as a necessary condition for accomplishing meaningful and sustainable school change: Public engagement cannot be reduced to individual acts such as voting, speaking with a teacher, or choosing a school. Public engagement emerges as parents, community members, and others identify common educational problems and work together to address them. Public engagement both builds on and seeks to foster interdependence. (Preface xiii) Without these ties of interdependence, local reforms such as Compton’s may be isolated and may not outlive the enthusiasm and relationships of those who currently drive the reform. The book provides examples that argue for three practices of effective engagement: “First, community members join together in response to shared problems. Second, they investigate these problems and learn about possible responses. Third, they act in concert with others to address the problems and build more inclusive, participatory, and powerful publics.” A “powerful public” builds civic capacity, bringing new resources to schools, students, and the community as a whole. Public engagement includes but is broader than simply mobilizing parents to protest or “trigger” a change. Public engagement describes a democratic and interdependent environment in which activists’ daily and yearly victories grow, influence, and merge with community-wide goals and interests. That is the test for parent mobilization in Compton and communities across California. For more information on “Public Engagement for Public Education: Joining Forces to Revitalize Democracy and Equalize Schools,” visit Stanford University Press website. THE ‘REAL’ PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM + THE OTHER PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: NCLB/PSC & LAUSD 'Choices" (The Dealine is Friday!) meets LAUSD PSC ►THE ‘REAL’ PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: PARENTS CAN SEEK TRANSFERS FROM UNDER-PERFORMING SCHOOLS + LAUSD STUDENTS SEEKING TRANSFERS NEED TO APPLY NOW Parents can seek transfers from under-performing schools By WAVE STAFF | http://bit.ly/e8r8UL December 9, 2010 - Parents of Los Angeles Unified School District students interested in transferring their children out of under-performing schools have until Dec. 17 to complete the Choices application with the district. Each year, more than 422,000 LAUSD students are eligible to transfer out of their low-performing schools through a mostly unknown federal program called the No Child Left Behind Public School Choice. The program is available to families with students who attend local schools that have not met federally mandated targets for two consecutive years, and are designated program improvement schools or at-risk for program improvement status. The schools generally have low student scores on state standardized tests and are not improving at expected rates. Under the program, families can transfer their children to schools that meet federal academic targets with free transportation provided by the district. Despite the window of opportunity offered each fall through the LAUSD’s Choices program, few students participate. In fact, less than one percent of eligible LAUSD students applied for the program during the 2009-10 school year. “Parents with children in program improvement schools need to know that they have options,” said Oscar Cruz, vice president of Families In Schools, a nonprofit organization that works to involve parents and communities in children’s education. “LAUSD and [Families in Schools] are working together to ensure that parents understand that they have options, which can have an enormous impact on their children’s future.” According to the school district, parents are often unaware they have the choice to move their child to a school that meets academic standards. “Knowledge is power for parents too,” said Monica Garcia, LAUSD school board president. “All parents have the right and responsibility to know what options are available for their child. We must work together to reach every family.” The Choices brochure was mailed to the homes of LAUSD students around the second week of November. Those who didn’t receive the brochure can request a blank application at their child’s school, the local district office, or at any Los Angeles City Public Library. “It is important for parents to identify the best learning environment for each of their children, each school year,” Cruz said. “Applying for [this program] is one way to ensure you have school options.” Parents interested in learning more about the No Child Left Behind – Public School Choice program can visit the LAUSD website at http://www.lausd.net/nclb-psc. They can also call a toll free information line at (866) 747-2275. ____________________________________________ ►LAUSD STUDENTS SEEKING TRANSFERS NEED TO APPLY NOW Eastern Group Publications - Eastside Sun / Northeast Sun / Mexican American Sun / Bell Gardens Sun / City Terrace Comet / Commerce Comet / Montebello Comet / Monterey Park Comet / ELA Brooklyn Belvedere Comet / Wyvernwood Chronicle / Vernon Sun | http://bit.ly/fBpABA December 9, 2010 -- Dec. 17 is the last day for students interested in transferring to another school for the 2011-2012 year through Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Magnets and Permits With Transportation (PWT) programs to apply. PWT programs are the LAUSD’s two main options for students seeking integrated educational experiences, and grew out of a 1975 California Supreme Court order that required the LAUSD to take steps to “alleviate the harms of racial isolation.” Students can apply to transfer to one of the District’s 169 Magnet schools, which offer specialties ranging from math/science/technology and architecture/digital arts to the performing arts, humanities, medical/biological or environmental sciences, music, law/police studies and more. Others include programs for gifted/high ability and highly gifted students. Permits With Transportation (PWT), which provides school bus transportation, offers another opportunity for voluntary integration. Students applying from a specific “sending” school area in the LAUSD may be assigned by the District for integration purposes to a specific “receiving” school with available classroom space. School assignments are determined using the criteria of classroom space, integration requirements and transportation patterns. Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, all school districts are required to provide Public School Choice (PSC) as another educational option available for parents of students attending Program Improvement (PI) schools. NCLB-PSC offers students enrolled in a school identified as “At-Risk for Program Improvement” (PI), or a PI school listed in the CHOICES brochure, an opportunity to attend a non-PI school. District-paid transportation is provided for students participating in the NCLB-PSC program. Full information about the District’s court-ordered voluntary integration programs Magnet and PWT, and the federally mandated NCLB-PSC Program, can be found in the CHOICES 2011-2012 brochure, which all parents or guardians of students enrolled in kindergarten through the 11th grade at an LAUSD school, should have already received in the mail. It contains printed information specific to the student, and is also available in Spanish and several other languages. The application is located on page 17 of the booklet. Blank applications and booklets are also available at local schools, libraries and District offices for parents who did not received the booklet or who may reside in the LAUSD but do not currently have a child enrolled in an LAUSD school. Applications must be delivered or postmarked by Dec. 17. For more information, contact your local school or go online to http://eChoices.lausd.net. ______________________________ ►THE ‘OTHER’ PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: LESS CHOICE IN THIS ROUND OF LAUSD REFORM + MENOS OPCIONES EN ESTA VUELTA DE LA REFORMA DE LAUSD By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer - Eastside Sun / Northeast Sun / Mexican American Sun / Bell Gardens Sun / City Terrace Comet / Commerce Comet / Montebello Comet / Monterey Park Comet / ELA Brooklyn Belvedere Comet / Wyvernwood Chronicle / Vernon Sun Less Choice In This Round of LAUSD Reform 188 LETTERS OF INTENT WERE SENT, BUT FEWER THAN 50 GROUPS ACTUALLY APPLY. http://bit.ly/i15P4I 9 Dec 2010 - Only 48 groups district-wide met the Dec. 1 deadline to apply for a chance to run one of the 10 new campuses or three “focus” schools singled out for takeover as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s second round of Public School Choice (PSC 2.0), a reform measure aimed at improving schools and student success. LAUSD received 188 letters of intent over the summer, leaving many to believe that the number of applications would be much higher. “Public School Choice provides additional routes to academic success,” said LAUSD Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines Dec. 1 in a written statement announcing the applicant teams who will compete to provide the best plan for the selected schools. Some of the new campuses contain room for more than one school, Cortines noted, and five existing schools were taken off the reform list in September after meeting academic benchmarks. Locally, East LA Star High School Academy in Unincorporated East Los Angeles and Central High School #13 in Glassell Park (also referred to as Taylor Yard High School) are among the new schools identified for public school choice. Of all the schools initially receiving letters of intent, Central High School #13 received the most, 16 in total. But Central HS #13 only received six proposals last week—including five from groups that participated in a recent workshop held to familiarize parents and community members with the public school choice process, and to introduce them to some of the applicants. The campus, which has room for five schools, will relieve overcrowding at Eagle Rock, Franklin and Marshall High Schools. At the Nov. 22 meeting held at Washington Irving Middle School, four teacher-led applicant teams announced they had formed a coalition to pool resources and operating costs; all four met the deadline. They are: Teri Klass (John Marshall HS), The Los Angeles River School (Paul Payne/Kristin Szilagyi), Tara Alton (John Marshall HS) and Meredith Reyley (Franklin HS). Charter school operator, Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, also attended the November meeting and submitted its application on time. The last applicant is the Partnership to Uplift Communities, which did not attend the November, but did send informational material to be distributed to those who attended the workshop. East LA Star High School Academy, a new campus added late to the PSC 2.0 application process, received four letters of intent, but only one application from a team of LAUSD educators from Local District 5. In October, a group of stakeholders held a meeting to oppose “privitization” of public education through charter schools and to support the application by local teachers. East L.A. Star is expected to relieve overcrowding at Garfield and Wilson high schools. The proposals will be reviewed by LAUSD and applicants will make presentations in the upcoming month. An advisory vote will be held in January that will allow stakeholders to show support for their preferred applicant(s). In February, Superintendent Cortines is expected to make recommendations to the Los Angeles Board of Education after each application is reviewed by two separate committees, then the school board will take a deciding vote. More information is available online at: http://publicschoolchoice.lausd.net. ____________________________________________ ►MENOS OPCIONES EN ESTA VUELTA DE LA REFORMA DE LAUSD: ANUNCIAN LOS SOLICITANTES OFICIALES PARA LAS PREPARATORIAS NUEVAS DE GLASSELL PARK Y EL ESTE DE LOS ÁNGELES. http://bit.ly/hZTHrt 9 Dec 2010 - Cuarenta y ocho aspirantes cumplieron con la fecha límite, del 1 de diciembre, para competir para la oportunidad de dirigir una de 10 escuelas nuevas y o una de tres escuelas de “enfoque” accesibles bajo el segundo año de implementación de la reforma Elección de Escuela Pública (Public School Choice, o PSC 2.0) del Distrito Unificado Escolar de Los Ángeles (LAUSD). El número de solicitantes bajo de 188 cartas de interés sometidas de originalmente durante el pasado verano a 48 propuestas sometidas la semana pasada. “Elección de Escuela Pública proporciona rutas adicionales para el éxito académico”, dijo el Superintendente de LAUSD Ramón C. Cortines en una declaración escrita el 1 de diciembre, en la cual anunció los candidatos que competirán para presentar el mejor plan para las escuelas seleccionadas. Algunos de los nuevos campus contienen espacio para más de una escuela, señaló Cortines. En septiembre, cinco escuelas existentes fueron retirados de la lista la reforma después de recibir resultados de mejor rendimiento académica en los examenes estatales del año pasado. A nivel local, la Academia Preparatoria East LA Star en la zona no incorporada del Este de Los Ángeles y la “Escuela Secundaria Central # 13” en Glassell Park (también conocida como “Taylor Yard High School”) se encuentran actualmente sujetos a la reforma educativa del distrito. Cuando se comenzó a aceptar las cartas de interés bajo la reforma, la nueva preparatoria de Glassell Park recibió más cartas que el resto de las escuelas del distrito con un total de 16 solicitantes demostrando interés en ella. La nueva preparatoria tiene cupo para cinco escuelas pequeñas y aliviará de sobrepoblación a las preparatorias Eagle Rock, Franklin y Marshall. La semana pasada la preparatoria nueva de Glassell Park recibió seis propuestas, y cinco de ellos recientemente participaron en un taller para familiarizar a los padres y miembros de la comunidad sobre el proceso de PSC e introducirlos a algunos de los solicitantes. En la reunión del 22 de noviembre en la Secundaria Washington Irving, cuatro equipos de solicitantes (formado por maestros) anunciaron que ya habían formado una coalición para unir sus recursos y gastos de funcionamiento. Los cuatro equipos cumplieron la fecha reciente, son: Teri Klass (de la Preparatoria Marshall), La Escolar de Los Angeles River (Pablo Payne/Kristin Szilagyi), Tara Alton (de la Preparatoria Marshall) y Meredith Reyley (de la Preparatoria Franklin). Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, un operador de escuelas charter, también asistió a la reunión de noviembre y cumplió con la fecha de límite. Partnership to Uplift Communities es el solicitante final que cumplió con la fecha de limite. El grupo no asistió a la reunión reciente pero sí había dejado material informativo para los presentes. Durante noviembre aún había otro solicitante más para la preparatoria de Glassell Park. LEMA 2.0 (Leadership in Entertainment and Media Arts) está fuera de la carrera. No cumplió con la fecha de limite del 1 de diciembre. La Academia Preparatoria East LA Star, que entro tarde a la reforma, había recibido cuatro cartas de interés pero la semana pasada solo recibió una propuesta por un equipo de educadores del LAUSD del Distrito Local 5. En octubre, un grupo de interesados se reunieron para oponerse a la “privitization” de la educación pública a través de las escuelas charter y para apoyar la propuesta de los maestros locales para la Academia Preparatoria East LA Star. La preparatoria aliviará la sobrepoblación en las preparatorias Garfield y Wilson. Las propuestas serán revisadas por LAUSD y los candidatos harán presentaciones en el mes entrante. Un voto de consejo por la comunidad se realizará en enero, que permitirá que los interesados muestren su apoyo a los equipos preferido(s). Se espera que en febrero, después de que cada solicitud sea revisada por dos comisiones separados, el Superintendente Cortines hará recomendaciones a la Junta de Educación de Los Ángeles, entonces la junta tomará un voto final. Más información sobre la reforma está disponible en: http://publicschoolchoice.lausd.net. HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources So…. where’s this week’s 4LAKids?: The e-mail server and publisher that distributes the 4LAKids e-mail newsletter is down for ‘routine maintenance’ – whatever that means. The articles are all written+edited and what-not – and are waiting in their little files to go out to your e-mailbox – waiting only for the programmers with their code and/or the engineers with their little green screwdrivers to work their magic. Which may not be until monday morning. http://bit.ly/h6jj34 _____________________________________ LAUSD TO CONSIDER SPONSORSHIPS: Teaming with corporations could raise $18M: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | Pas... http://bit.ly/hxzHYB NEW DROPOUT RATE IN QUESTION: CALPADS delays complicate districts' work: By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | ... http://bit.ly/gb5Wm4 CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS MUST FOLLOW PHYS. ED. LAW, COURT RULES: Mark Walsh – School Law writer for Ed Week | http://b... http://bit.ly/foBfko EFFORT TO CONVERT COMPTON SCHOOL TO CHARTER DREWS FIRE: Some are withdrawing signatures given under the 'parent-... http://bit.ly/esPjS6 STUDY BACKS ‘VALUE-ADDED’ ANALYSIS OF TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS: Classroom effectiveness can be reliably estimated b... http://bit.ly/fKf2mJ NEW PROTECTIONS FOR CALIFORNIA STUDENTS AGAINST ILLEGAL SCHOOL FEES: by Howard Blume LA Times/LA Now | http://la... http://bit.ly/gGRsbT OFFICIALS EDUCATE 5th GRADERS ABOUT THE GARDENA FAMILY OF SCHOOLS: By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer – Daily Breeze ... http://bit.ly/fNpQ1f via twitterfeed GUILTY PLEA TO CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN LAUSD BUILDING PROGRAM: Cheryl Devall | KPCC |http://bit.ly/eJYZ5s Dec. ... http://bit.ly/eeqlRx UNANIMOUS 3-0 CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL MANDATES SCHOOLS TO SHAPE UP: Half of CA School Districts Fail to Meet ... http://bit.ly/icjH8B ‘VALUE ADDLED’ in NYC: Union Fights to Block Release of Teacher Ratings + N.Y. union seeks to block disclosure o... http://bit.ly/f0crqV JUDGE BACKS PLAN ON TEACHER LAYOFFS: Ruling comes in a suit filed by the ACLU and others charging that some scho... http://bit.ly/f9i9o6 ICEF: L.A. charter school group secures $10.5-million bailout: -- Howard Blume – LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms... http://bit.ly/dNkNZ4 JUDGE TENTATIVELY OK’s LAUSD LAYOFF CHANGES: The Associated Press | http://bit.ly/ic8VWF Posted: 12/09/2010 08:... http://bit.ly/hvnOUH L.A. UNIFIED, CHARTERS SIGN COMPACT: One benefit is access to low-interest loans: By John Fensterwald - Educated... http://bit.ly/dHpIRx TEACHERS IN LA HABRA HIT THE PICKET LINE + LA HABRA TEACHERS STRIKE OVER PAY, BENEFITS CUTS + more: from the LA ... http://bit.ly/fkAvDR MAYOR TONY CALLS ON TEACHERS UNIONS TO ENGAGE IN REFORM: Villaraigosa's speech to the Public Policy Institute of... http://bit.ly/hkxn64 smf: A MIDWEEK ASSIGNMENT IN CONNECTING-THE-DOTS + SOME RAMBLING FAR AFIELD: Without going into too much detail,... http://bit.ly/eGDlhL PARENTS PRESENT SIGNATURES TO TAKE OVER A COMPTON SCHOOL: Using the new 'parent-trigger' law, they take the firs... http://bit.ly/hrV37D TICKETING FOR TRUANCY: Improvement or Imprisonment?: by Thandisizwe Chimurenga, New America Media | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/gMRnHs MAYOR UNDER FIRE FOR CHOICE OF N.Y. SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's pick to oversee New York's ... http://bit.ly/gKykSW LAUSD DROPOUT RATE IS ON THE RISE: District, however, disputes data released by the state: By Connie Llanos, Sta... http://bit.ly/fNgNkD A WORKING CLASS HERO IS SOMETHING TO BE: All he was saying is give peace a chance.: http://bit.ly/h3b0dz The DREAM Act—Shrinking Towards Reality / EL ACTO DEL SUEÑO—La expectativa continua: M... http://bit.ly/e8Yr3C PARENTS PUSH FOR CHANGE? …OR CHARTER LEVERAGES TAKEOVER AT COMPTON SCHOOL? + smf ON MOONLIGHTING - In the first test of a new law, cha... http://bit.ly/gC34Lt 25 WAYS TO REDUCE THE COST OF COLLEGE: By Daniel de Vise | College Inc./The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/hF5... http://bit.ly/gIEF40 AN A IN OVERCOMING THE ODDS: California schools are not as gWednesday, December 08, 2010 4:55:27 PMood as they should be, but they are significantly be... http://bit.ly/g5xkKm STUDYING LAUSD’s CALENDAR: It's unclear that students would learn more by moving the school year up three weeks.... http://bit.ly/h27FeE 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: 213-241.8700 • 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 Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • 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. • If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE. • If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE. • If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represents PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • 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 SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-MAIL smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.