In This Issue:  | | • | Connect the Dots/Follow the Money: L.A. UNIFIED OKS 'DOOMSDAY BUDGET' + L.A. MAYOR, UTLA SPEND MOST IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES | | | • | CHARTER SCHOOLS RAISE QUESTION OF NEW SEGREGATION | | | • | DATA GAMES: WINE SOME, LOSE SOME | | | • | EX-PRINCIPAL GETS PRISON IN MOLESTATION OF FOUR GIRLS | | | • | 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: | | | | 4LAKids comes out on Sundays, whether that is the cause or the effect of the tendency for your essayist to sermonize eludes even myself. I really want to believe in the righteousness of my fellow men+women - even more so in those who would lead us and teach our children.
Sometimes I am brought up short.
I give you this quote, buried deep within the article following the headline : 'LA UNIFIED OK’s ‘DOOMSDAY BUDGET'’: "This budget does not support children," board member Yolie Flores said. "It is not only impossible, it is wrong and it is immoral."
It doesn't support children and it's impossible, wrong and immoral? Yet she voted for it. 7308 folks will get lay off notices on March 15 because of that vote ....not on a budget, but a budget plan. A draft of a budget.
What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is failure - a total failure by adults to do the right thing for young people.
THE DOOMSDAY BUDGET LINE is shudderingly apocalyptic - though the media metaphor in Michigan ("'Atomic Bomb' Budget Cuts to K-12" | http://bit.ly/fSPUPs ) may be worse. The origin of the 'doomsday budget' definition comes from Dennis Meyers, assistant executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials, who, quoted in the San Jose Mercury News last Sunday, laid out these four possible budget scenarios:
● WISHFUL THINKING: Based on the governor's January proposed budget, assumes voters extend temporary taxes -- schools lose $19 per pupil.
● BOY SCOUT: Based on the governor's budget without a tax extension and thus a $2 billion drop to K-12 schools -- schools lose $330 per pupil.
● THE SKY IS FALLING: Based on the tax-extension failure and the Legislature further cutting education -- schools lose $620 per pupil.
● DOOMSDAY: Based on loss of temporary taxes and suspension of the Proposition 98 guarantee of minimal education funding -- schools lose $850 to $1,000 per pupil. [http://bit.ly/gkkEV4]
THE SUPERINTENDENTS OF LAUSD PROPOSED THE LAST AS THE ONLY OPTION ...and the Board of Ed voted for it.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: A particularly distasteful element to the powers-that-be-in-LA in the governor's budget is the elimination of Community Redevelopment Agencies - a traditional cash cow and font of benefices for local politicos and their developer friends; our own Mayor Tony is aghast!
● It was CRA funds that built the usually underutilized L.A. Convention Center -
● and more of them will be needed to tear down the parts of the convention center that need tearing down to build The New Football Stadium!
● CRA funds were manipulated in the mayor's misacquisition of the Van de Kampus of LACC and conversion of that needed and voter-approved/taxpayer-funded community college (which he doesn't run) into a Workforce Development Center (which he does.) Or so the lawsuit alleges.
● A hefty portion of the money CRAs won't get will go to public education ....there is a move afoot (albeit one that doesn't stand much of a chance) to get schools all of it.
Which brings us to the LA Times article cited below: L.A. MAYOR, UTLA SPEND MOST IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES - and this bit:
"As widely expected, most of the campaign money in the March 8 election for the Los Angeles Board of Education is coming from outsiders and not the candidates themselves.
"The biggest player is a committee supported by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Next in line is United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union for the nation’s second-largest school system.
"The Villaraigosa-backed Coalition for School Reform is supporting incumbents Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic as well as Luis Sanchez, who is running to fill the one open seat among four on the ballot.
"The Coalition can't be called the "mayor’s committee" because state law prohibits the mayor, as a political officeholder, from exerting control. But that hasn’t stopped the mayor from fundraising for the effort. And the committee was formed solely to support the candidates he’s backing. All told, the committee has spent $410,696, according to the latest filings. It has more than $1 million still in reserve.
"Recent contributors to the committee include $100,000 each from Casey Wasserman of the Wasserman Media Group, Megan Chernin of Chernin Entertainment and Zenith Insurance.
"To support Galatzan, the Coalition has spent more than $206,000 -- nearly $121,000 for Vladovic and and more than $83,000 for Sanchez."
Lest you missed my and the Times' point, let me give it to you again in capital letters:
●THE COALITION CAN'T BE CALLED THE "MAYOR’S COMMITTEE" BECAUSE STATE LAW PROHIBITS THE MAYOR, AS A POLITICAL OFFICEHOLDER, FROM EXERTING CONTROL.
●BUT THAT HASN’T STOPPED THE MAYOR FROM FUNDRAISING FOR THE EFFORT.
●AND THE COMMITTEE WAS FORMED SOLELY TO SUPPORT THE CANDIDATES HE’S BACKING.
What part of 'state law prohibits' is it that's so hard to understand at City Hall and Getty House?
Gentle readers, I'm not asking for a higher standard of ethical behavior for public officials ... I'm asking for a standard. Maybe somewhere between Willie Sutton and Bernie Madoff?
AS A WRITE IN CANDIDATE FOR SCHOOL BOARD ("Scott Folsom - that's S-C-O-T-T - F-O-L-S-O-M -- It's not multiple choice, it's a written test on March the eighth - and spelling counts!") I have been attending and participating in candidate debates this past week, in South Gate and El Sereno.
The four of us candidates are a knowledgeable bunch - filled with and ready-to-share our wealth of good ideas, platitudes and experience. (At one venue the host misidentified us as the Board of Education - I don't doubt we four might do better than the current seven!) I've enjoyed the conversation and dialog, the differences of opinion - and mostly the input and interplay with the audiences and host organizations - Thank you Southeast Schools Coalition, LA42 Neighborhood Council & The Voice Community Newspaper. I particularly enjoy hearing that my thinking makes sense ...thank you! And I appreciate hearing from people about just how well our public education system is doing - and how and where we are being successful . We tend to forget that American Public Education sets out to educate everyone to a pretty high standard - college ready/career prepared. That is not the standard almost anywhere else in the world!
Citizen democracy can work and does work; maybe not every time - but over time.
My two colleague/adversaries from the teaching profession (and I'm going to violate the first rule of politics in naming them: John Fernandez & Bennett Kayser) are teachers - but defensive of their job as teachers. They shouldn’t have to be - the teaching profession is a noble calling - I am proud of them and they should stand proud. The third of us, Luis Sanchez, claims on the ballot to be an educator but is a political organizer and inside-Beaudry functionary. Luis is chief-of-staff of the board president, supported by the powers that be. [see: Big Bets on LAUSD Board Races] Luis is also the new parent of a one year old - new to the most important and demanding job in the world: Parenthood.
I have a sign on my door that says "Old age and trickery will overcome youth and ambition" That, and a couple of thousand write-in votes. Please!
IN EL SERENO Sanchez told the good people that if elected he will lead a delegation to Sacramento that will convince the legislature convert the six billion dollars voted under Measure Q for school construction and modernization to support school operations - relieving the District's massive general fund deficit.
This is a play directly from from the Mayor Tony playbook - and so patently illegal someone should go down to the patent office and get a number. Just because you write it on a legal pad doesn't make it legal; just because the legislature votes for it doesn't make it constitutional. It says in the state constitution that school construction bonds can only be used for school construction and modernization, ie: Capital Improvement. It says in state and federal statute that the will of the voters cannot be changed by legislative fiat. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles set by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board separate Capital Expenditure and Operating Cost with an impenetrable firewall guarded by CPA's with green eye-shades.
It is easy to get your attorney to go along with what you'd like to do. The judge is another matter.
__________________
●●from WikiEducator (GAAP from 37,000 feet) http://bit.ly/fvVnWK :
●The term OPERATING COSTS refers to any expenditure on things whose value is used up within the same financial year.
Operating costs are sometimes referred to as revenue costs because they are normally met by the income (or revenue) that an [enterprise] earns in the current financial year. Operating costs can either be recurrent, such as staff salaries that must be paid every year, or non-recurrent, such as once-off payments for consultancy services or specialized advice.
●By way of contrast, CAPITAL EXPENDITURE acquires or produces an asset whose value continues to be used (or consumed) over several financial years.
__________________
....And the Measure Q money will not be available until at least 2014 because of the decline in assessed valuation of real estate in LA County. Even if the District should go into receivership the bond funds could not be used to relieve operational default.
And so it is, ¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
● The Debates Continue!:THE NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES COALITION INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR A LA SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM AT FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL’S AUDITORIUM AT 6PM ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 23.
What: LAUSD District 5 Candidate Forum
Where: FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM, 820 N AVENUE 54, LOS ANGELES, CA 90042 map: http://bit.ly/e4TeQP
When: Wednesday February 23 6PM
Who: The candidates are John Fernandez, Scott Folsom, Bennett Kayser, and Luis Sanchez
Why: To get informed on who may represent us on the LA Unified School District Board
Connect the Dots/Follow the Money: L.A. UNIFIED OKS 'DOOMSDAY BUDGET' + L.A. MAYOR, UTLA SPEND MOST IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES
●L.A. UNIFIED OKS 'DOOMSDAY BUDGET'
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/gVQmnt
'We don't want to do any of the things on there,' a board member says of the worst-case scenario, which would produce thousands of layoffs and bigger classes.
February 16, 2011| Thousands of employees would lose jobs, children would face larger classes, and magnet and preschool programs would experience sharp reductions under a worst-case $5-billion budget plan approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Education.
But 45 new and low-performing schools could be spared entirely from teacher layoffs as a result of a recent legal settlement to protect campuses from extreme teacher turnover, overriding traditional teacher seniority protections.
"This is our doomsday budget of what might happen," said board member Tamar Galatzan. "We don't want to do any of the things on there, but … our parents need to know what could happen if we don't get more funding.... Our employees need to know that, too."
The board tally was 5 to 2, with Steve Zimmer and Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte dissenting.
Estimated cuts totaling $408 million would be reduced by more than $180 million if Gov. Jerry Brown succeeds in his plan to extend expiring tax increases.
The state's largest district is also urging employee groups to accept "shared sacrifices" at the bargaining table as they have in previous years. That has meant unpaid furlough days — resulting in temporary pay cuts — for employees and two consecutive shortened school years for students. And thousands of teachers and other employees still lost jobs; about 5,000 teachers are at risk this time.
Los Angeles Unified is also targeting an estimated $200 million saved through a collaboration with employee unions to reduce health costs. On Tuesday, leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles and the California School Employees Assn., which represents many non-teaching employees, said the savings should remain set aside to defray future benefit costs.
In a related development, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a conference in Denver that school districts need to find ways to make sure poor children have access to highly effective teachers by rethinking their staffing and layoff measures. Teacher layoffs are typically based solely on seniority.
The L.A. Unified budget plan would avoid layoffs at schools with high teacher turnover that have made at least modest academic progress. Ten new schools also at risk of high turnover made the list as well, said Kate Collins, a school district attorney.
The union, which is opposing the district approach in court, has defended traditional "last-hired, first-fired" rules, asserting that there are better ways to avoid high teacher turnover.
With the litigation unresolved, teachers at these "protected" schools would also receive notices of their potential layoffs, because such notices must be provided by March 15.
On Tuesday at least, labor and management united to direct acrimony at the amount of funding for education at the state and federal level and the troubled economy.
"This budget does not support children," board member Yolie Flores said. "It is not only impossible, it is wrong and it is immoral."
_______________
● L.A. MAYOR, UTLA SPEND MOST IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES
by Howard Blume, LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/gNJ7pN
February 16, 2011 | As widely expected, most of the campaign money in the March 8 election for the Los Angeles Board of Education is coming from outsiders and not the candidates themselves.
The biggest player is a committee supported by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Next in line is United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union for the nation’s second-largest school system.
The Villaraigosa-backed Coalition for School Reform is supporting incumbents Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic as well as Luis Sanchez, who is running to fill the one open seat among four on the ballot.
The Coalition can't be called the "mayor’s committee" because state law prohibits the mayor, as a political officeholder, from exerting control. But that hasn’t stopped the mayor from fundraising for the effort. And the committee was formed solely to support the candidates he’s backing. All told, the committee has spent $410,696, according to the latest filings. It has more than $1 million still in reserve.
Recent contributors to the committee include $100,000 each from Casey Wasserman of the Wasserman Media Group, Megan Chernin of Chernin Entertainment and Zenith Insurance.
To support Galatzan, the Coalition has spent more than $206,000 -- nearly $121,000 for Vladovic and and more than $83,000 for Sanchez. Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union has sided with the mayor in supporting Vladovic (more than $90,000) and Sanchez (nearly $83,000).
The latest city filings show that United Teachers Los Angeles has spent the most on a single candidate: nearly $270,000 on behalf of two-term incumbent Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte. The union also spent more than $35,000 each on two candidates -- John Fernandez and Jesus Escandon -- from whom it subsequently withdrew support. Both remain on the ballot, although Escandon suspended his campaign.
The union and mayor are competing head to head only in the race for the open seat in District 5, which stretches from Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Eagle Rock to cities southeast of downtown L.A., including Huntington Park, South Gate and Bell.
There, Sanchez is running against Fernandez -- formerly backed by the union -- and Bennett Kayser, who won the union endorsement last week. The union has not yet reported spending on behalf of Kayser, but it is expected.
The California Teachers Assn. has contributed $40,000 so far to the UTLA effort, according to the union. UTLA’s total reported spending is $341,102.
Under city law, independent expenditures must be reported within 24 hours.
So far, Sanchez is the candidate who has reported raising the most money under his direct control: $85,483.
Other candidates on the ballot are: challenger Louis Pugliese, who is running against Galatzan in District 3, the west San Fernando Valley; challenger Roye Love, against Vladovic in District 7, which includes portions of South L.A. and the Harbor area; and challenger Eric Lee, against LaMotte in District 1, which includes portions of south and southwest Los Angeles.
CHARTER SCHOOLS RAISE QUESTION OF NEW SEGREGATION
By Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/epfMco
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 - For more than 50 years, the notion that racially mixed schools are in the best interests of all students has been a basic underpinning of America's educational landscape.
But increasingly across the nation, publicly funded charter schools are popping up that call out their intent to cater to specific racial or ethnic groups – African American, Latino or Hmong students, for example, who on average have far lower test scores and far higher dropout rates than whites and some other Asian groups.
Is it a return to segregation? Is it legal?
Those are the questions being debated after Margaret Fortune, a former adviser to two California governors and a leader in education reform circles, successfully petitioned the Sacramento County Board of Education for five publicly funded charter schools aimed at closing the achievement gap for African American students.
Fortune said her objective is to serve the lowest-performing student subgroup in the region, and that group happens to be African American. Addressing their needs isn't segregation, she said, because parents can choose whether to send their children to her charter schools.
"We aren't shying away from talking about the educational struggle that African American students are having," said Fortune, who runs the Fortune School of Education, a teacher and principal credentialing program. "To fix it, you have to name it. We want to be part of the solution."
Both supporters and opponents of Fortune's vision came out in force this month when the county Board of Education debated her petition to open 10 charter schools. After an eight-hour meeting, Fortune was awarded five schools countywide over the next five years, with the possibility for five more.
While some critics opposed the proliferation of charters in general, others expressed discomfort at an educational mission defined by race. Board President Harold Fong, the lone trustee to vote against the proposal, said he couldn't get past the feeling that Fortune was essentially creating segregated schools.
"To ask us to approve a school that is heavily segregated flies in the face of education policy handed down from the Supreme Court," he said. "To ask us to do this is wrong."
CHARTER APPROACH DEFENDED
Similar discussions played out last year when the Sacramento City Unified School District approved Yav Pem Suab Academy, a charter that caters to Hmong students, a group that collectively has been among the lowest achieving in the district in recent years. That charter, which opened in August, offers Hmong culture and language instead of the typical foreign languages of Spanish and French.
Fortune said her charters will be molded around an educational approach rather than geared toward African American culture.
"When we talk about culture, we are talking about a college-going culture and of high expectations," she said.
The achievement gap between white and black students in America is not a matter of debate. It has been chronicled in hundreds of research reports and is underscored with each new release of test score data at the local, state and national levels.
In Sacramento County last year, African American students in grades 2-8 on average scored 26 percentage points lower than whites on the English language portion of the state achievement test. The gap in math was nearly identical.
"The system of education in this country has not worked for African American children for a long time," said Darryl White, chairman of the Black Parallel School Board, a group that advocates for African American students in Sacramento City Unified.
For years, it's been common for public school systems to offer charters or academies tailored to specialized academic interests (think technology and health sciences) or educational approaches (Waldorf, for example.)
Fortune said her charters aren't really any different. The curriculum will be geared toward helping low-achieving students make the transition to a college-bound track.
Fortune said her program will employ strategies known to be effective with struggling students: school uniforms; longer school days, standards-based instruction, extensive professional development for teachers; and ongoing analysis of student data.
David DeLuz, president of the Greater Sacramento Urban League, said the charters are about providing options for black students, not segregating them.
"We aren't creating black time, and we aren't teaching black math, black English," DeLuz said. "We are teaching them everything to the California standards."
RECRUITING MUST BE FAIR
By law, public charter schools, like traditional schools, have to be open to all students, regardless of race. As part of the conditions applied to the charter's approval, the County Office of Education is requiring Fortune to recruit a population that mirrors the county. Thirty-six percent of students in Sacramento County are white, 27 percent are Latino and 14 percent African American.
Sacramento County schools chief Dave Gordon said reflecting those numbers should be the goal, but it can't be required. "The idea is you can advertise and recruit and who comes is who comes," Gordon said. "Their obligation is to fairly recruit from all over."
A key question for critics of the model is whether a school aimed at one race or ethnicity feels accessible to students from other groups.
UCLA education professor Gary Orfield contends Fortune's charters and others like it are instituting a new form of segregation.
Orfield is co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, a group that released a study last year showing the levels of racial segregation in charter schools are higher than in traditional schools. He said he would like to see more emphasis on desegregating existing neighborhood schools, rather than further compartmentalizing kids.
"To isolate these kids from other races isn't preparing them for the future," Orfield said. "I can understand the frustration that leads to (the creation of these charters). African American kids aren't doing what their parents want them to accomplish. But this doesn't cure that problem."
Orfield's argument falls flat with Fortune's supporters, who argue African American students are already isolated at the bottom rungs of American achievement.
"I'm of the mind right now that we have to do something to change the trajectory of African American students and their level of achievement," said the Urban League's DeLuz. "This is an opportunity to try something different."
DATA GAMES: WINE SOME, LOSE SOME
Themes in the News for the week of Feb. 14-18, 2011by UCLA/IDEA | http://bit.ly/fAhAE5
This week, IBM's supercomputer “Watson” won the “man vs. machine” edition of trivia game show Jeopardy! by beating two of the show’s all-time human winners. Unfortunately, Watson’s winnings won’t make up for cancellation of IBM’s hefty contract with the California Department of Education if the company doesn’t meet deadlines to fix the state’s data system (Bloomberg|http://bloom.bg/fAWWFP, Educated Guess|http://bit.ly/fsP6YD). Maybe that’s not so important to IBM, but it’s not a trivial matter for California students.
We’ll admit to being excited—even thrilled—by Watson’s sheer computing power. However, that impressive display makes it even more frustrating to witness California’s failure to get a fully functional education data system from IBM. That system should be able to answer fairly straightforward questions, such as:
How many students who enter elementary school with limited English skills are still designated as English Language Learners when they arrive in middle school?
Do 8th-grade students enrolled in Algebra 1 perform better, on average, if their teacher has a credential in math?
Which California high schools graduate the highest proportion of young women who move on to major in computer science in California public universities?
The system should be able to follow students from kindergarten through high school graduation and beyond. It can’t.
IBM has been beset with delays and technical complications in its contract with the state to create the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, or CALPADS. The delays led Gov. Schwarzenegger last year to eliminate $6.8 million earmarked for the project (California Watch|http://bit.ly/hBgubx ). Of course, we don’t know IBM’s side. California’s policy environment and historic disinterest in gathering good data might well contribute to delays. But, as we are fond of telling students, “No excuses.”
A report out this week on states’ capacity to collect data reveals that California compares poorly to other states. The Data Quality Campaign’s sixth annual report [http://bit.ly/gfnLkL ] reveals that half of the states are collecting the full 10 “essential elements” of data tracking. California was missing the ability to match student K-12 records with higher education.
Getting basic data is only an early step in a much longer process. Once CALPADS is in place, there are some difficult learning and political challenges. “States were looking at these 10 elements as a checklist and saying, ‘OK, we can collect these 10 things; we’re done,” said Aimee Guidera, executive director of Data Quality Campaign. “We’re saying, ‘No, you’re just beginning to be able to tap in and leverage the investments you’ve made’ ” (Education Week|http://bit.ly/gmgfiW ).
Tapping into the full potential of data systems will require California to move beyond a narrow focus on outcomes data. Improving educational practice demands that we know more about the opportunities present in different schools and neighborhoods that lead to desired outcomes. That additional data must come from new sources, including students and educators, about the conditions that shape teaching and learning in their classrooms.
Even when IBM overcomes its technical difficulties for California, our data system will still be no Watson. Yet, just this one prototype machine has a lot to teach our practical-minded policymakers and communities. “The significance of Watson goes beyond public perception… Watson isn't a single computer program, but a very large number of programs running simultaneously on different computers that communicate with each other" (PBS|http://to.pbs.org/gkWC4M ).
Watson, in other words, isn’t confined to preset programming of, for example, 10 conditions for this or that solution. To answer its questions, Watson seeks and communicates with new sources, penetrates the nuances of written and spoken language, and uses its power to arrive at trustworthy, best-bet answers.
Ultimately, the value of any super machine lies in whether humans can use it as a tool for problem solving and not confuse our basic tools with the solutions we seek. As IBM engineers complete California’s longitudinal data system, California educators and community members need professional development and public engagement to access and reach beyond the technology and arrive at human decisions.
EX-PRINCIPAL GETS PRISON IN MOLESTATION OF FOUR GIRLS
by smf for 4LAKidsNews
19 February 2011 - Today's LA Times has a story EX-PRINCIPAL GETS PRISON IN MOLESTATION:
A former principal at a Lynwood high school who allegedly had a history of inappropriate behavior with young girls was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for sexually molesting four students. >more | http://lat.ms/hu7s3a>
The school is in Lynwood USD; the story gets wide coverage elsewhere | http://bit.ly/g22zpN - it could happen here – and has.
The story is a familiar, pathetic and tawdry one - with a backstory of intimidated young women and girls and imitations of coverup and defending the indefensible - some sloppy reporting and recordkeeping - and the truly angering information that the offender had a prior conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
How did such a person get his job or a credential?
The answer is well explained in an article from two years ago in the Los Angeles Wave: QUESTIONS RAISED ON SILVERIO’S CREDENTIAL | http://bit.ly/e6fDW5 - a tip o' th' 4LAKids cap to writer Marisela Santana for a excellent piece of journalism. Also see her current story: SILVERIO SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON | http://bit.ly/hE4eCe
All of this said, there is an important lesson to be learned here - and while the Wave article concludes that the sort of thing that happened here probably can't happen again - it seems obvious to me that the actual thing that happened here: a prior child molester getting a teaching credential after his or her record has been expunged in the past - can happen again. Pleading no contest, serving probation and behaving oneself for a year is not rehabilitation for this offense. Children need more protection than that.
The power of a judge to expunge the record of an offender is greater than that of a governor or the president to grant a pardon - and perhaps it should take more than a judge to expunge the records of those who prey on children?
_____________________
from WikiPedia | http://bit.ly/dWyzgp: When an expungement is granted, the person whose record is expunged may, for most purposes, treat the event as if it never occurred. A pardon (also called “executive clemency”), on the other hand, does not “erase” the event. Rather, it constitutes forgiveness. In the United States, an expungement can be granted only by a judge, while a pardon can be granted only by a governor (for state law offenses) or the President (for federal offenses).
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
THE PROBLEM WITH TFA: By Diane Ravitch | Bridging Differences in EdWeek | http://bit.ly/igL1Yv Bridging Differ... http://bit.ly/gusCv5
US EDUCATION SECRETARY ARE DUNCAN ENCOURAGES LAUSD STUDENTS TO CONSIDER TEACHING AS A PROFESSION: By Connie Llan... http://bit.ly/hFDuWT
BIG BETS ON LAUSD BOARD RACES: by Catherine Cloutier | KCET | http://bit.ly/f71X1d February 17, 2011 2:... http://bit.ly/eLx8oz
THE WISCONSIN TEACHERS’ CRISIS: WHO’S REALLY TO BLAME?: By Andrew J. Rotherham Time Magazine/School for Thought ... http://bit.ly/fC7R2F
Kids & glasses:LAST MINUTE REPRIEVE FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES IN CA SENATE YESTERDAY: 02/18/2011 - Anthony Wright, po... http://bit.ly/evEgTG
CSBA v. California: COURT REJECTS REIMBURSEMENT OVER UNFUNDED SCHOOL MANDATES: By Mark Walsh | EdWeek School Law... http://bit.ly/f6S2q0
SCHOOL FUNDING MYTHS & STEPPING OUTSIDE THE “NEW NORMAL”: by schoolfinance 101/Bruce B. Baker | http://bit.ly/hI... http://bit.ly/hHE13U
SMART PEOPLE + BIG REPORT = DREAMY NONSENSE: By Jay Mathews | Class Struggle in the Washington Post | http://wap... http://bit.ly/fNimap
UNIONS, SCHOOL LEADERS VOW TO COLLABORATE, BUT ACTION UNCERTAIN: By Stephen Sawchuk | EdWeek | http://bit.ly/fI2... http://bit.ly/hGLmqK
EDSOURCE FINDS FLAWS IN ALGEBRA I FOR ALL: Districts' placement decisions are critical: By John Fensterwald - Ed... http://bit.ly/hSu6A7
PARENTS ARE AGAINST PLAN @ TAFT HIGH: Proposal would give some of Woodland Hills school's classrooms to charter ... http://bit.ly/eCwMf6
INCOMING LA SUPERINTENDENT ANNOUNCES FOUNDATION: By CHRISTINA HOAG, Seattle Post Intelligencer - from the Associ... http://bit.ly/eG9GuV
LOS ANGELES STUDENTS MEET A CIVIL RIGHTS HERO: DESMOND TUTU - Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid acti... http://bit.ly/i5TeBw
A MARCH RUNOFF WILL DECIDE WHO RUNS L.A. TEACHERS UNION: Howard Blume – LA Times/LA Now | http://bit.ly/hJoflM
U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY CALLS FOR MORE TEACHER-DISTRICT COOPERATION: Speaking at a two-day conference, Arne Dun... http://bit.ly/e7MnZj
LOCAL AND STATE EXPERTS TO ADVISE FEDERAL OFFICIALS ON EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENT GAP + smf’s 2¢: Howard Blume, LA Ti... http://bit.ly/i5lvwq
LOG BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT COULD LAY OFF NEARLY 800 EMPLOYEES: Howard Blume, LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.... http://bit.ly/edCkuV
CHATSWORTH HIGH PRINCIPAL REMOVED AS SCHOOL ACCOUNTS IVESTIGATED: -- Howard Blume, LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.... http://bit.ly/feOKXB
L.A. MAYOR, UTLA SPEND MOST IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES: -- Howard Blume, LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/gNJ7pN Fe... http://bit.ly/gG7fcl
CANDIDATE FORUM FOR SCHOOL BOARD SEAT #5 + COUNCIL DISTRICT 14: Thursday evening Feb 17 in El Sereno: LA32 Neigh... http://bit.ly/hGLaTU
LA UNIFIED OK’s ‘DOOMSDAY BUDGET'’: 'We don't want to do any of the things on there,' a board member says of the... http://bit.ly/ieSKo1
LAUSD OFFICIALS OK SENDING LAYOFF NOTICES TO MORE THAN 7000 EMPLOYEES: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer /LA Daily ... http://bit.ly/eCLXkL
Well, 7308 is more than 5000……: LAUSD Authorizes Layoff Warnings For Thousands Of Workers MyFox Los Angeles - ... http://bit.ly/i18T0g
LAUSD PRESS RELEASE ON PLAN TO BALANCE BUDGET, SEND OUT 7, 302 RIF NOTICES: “This needs to be a discussion about... http://bit.ly/eYe0MF
smf Debates Candidates for LAUSD Board Seat#5 – Tues Feb 15 5PM @ South Gate City Hall: Candidates Forum for the... http://bit.ly/fpVtOg
A DARING BET AT BELMONT: Its ambitious plan to transform classroom instruction seeks to give students skills nee... http://bit.ly/dX7hPo
LAUSD CONSIDERS DIALING BACK ON USE OF CELL PHONES: Fiscal hawks join city and state in looking at cuts in gadge... http://bit.ly/fTd8Ja
SCHOOLS PREPARE BUDGETS IN THE DARK – AND PREPARE FOR DEEP CUTS: By Sharon Noguchi/ San Jose Mercury News | http... http://bit.ly/eOdtqB
SCHOOLS FACE TWO BUDGET OPTIONS: BAD, WORSE: By Marc Benjamin / The Fresno Bee | http://bit.ly/eP4dwx
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
THE NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES COALITION INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR A LA SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM AT FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL’S AUDITORIUM AT 6PM ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 23.
What: LAUSD District 5 Candidate Forum
Where: FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM, 820 N AVENUE 54, LOS ANGELES, CA 90042 map: http://bit.ly/e4TeQP
When: Wednesday February 23 6PM
Who: The candidates are John Fernandez, Scott Folsom, Bennett Kayser, and Luis Sanchez
Why: To get informed on who may represent us on the LA Unified School District Board
*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! • 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.
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