In This Issue:  | | • | PRINCIPALS SCRAMBLE TO FIND CUTS + MAYOR BLOOMBERG SAYS NYC TEACHERS WON'T GET LAID OFF, BUT NO RAISES | | | • | L.A. BOARD OF EDUCATION CONDEMNS ARIZONA IMMIGRATION AND ETHNIC STUDIES LAWS | | | • | RttT 2.0: STATE TAKES SECOND SHOT AT SCHOOL FUNDS + CALIFORNIA APPLIES AGAIN FOR FEDERAL SCHOOL-REFORM GRANT | | | • | A PROUD DAY FOR A TEACHER AND AN UNCLE | | | • | 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: | | | | from New York City: Random observations randomly observed.
THE STREETS ARE RIVERS OF YELLOW - if it isn't a taxi it's a school bus. And every school bus has a sign in the rear window: "This bus has been checked for sleeping children". There's a story there: a sleepy child missing his or her stop and spending the night - or the weekend (and hopefully not the entire summer vacation) -in the bus yard -- living off sandwich crusts and uneaten lunch fruit.
THE PAPERS HERE TELL THE STORY [following] of how NYC Mayor Bloomberg has unilaterally cut raises to teachers to save jobs. Teachers and principals have been without a contracts since the one the mayor negotiated with UFT President Randi Weingarten when he took over the NYC schools expired. Randi has moved on to the national presidency of the American Federation of Teachers - so Bloomberg seems empowered/enabled/entitled to negotiate with and on behalf of the teachers all by himself. Remember Mel Brooks in The History of the World, Part I?: "It's good to be the king".
NOTE TO MAYOR MIKE: There are signs all over the city put up at the taxpayers expense that say "Fine for Honking Horn: $350". On the Cross Bronx Expressway there are signs saying trucks are not permitted in the left lane. Just enforce those two laws, levy the fines and the schools deficit will be paid in about a week. The entire city could be in the black in less than a month.
A CABBIE IN A TAXI I RODE IN pointed out the "red light cams" that catch the runners of red lights. He also pointed out the ones that are dummies and safe to run.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - now owned by Rupert Murdoch - is becoming more 'accessible' and 'reader friendly'... or perhaps lurid in it's circulation war with the New York Times. USA Today-like it's free in hotel lobbies. There is Hollywood news (OMG - about Twilight!) on page one. Can page three girls in the WSJ be far behind? This is a war first waged between Hearst and Pulitzer a century ago. Remember Citizen Kane? Fiction is another way of telling the truth. [Though not here in 4LAKids.]
THE TV AIRWAVES HERE are filled with a commercial with a target audience of one: LeBron James. Mayor Mike pleads with LeBron to come to The Big Apple and play for the Knicks or the Nets. Hizzonner doesn't care which - revenue is revenue - he's not proud.
MAYBE MAYOR TONY should run ads in NYC asking the Giants or the Jets to move to L.A.?
READ BETWEEN THE LINES in the WSJ article following. Parents are important (as fundraisers) but parent coordinators are expendable.
Onward!
- smf
Urban Myth 101- This blogpost from Wednesday, September 28, 2005: THIS BUS HAS BEEN CHECKED FOR SLEEPING CHILDREN
A few years ago there was a big story in the news about a lost child. It turned out she fell asleep on the school bus and the driver never saw her. The kid woke up hours later in the back of a school bus, in the dark, in front of the driver's house. Then other stories came out of the woodwork and it seemed like this was happening more often than people knew. (To be honest, it may have been a boy, not a girl...I really have no idea, but the point is still valid.)
To combat this problem of bus driver laziness, a policy was instituted:
1.The driver must, at the end of his/her shift, walk to the back of the bus and place a sign on the rear window that reads: "This Bus Has Been Checked For Sleeping Children."
2.Then, in the morning, the driver is supposed to walk to the back of the bus, get the sign and bring it back to the front of the bus.
●●smf notes: I can tell you, from observation that part two of this policy is about as well adhered to as the no honking and no trucks in the left lane rule. Almost every bus has the signs in the rear window, 24/7.
PRINCIPALS SCRAMBLE TO FIND CUTS + MAYOR BLOOMBERG SAYS NYC TEACHERS WON'T GET LAID OFF, BUT NO RAISES
►PRINCIPALS SCRAMBLE TO FIND CUTS: Bloomberg's Plan to Avoid Teacher Layoffs Has Administrators Looking at Overtime, Aides, Textbooks
By BARBARA MARTINEZ And MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL | Wall Street Journal
JUNE 4, 2010 - A day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg backed away from laying off 4,400 teachers, principals and parents across the city are starting the hard process of figuring out how to help close the budget gap the mayor's plan leaves behind.
While the bulk of that gap—$400 million—will be made up through the mayor's pledge to freeze teacher salaries, another $313 million must come out of spending controlled by school principals. That roughly 4% cut has principals poring over ways to trim overtime for teachers, after-school programs, school aides and new textbooks; parent groups are preparing to increase fund raisers and donations.
For Charles Osewalt, principal at Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies in the Bronx, it means he's going to start teaching a class, and his assistant principals will have to tutor students after school on their own time. This will cut back on overtime for teachers, who have been doing the tutoring.
"We have to do more with less," Mr. Osewalt said, adding that he believes the plan is preferable to layoffs. "I'm very happy that Bloomberg made this decision."
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein held a webcast with principals Thursday morning to answer questions. Mr. Osewalt said he asked about whether the pay freeze will stick, given that the principals' and teachers' unions have yet to agree.
He said Mr. Klein assured the principals that Mr. Bloomberg wasn't going to budge. Teachers and principals are working under expired contracts, which means Mr. Bloomberg could refuse to sign any new contracts with pay increases, a situation that can go on indefinitely.
Another variable: Albany has yet to pass its overdue budget, which could affect how much state aid New York City schools will have to work with.
Last week, Mr. Klein began preparing principals for cuts, telling them, among other things, that the schools could lay off their parent coordinators, whose job it is to increase parent involvement and help them navigate the school bureaucracy. "I want to note that while we believe parent coordinators are critical to our schools' success, we have decided that at the high school level, principals should be able to consider parent coordinators as they review their overall budgets," he wrote in a letter to principals. But he continued to mandate parent coordinators for all elementary and middle schools.
The cuts have parent groups expecting to have to find ways to relieve the pain if cuts get too deep. "We already pay for so many things you would hope would just be part of your child's education, like books and science kits, but if the cuts are dire, we are going to have to kick it up a notch," says Beth Servetar, co-president of the Parent Association at P.S. 87 in Manhattan, which is slated to lose up to $260,799 in fiscal year 2011.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bloomberg warned Thursday that his administration's decision to avert teacher layoffs does not signal other severe cuts he's proposed for the city budget will be restored.
"Anybody that thinks that things are better and there aren't going to be any cuts is making a bad mistake," Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference in Times Square.
"There's no new money available."
The mayor and the City Council are expected to finalize later this month the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Mr. Bloomberg has proposed, among other things, closing 50 senior centers, shuttering 20 fire companies, eliminating nurse coverage for elementary schools with less than 300 students and increasing parking rates in Midtown Manhattan.
—Shelly Banjo contributed to this article.
►MAYOR BLOOMBERG SAYS NYC TEACHERS WON'T GET LAID OFF, BUT NO RAISES
By Jack Phillips | Epoch Times Staff
Jun 2, 2010—NEW YORK—Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday that in order to prevent teacher layoffs, teachers won't get raises over the next two years.
Bloomberg, in his budget proposition, said nearly 4,500 teachers jobs would be cut due to layoffs.
“Laying off thousands of teachers is simply not the answer,” he said. “It would devastate the school system and erase much of the great progress we’ve made—and all the hard work we’ve put into turning our schools around.”
The mayor said that he had talked with Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, about withholding the planned 2 percent raise and the two men will jointly come up with a plan to reduce costs.
Mulgrew said that the mayor made a good decision in keeping teacher's jobs off the chopping block but didn't agree to any plan.
“He does not have the power to unilaterally decide on the teachers’ contract, and we have reached no agreement on his proposal to freeze teacher pay,” he said. “If the mayor has concrete ideas on the next contract, he and his representatives should bring them to the bargaining table at the Public Employment Relations Board, where our contract is currently in mediation.
Rather, the city should try to get federal and state aid and will “go together to Albany and Washington in the near future to lobby for new resources to prevent devastating budget cuts to our schools, our classrooms, and the communities,” Mulgrew added.
New York state is $9.2 billion in debt and the city is projected to be $4.9 billion in the red. Meanwhile, Bloomberg said that the teacher cuts that he initially proposed hinged on whether or not Albany sends aid.
Faced with making a tough choice of laying off workers or withholding raises, Bloomberg said the city has done “everything possible” to come up with a cost savings plan, including spending cuts.
“We know that teachers and their families are facing tough times too, and that this will not be easy for them,” the mayor said. “But when it came to a choice between teacher raises or laying off teachers, I have chosen to protect our children and their futures.”
L.A. BOARD OF EDUCATION CONDEMNS ARIZONA IMMIGRATION AND ETHNIC STUDIES LAWS
by Howard Blume | LA Times LA Now blog
June 1, 2010 | 8:16 pm -- The local school system has joined the list of Los Angeles entities to oppose Arizona’s new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
The L.A. Board of Education voted 6-0 late Tuesday afternoon to condemn an Arizona law that requires law enforcement officers to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop and suspect is in the country illegally. It also makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers in Arizona.
“It’s very important for us to take a position of outrage,” said school board member Yolie Flores. “Because of the color of your skin and the accent you speak with, you will be targeted. You will be asked if you belong here.…Taking a position against that kind of racism is appropriate.”
The school board resolution says the Arizona law “effectively sanctions and promotes unconstitutional racial profiling and harassment, and blatantly violates the civil rights of both Arizona residents and all visitors to the state.”
Before the vote, Flores said she had just hosted family members visiting from Arizona who feel terrorized by the law even though they are U.S. citizens.
About 73% of the district’s students are Latino. About a third are learning English.
“Our students are dramatically affected by this,” said school board member Steve Zimmer. "It has caused a great deal of stress, uncertainty, questions that are brought in to the classroom every day.”
District officials also targeted an Arizona bill that, in the words of the resolution, “prohibits public schools from teaching ethnic studies, a ban that further reinforces the intolerant, discriminatory and racist philosophy embodied” in the immigration measure.
The second Arizona bill, which takes effect next year, bars classes that promote the overthrow of the government, promote “resentment toward a race or class of people,” are designed “primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” and “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”
The L.A. Unified measure stopped short of an immediate economic boycott. Instead, it directed schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines to recommend “additional steps ... to curtail any economic support” of Arizona in the form of district-sponsored employee travel or contracts with firms based in Arizona.
The resolution also called on Cortines to ensure that civics and history classes discuss the Arizona laws “in the context of the American values of unity, diversity and equal protection for all.”
“There’s a conversation in this country around the rights of people, and students are a part of it,” said school board president Monica Garcia.
The issue would, in essence, be dealt with in a manner similar to the way other broadly accepted episodes of racial and cultural intolerance and discrimination are discussed, said district spokesman Robert Alaniz.
He cited as examples the Jim Crow laws that denied rights to African Americans and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Other school districts have taken similar actions with regard to the immigration law. The Denver Public Schools and the San Diego Unified School District have barred employees from attending work-related conferences in Arizona.
●●smf's 2¢: The LAUSD Board – and the city and county of Los Angeles are correct in condemning and repudiating the Arizona laws. However… if they go beyond going on record and issuing a press release they have gone too far. [see Fernando Espuelas in the Huff Post |http://huff.to/aBkpbe] Our own shortcomings and problems need our attention – to spend taxpayers' (and children's) money beyond a show of solidarity against foolishness is to take foolishness to a whole new level. That’s what Fox News is for.
RttT 2.0: STATE TAKES SECOND SHOT AT SCHOOL FUNDS + CALIFORNIA APPLIES AGAIN FOR FEDERAL SCHOOL-REFORM GRANT
►STATE TAKES SECOND SHOT AT SCHOOL FUNDS
Associated Press
06/01/2010 07:44:35 PM PDT -- SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California education leaders submitted an application Tuesday for the second round of a federal school-funding competition, hoping to capture as much as $700 million for the state's troubled public school system.
California was among dozens of states that lost out in the initial round of competition for $4.3 billion in federal stimulus money being made available through the "Race to the Top" initiative.
So far, Delaware and Tennessee have been the only states approved for money designed to reward states that make education reforms being promoted by the Obama administration.
Under California's latest application, teachers and principals would be evaluated in part based on student performance. The state also would try to place effective teachers in low-performing schools and make better use of student data to measure progress.
Schwarzenegger said the state plan meets every goal set forth in the federal program.
California's public schools rank near the bottom in most achievement categories and have faced budget problems that have forced the layoffs of thousands of teachers.
►CALIFORNIA APPLIES AGAIN FOR FEDERAL SCHOOL-REFORM GRANT: "Race to the Top" funds would help the state link teacher evaluations to student performance and better use data to improve teaching. Lack of union support could hurt the state's chances.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
June 2, 2010 -- California joined 34 other states Tuesday in competing a second time for federal Race to the Top school-reform grants, but union opposition could doom the effort.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger signed the state's application at Lafayette Elementary School in Long Beach, joined by officials who included state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.
"The goal is really quite simple," O'Connell said, "to have an effective teacher in front of every classroom, to have a true school leader at every school site and to have the necessary infrastructure and support at the school."
The state could receive up to $700 million in one-time funding to link teacher evaluations to student performance, place the most effective educators in struggling schools and better use data to improve teaching. The plan also embraces the federal emphasis on replacing staff at "failing" schools and converting some to independently run charter schools, most of which are non-union.
At the news conference, the governor touted the participation of 40 unions. To reach that number, however, officials counted unionized charter schools; they counted one charter organization, Green Dot Public Schools, 17 times — once for each of its campuses.
Only 17 unions from 123 participating school districts signed on. The unions in opposition include those from Los Angeles Unified and Long Beach Unified, the largest participating school systems.
Limited union participation likely would diminish the state's chances at winning, given the scoring system, analysts have said.
The grant would provide a needed financial infusion as cash-strapped districts statewide are resorting to laying off teachers and shortening the school year to balance budgets.
Critics, including many from outside of unions, have opposed linking teacher evaluations to student test scores as well as other controversial initiatives they said would prove costly after the grant runs out.
Nationwide, union opposition has not been automatic. Several states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York and Florida, deserve praise for collaborating "in a meaningful way with educators, parents and community leaders," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Earlier this year, California failed in the first round of the contest, from which only Delaware and Tennessee emerged as winners.
California almost abandoned a second try, but U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan personally urged Schwarzenegger not to give up, officials said.
In the current bid, California has opted to put together a more aggressive package spearheaded by a "working group" of seven school districts rather than settling for a watered-down application that might attract more widespread buy-in.
"We have decided to focus our efforts only on districts firmly committed to reform," Schwarzenegger said. "This is what makes this different."
A PROUD DAY FOR A TEACHER AND AN UNCLE
By Joseph Staub | Op-Ed in the Daily News
4 June 2010 - AS a longtime teacher at the Los Angeles Unified School District, I don't often get a chance to be proud of my district.
I was, though, last month when I watched my niece graduate from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor's degree in psychology. It was a beautiful spring day in the San Fernando Valley. The students from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences assembled in front of their families and friends, bedecked with banners and flowers for the occasion. The CSUN Jazz Band played traditional but snazzy versions of "Pomp and Circumstance" and the National Anthem.
As I looked around at the graduates in the post-ceremony crush, I marveled at how many of them there were. More than 2,000 names were listed in the program for that college, and CSUN has eight such colleges.
I couldn't help but think that it was likely many of them were products of my school district. The way LAUSD gets regularly torpedoed in the media you'd think the yearly graduates of the entire district could fit into a couple of Smart cars. That day, though, at the crown jewel of higher education in the Valley, it sure felt like a crowd of publicly educated people showing pride in their public university.
Admittedly, there's a raft of private and charter schools turning out college-ready kids all over the Valley. Also, I know full well some students graduate in spite of their schooling, not because of it.
Still, a student's schools deserve at least some of the praise. Believe, me I am no LAUSD partisan. I know the district is the rough beast - half dinosaur, half thoroughbred - it sometimes seems. When I talk to people considering teaching as a career I always say the same thing: Being a teacher is one of the most rewarding and fun jobs a person can have, but being the employee of a school district is usually about as much fun as being head wrangler at a scorpion ranch.
While I occasionally take part in the general piling-on about LAUSD's failures, I am sometimes dismayed by the paucity of stories about its successes. There are many. I'm one, for instance. I graduated from LAUSD schools. I can tell you that the people outside my family who most inspired me were my sixth-grade teacher at Stanford Avenue Elementary and my driver's ed teacher at South Gate High School.
I'd be willing to bet that many of the graduates at CSUN could tell similar stories. I'd also wager that a lot of those graduates would come to the defense of LAUSD if anybody ever asked them. Of course, that's not likely. Quotidian stories of success aren't as newsworthy as spectacular triumphs and tragic failures. And while there are plenty of students and their families out there with a legitimate beef against LAUSD, sadly, it always seems as if the district's biggest detractors are those with political, cultural or economic agendas. Many of the naysayers seem to have something to gain from the demise of public education, something that has little to do with the all-encompassing, unifying, transformative force public education struggles to be (believe it or not) for as many people as possible.
I wish all those at CSUN that day who had benefited from that force had worn something distinguishing them as graduating from an LAUSD high school. I am sure there would be more than enough to make people proud, and way more than enough to make the district's critics pause in their assault, in only for a little while.
Joseph Staub is a teacher and writer in Los Angeles. He may be contacted at josephstaub@hotmail.com.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
JOHN WOODEN (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) - Friday, June 04, 2010 8:56 PM by smf for 4LAKids The Wizard of Westwood was probably the greatest coach/teacher/student of the game and of life who ever coached any sport. http://bit.ly/amam2W
LAUSD BOARD MEMBER YOLIE FLORES NOT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION - Friday, June 04, 2010 8:46 PM - By Connie Llanos Staff Writer | LA Daily News 06/04/2010 07:57:39 PM PDT - Los Angeles Unified School Board member Yolie Flores announced Friday that she will not run for re-election this fall and will leave vacate her seat once her term is over in June 2011. Instead Flores will be leading a newly-created education advocacy organization backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will http://bit.ly/be51XR
PROUD DAY FOR A TEACHER AND AN UNCLE - Friday, June 04, 2010 - By Joseph Staub | Op-Ed in the Daily News 06/04/2010 - AS a longtime teacher at the Los Angeles Unified School District, I don't often get a chance to be proud of my district. I was, though, last month when I watched my niece graduate from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor's degree in psychology. It was a beautiful spring day in the San Fernando Valley. The students from the College of http://bit.ly/b1wBcj
STUDENTS PROTEST TEACHERS' FURLOUGHS: More than 200 hold a “Walk-In” at Cleveland High School: Written by Alex Gar... http://bit.ly/bZs4Rf
PUTTING MAYOR’S PROGRAMS AT VAN DE KAMPS SITE WILL ENDANGER STUDENTS: By Miki Jackson and Laura Gutierrez | Guest ... http://bit.ly/dkNwPE
Report►LIFTING THE FOG OF AVERAGES: Enacting and Implementing California’s Requirement to Report Actual Per Pupil ... http://bit.ly/aSIDND
MICROSOFT LEVERAGES BUSINESS EDUCATION PLATFORM TO REDUCE DROPOUT RATES: By Christopher Dawson | ZDNet Education N... http://bit.ly/d9bOdr
MEMORIAM: photograph by John Moore http://bit.ly/aNNRSv 5:53 AM May 31st via twitterfeed
Maine Voices: STUDENTS VARY TOO MUCH TO RELY ON TESTING: The newspaper's pleas for improvements based on scores is... http://bit.ly/a2DT5w
OBAMA’S SHALLOW PLAN TO SPEND $23 BILLION ON EDUCATION + HOW TO PREVENT HUGE TEACHER LAYOFFS: OBAMA’S SHALLOW PLAN... http://bit.ly/ahHE4s 5
L.A. COLLEGE DISTRICT AGREES TO LEASE PART OF FORMER VAN DE KAMPS SITE TO THE CITY + smf's 2¢: by Gale Holland | L... http://bit.ly/aogtac
‘A MAGICAL WORLD’ OF MUSIC AT PACOIMA MIDDLE SCHOOL: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News 05/30/2010... http://bit.ly/9Lk6aN
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
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! • 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.
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