In This Issue:  | | • | 82% OF SCHOOLS AREN'T ON TRACK TO "WIN THE FUTURE" + DUNCAN: 82% OF SCHOOLS COULD BE FAILING THIS YEAR | | | • | Rice: FOR L.A. SCHOOLS, AN ADVANCED DEGREE IN CONSTRUCTION | | | • | Lopez: TAKE TEACHER LAYOFF BATTLE TO SACRAMENTO - Anger over L.A. Unified cuts should be directed at legislators. | | | • | MERGER OF TWO ORGANIZATIONS WOULD CREATE CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATION + smf’s 2¢ | | | • | 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: | | | | "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill
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IN GARRISON KEILLOR'S FABULOUS LAKE WOBEGON, all the children are above average.
In George Bush's fabulous neverland of No Child Left Behind all the children are proficient in English language arts and math by 2014. "Proficient", I remind you, means "well advanced"
Keillor's mythic venue is imaginary and absurd. Bush's is legally binding-- teachers' careers are on the line; principals have been fired, schools have been closed or given to charters for non-compliance
If you took AP Statistics in high school - or introduction to Statistics in college - or Logic or Rhetoric- (or got a Logic merit badge) you know the logical impossibility/contradiction of universal excellence.
Statistical analysts decried this utopian absurdity when NCLB first went into effect in 2001 - the first true wackiness after Y2K.
Because NCLB demands the impossible the only possible outcome can be universal failure.
This week (only ten years later) the politicians and the Secretary of Education came to the same conclusion: "OMG! -at the end of 2011, 82% of schools will be failures!" At the dawn of the preordained NCLB Golden Age in 2014-- when every child is supposed to be proficient --100% of schools will instead be be in program improvement -- whether Jordan High School or Boston Latin or Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA.
So we fire all the staffs and replace them with new teachers!
Welcome to Groundhog Day v.2.0 "They say we're young and we don't know....."
THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT AND THE LAUSD FACILITIES DIVISION seem to be playing from the same playbook [ see: LAUSD PROJECTS FACE SHUTDOWN FRIDAY http://bit.ly/g1Sk6a] ...while Superintendent Cortines made his recommendations on Public School Choice v.2,0 [see: http://bit.ly/gHppDD] ...but of course only the Board of Ed really gets to choose!
THE ELECTION RESULTS LAST WEEK WERE DISAPPOINTING - not as much for the outcomes as the turnout. If a large percentage of the electorate returned the incumbents one could say it meant something -- when 10% of the registered voters even bother to vote one has to figure that apathy and inertia have collided on the highway to stasis. That the Community College Board incumbents - reeling from substantial+substantiated front-page charges of Waste,Fraud and Abuse got returned shows that The Times -which once ran this town - doesn't anymore.
I got more campaign mailers in my mailbox than voters voted in all of LA.!
I received a post-election email from Luis Sanchez - the leader (but not the winner) in the one undecided LAUSD board race:"In the last few weeks of the campaign, over half a million dollars were spent by an independent expenditure – attacking me with false, over the top attack ads.".
He is SHOCKED! Imagine:- even though Sanchez benefited from $978,314 from he Riordan/Broad/Villaraigosa/Anshutz group ("The Coalition for School Reform ") and other "independent expenditures", "half-a-million" (actually $237,000) in '"independent expenditures" on behalf of his opponent is unfair! (The numbers are from the LA Ethics Commission, current as of 3/2 [http://bit.ly/e6yRG7] - additional moneys were certainly raised and spent by both sides in the final days of the campaign.)
The combined fundraising by the Sanchez campaign and independent spenders amounts to $1,143,159 -or $91.47 per vote cast for him.
The combined fund raising by 2nd place finisher Bennett Kaiser’s campaign and independent spenders amounts to $256,374 -or $26.32+ per vote.
How does any of that make sense?
TODAY(SUNDAY) IS THE DEADLINE for the legislature to put Gov. Brown’s tax extension on the ballot for a June 6th vote --but the legislature could act as late as April 1 to get the issue on a ballot later in June. After July 1 the taxes expire and the extension would become (cue ominous music) New Taxes!
MEANWHILE CHARTER SCHOOLS ICEF and The Alliance for College Ready Schools prepare to merge like a couple of airlines/energy companies/banks in the ecstasy of deregulation -- a match made in heaven ...or at least the arbitrageur boardrooms of Riordan/Broad/Villaraigosa/Anshutz/Walmart & Gates.
What could possibly go wrong?
TODAY'S (SUNDAY'S) TIMES CONTAINS TWO MUST-READ COLUMNS: Connie Rice's Op-ed En wrong directions taken in school construction at the LACCD+LAUSD - and Steve Lopez' on the damage done (and about-to-be-done) on RIF's and budget cuts. [see "Rice:" and "Lopez:", following.] Both present views of futures we need to avoid - and here's the adverbial modifier to take to heart and to the bank: "AT ALL COSTS"!~
Connie's is a 'back-to-the-future', repeating the Belmont Learning Center fiasco by following the leadership in LAUSDD of "a compliant manager who cut his teeth with the troubled community college building program" ....and misdirected by a school board overinvolved in the politics and underinvolved in oversight. Lopez' quotes a parent:"It is unnerving to think of our society in10 years when the effects of these cuts start showing up."
I met with a parent this weekend who reacted to a school board member who asked for patience with the cuts:"Don't tell me you'll make up for this next year ...my child will be in prison next year!"
I have been getting the same emails as Lopez about the deliberate dismantling+demise of the LAUSD Magnet Program - probably the most successful "choice" program in public education. Unfortunately the magnet program doesn't align to the agenda of the Powers-That-Be; it isn't this-week's-flavor f "School Choice".
Remember to set your clocks ahead -
and ¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
82% OF SCHOOLS AREN'T ON TRACK TO "WIN THE FUTURE" + DUNCAN: 82% OF SCHOOLS COULD BE FAILING THIS YEAR
82 PERCENT OF SCHOOLS AREN'T ON TRACK TO "WIN THE FUTURE"
Themes in the News for the week of March 7-11, 2011 by UCLA IDEA
3-11-2011 - The federal government is gearing up for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The current act, signed into law in 2002, requires that all students be “proficient” in reading and math by 2014. Each year, states must set benchmarks showing that they are making “adequate yearly progress” toward that ambitious goal. With only three years left, very few schools are making that progress.
When schools don’t meet the benchmarks, they are labeled “in need of improvement” and required to implement reform plans, provide free tutoring, replace their staff, alert parents that they have the option of transferring to another school, convert to a charter, be taken over by the state, or a number of other measures. That’s a lot of cost and commotion in these times when schools are cutting resources and supports. Furthermore, the logic of the reform is strained at best. Consider, for example, the option of transferring to another school when only two out of 10 schools meet the benchmarks or consider evidence that charters on average are no better than the “failing” public schools.
Fortunately, the Obama administration has recognized that NCLB has led school reform to a dead end. Irrational benchmarks, deeply flawed measurements of acceptable “progress,” and impossible consequences do not add up to a winning strategy for improving schools. Yesterday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned Congress that the act’s guidelines could mean that up to 82 percent of schools are labeled as “failing” next year, even if they are making gains in student achievement. (New York Times, Washington Post, Education Week). Duncan spoke before an education committee hearing urging support for the administration’s reform of ESEA.
“We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk,” Duncan said (Huffington Post).
Many argue that the fundamental problem with NCLB is its focus on tests and sanctions, with little concern for changing the conditions that affect student outcomes. Gary Ratner, founder of the nonprofit Citizens for Effective Schools, said this focus “essentially jump(s) over the middle—the harder part—explaining what changes schools should make to substantially improve student learning, and then helping them do so” (Huffington Post).
One challenge that Duncan and the administration face is whether they can unglue education policy from the current culture of testing and sanctions in order to create policies that allow flexibility and encourage adequate funding—whether by the states or federal government. A recent report by USA Today looked at America’s attachment to tests and the unhelpful—even unsavory—effects of that attachment.
It reported on sharp fluctuations in schools’ test scores from one year to the next and the suspicions they create (USA Today). Investigations have shown that some schools distort the entire curriculum for the sole purpose of improving scores. Other schools apply sophisticated analyses to determine which few students are most likely to improve the school’s progress status and then concentrate resources on only those students. Then there are schools that just plain cheat.
A narrow focus on test performance robs students of the well-rounded education they need to prepare for successful lives, even in schools with ample resources. High-stakes testing pressure, applied to schools that lack qualified teachers or other resources for learning, can create hopelessness or a “whatever it takes” attitude. Sanctions aren’t enough. Schools need 1) high standards, 2) meaningful assessments, and 3) the conditions that allow the standards to be properly taught and learned. All three, working together, will build capacity and student achievement.
DUNCAN: 82 PERCENT OF SCHOOLS COULD BE 'FAILING' THIS YEAR
By Michele McNeil - Ed Week |http://bit.ly/ggZ6aR
March 9, 2011 4:53 PM - U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is warning Congress that unless changes are made to a key facet of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the country is on track to see 82 percent of its schools labeled "failing" this year.
He drove home that message in testimony Wednesday before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, but drew swift criticism from education advocates and groups that questioned the department's methodology and motives in issuing that estimate.
Testifying on the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, the current version of ESEA, the education secretary said: "Four out of five schools in America may not meet their goals under NCLB by next year. The consequences under the current law are very clear: States and districts all across America may have to intervene in more and more schools each year, implementing the exact same interventions regardless of schools' individual needs."
He was referring specifically to adequate yearly progress, or AYP, which is the cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act. Schools that don't hit annual performance targets—for their students or for smaller subgroups, such as English-language learners—face an escalating set of sanctions. The law aims to make all students 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2014, but as that deadline nears, more and more schools are failing to hit performance targets.
The U.S. Department of Education's 82 percent failure number is an estimate only, based on best-case assumptions that all schools will improve at the rate of the top-performing quartile of schools. To come up with that estimate, the department used four years worth of AYP data, from the 2006-07 through the 2009-10 school years. Statisticians examined the amount of gain on state reading and math tests and used that gain to build projections compared against the states' annual performance targets. The department took into account highly technical parts of the law, such as safe harbor or "n" sizes (the minimum size for a subgroup to trigger accountability.)
Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy, which tracks schools' AYP progress, says he can't believe that number, especially since it's more than a doubling of the number of schools that didn't make AYP in 2009-10. "I hope they're right," said Jennings, who urged the department to put out a technical paper explaining its calculations. "They're dealing with their credibility."
At best, the number is highly misleading, said Charles Barone, the director of federal legislation for Democrats for Education Reform, a New York City-based political action committee. He said that not making AYP during one particular year does not mean a school is "failing", a word that NCLB doesn't even use. NCLB sanctions don't kick in until schools fail to make AYP for two consecutive years.
"I think they're going to regret this," Barone said. "While I understand their frustration in trying to pass the law, I think it's only going to hurt them. They're creating an atmosphere of fear."
Both DFER and the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit, disagree with the department's methodology.
Sandy Kress, a former White House aide who played a key role in working with Congress to craft NCLB, pointed out that there might be a good reason the number is so high: because states insisted on working their way slowly towards the 100 percent proficiency goal at first, then raising expectations much faster once 2014 neared—akin to a balloon payment.
"States said they needed time to get reforms under way," said Kress, who said that Duncan was trying to create "a little bit of panic."
Andrew J. Rotherham, a partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a nonprofit education consulting firm, said Duncan's testimony will likely only contribute to the confusion over the law's AYP requirements. "It's not especially responsible rhetoric," he said.
Other groups, however, pointed out that the larger message carried throughout Duncan's testimony is important. Even though AYP is a complex issue, "this measure shows how the accountability system does not work. It's very easy to wrap your head around that 82 percent of our schools might be labeled as failing," said Noelle Ellerson, the assistant director for policy analysis and advocacy at the American Association of School Administrators.
It's also important to note that Duncan has already relaxed some of the sanctions for schools not making AYP, such as allowing districts to do their own tutoring (rather than using an outside provider), and allowing tutoring to be provided before schools have to offer to send students to higher-performing schools (the choice provision).
The Obama administration's blueprint for ESEA reauthorization calls for pushing back the 2014 deadline for 100 percent proficiency and replacing that goal with new standards aimed at getting students ready for college or the workforce by 2020. States would be given more leeway to intervene in most districts and schools that are making modest gains. But the bottom 5 percent of schools in each state would be required to follow one of the Education Department's four turnaround models.
Clearly, Duncan is trying to send a message that will resonate with members of Congress, who probably would rather not see schools back home hit with a "failing" label. Whether this is enough to jump-start reauthorization is an open question. One thing may be telling: By more than halfway through the hearing, no member of the committee had asked any specific questions or called attention to the number.
Rice: FOR L.A. SCHOOLS, AN ADVANCED DEGREE IN CONSTRUCTION
CALIFORNIA NEEDS TO CREATE A PROFESSIONALLY RUN, INDEPENDENT CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY FOR LARGE PUBLIC SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMS BEFORE MORE BILLIONS IN CONSTRUCTION BONDS ARE MISMANAGED.
L.A.Times Op-Ed by Connie Rice
March 13, 2011 - I've served 10 years on the citizens committee that oversees the Los Angeles Unified School District's building program. As I leave that post, I've drawn one clear conclusion: Educators should not manage large school construction programs. Without an independent, professionally run school construction authority, taxpayers will never be protected from the kind of mismanagement chronicled in The Times' "Billions to Spend" series on the bungled building program of the Los Angeles Community College District, and in news articles more than a decade earlier about the Los Angeles Unified School District's Belmont fiasco.
For those who don't remember, Belmont was the school construction disaster in which L.A. Unified put a football coach in charge of building a $160-million high school, which the state ultimately declared unusable for children. A scathing audit concluded that an "uninformed" and "unaccountable" school board had violated laws governing hazardous waste, environmental quality and public safety. The debacle earned a segment on "60 Minutes."
In the wake of Belmont, voters in 1999 elected a reform slate to the Board of Education, and the new board hired Roy Romer as superintendent to fix the district's construction mess. To preclude another Belmont, and the kind of wasteful mistakes we're seeing today at the community colleges, Romer leveraged an overcrowded-schools court victory won by my law firm and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to create a nimble, expert-run school construction system. That lawsuit freed up $750 million in state bond money for school construction in Los Angeles. With it, Romer hired a talented team of retired Navy engineers led by Capt. James McConnell, and I joined the citizens oversight committee. Romer and his team transformed L.A. Unified's disastrous building program into an award-winning one.
But it took uncommon leadership by Romer and new board President Genethia Hayes to protect the new construction unit from school board micromanagement, union requests, job patronage and other political meddling. The program was insulated from the district's torpid bureaucracy with separate legal, procurement and contracting staffs. The Navy engineers set strict rules for hiring the best contractors at the best value, and even stricter rules that blocked political changes to contracts. An extensive auditing system was set up to ensure that money was spent legally and wisely. Finally, the politically neutral Citizens Oversight Committee, with full-time professional staff and able members with time to volunteer, served as watchdog. Once voters saw that competent construction managers were in charge of the school building program, they passed four consecutive school construction bonds to match the statewide bonds, providing more than $20 billion for school construction.
Over the next nine years, this quasi-independent construction enterprise built more than 140 desperately needed schools, the vast majority on budget and on time. It completed $3.7 billion in repairs, avoided major waste and won more than 85 private sector awards. As a result, most district schools are no longer severely overcrowded and multi-tracking and busing students from packed neighborhood schools will soon end.
Unfortunately, with $7 billion in construction bonds left, this extraordinary "mega-construction" system is now being dismantled. Guy Mehula, the last Navy engineer to head the unit, resigned last year after district decisions compromised the program's integrity and independence. The district threatened to move his skilled staff back into the bureaucracy. It forced construction manager contracts to follow the schools' 10-month schedule, which makes no sense for building projects with varied timelines, and imposed senseless cuts to the bond-funded building program in a show of shared sacrifice during the current fiscal crisis.
The district replaced Mehula with a more compliant manager who cut his teeth with the troubled community college building program. Worse, some school board members are again requesting wasteful project changes, pushing union requests that make for less efficient construction, questioning contract awards and suggesting prohibited uses of bond funds. As one politician recently told me, "We're the elected officials, and we should have control over the bond funds."
As Belmont and now the community college debacle show, politicians and educators are the last people who should build schools or control bond funds. We don't trust politicians to manage the printing of money; that's why we have the Federal Reserve. We cannot expect politicians and educators to wisely use billions of construction dollars to build dozens of schools. It's not that they aren't well intentioned; they just don't have the required skills, and the incentives for patronage overwhelm all but the most exceptional leaders.
The state needs to create a professionally run, independent construction authority for large public school construction programs, including community colleges, before more billions in construction bonds are mismanaged by unqualified and politicized entities.
●Connie Rice is a civil rights attorney in Los Angeles. She was appointed by controllers Rick Tuttle, Laura Chick and Wendy Greuel to the School Construction Bond Citizens' Oversight Committee.
Lopez: TAKE TEACHER LAYOFF BATTLE TO SACRAMENTO - Anger over L.A. Unified cuts should be directed at legislators.
By Steve Lopez | L.A.Times columnist | http://lat.ms/hxl87o
March 13, 2011 - I bumped into my daughter's former teacher the other day, and she told me that after surviving several layoff threats, this time will probably be different.
She's relatively low in seniority and expects to lose her job.
I felt helpless, and angry, too, knowing how great a teacher she is.
How many others will we lose?
It is the season of horror stories in public education, as budget battles play out in Sacramento. How do you measure the losses for students when their teachers get dumped, class sizes grow and continuity is sacrificed on one campus after another?
In Hollywood, my friend Mika Mingasson and other parents plan to march Tuesday in support of four Melrose Elementary teachers who got pink slips.
Students at the Academy of Music at Hilton High on South Robertson are begging me to do something.
"Please help us," said one student.
"Today…my earth quit spinning," wrote another Hamilton student. "The best arts teachers at our school received pink slips."
Parents at magnet schools, in particular, are on the warpath, fearing that they'll take the brunt of the hit. And parents at Chandler Elementary in Van Nuys are furious.
"It is unnerving to think of our society in 10 years from now when the effects of these cuts start showing up," Sara Bouzaglo wrote in a letter blasting Los Angeles Unified School District officials.
To be fair, we're talking about notices of potential layoffs. Nobody knows how big the cuts might be when budget talks play out. And as for parents who are blasting school district officials, sure, byzantine bureaucracies can always operate more efficiently.
But if you're in a lather about teachers getting bounced, you might consider spending less time ripping beleaguered school districts and more time hounding state legislators. Gov. Jerry Brown wants to fill the state's budget hole with roughly $12 billion in cuts and $12 billion in revenue made possible by a five-year extension of several existing tax increases.
But Brown can't find the needed four Republican legislators willing to let Californians vote on his plan. Republicans would prefer $26 billion in cuts alone, and schools would get walloped.
So if you'd like to weigh in, go to http://www.legislature.ca.gov, get phone numbers and addresses, and let legislators know how you feel.
In L.A. Unified, 5,000 teachers could get whacked. And as for who stays and who goes, it will have nothing to do with quality. All that matters is seniority, except in the case of some low-performing schools that could be spared massive disruption following a lawsuit aimed at ending crippling turnover.
Is there a better way to make sure the district keeps its best teachers?
Of course, and last week, I spent two hours with United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy and four teachers on that very topic, among others.
Duffy said his blood pressure shot up when he read my recent column about NewTLA, a group of teachers who want UTLA to take the lead in designing better training programs. They also want the union to "stop throwing younger teachers under the bus," and create an evaluation system that looks at more than just tenure when layoffs roll around.
"I took umbrage," said Duffy. "UTLA is the face of reform."
He wasn't joking. And to back up his claim, he brought some ringers to our meeting. Kirti Baranwal of Gompers Middle School, Alex Caputo-Pearl of Crenshaw High, Colleen Schwab of Woodland Hills Academy and Queena Kim of UCLA Community School all spoke persuasively about how they're doing things differently, and getting results.
Their schools use innovative approaches that give teachers more authority and allow some freedom from district mandates. Baranwal described a collaborative effort at Gompers in which teachers meet weekly, discuss and critique one another's lesson plans, then videotape the results in the classroom and follow up with further analysis.
Wonderful, except that the vast majority of schools in L.A. Unified have no such innovations. If UTLA is the face of reform, why hasn't it come up with something that works for most students rather than for a few?
And speaking of Gompers, that was one of the schools the aforementioned lawsuit was based on. Tenure-based layoffs had a devastating impact on turnover there, and UTLA is appealing the lawsuit settlement.
Duffy's four all-stars argued that teacher-led innovations, along with more holistic evaluations, will help good teachers get better while identifying those who ought to pick another profession.
Again, that's nice. But district officials see it differently. They want students' progress to be one factor in teachers' evaluations, and Duffy and his reformers won't give an inch on that topic.
As for UTLA's own evaluation proposal, it's kind of vague, and it won't be done soon enough to save the job of a single good teacher when the ax next falls.
Mike Stryer, a Fairfax High teacher and founder of NewTLA, said UTLA has made "sporadic" efforts at "something resembling reform…but they play at the edges…. Real reform comes when UTLA can honestly say that it is doing everything possible to ensure that we have the strongest educators working in all of our schools."
It's a healthy little scrum, and I'll keep an eye on things. In the meantime, yell at Duffy if you please, or his critics, or L.A. Unified.
But if you want to save a teacher's job, you need to scream loud enough to be heard in Sacramento.
MERGER OF TWO ORGANIZATIONS WOULD CREATE CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATION + smf’s 2¢
TALKS ARE UNDERWAY BETWEEN STRUGGLING ICEF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND ALLIANCE COLLEGE-READY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BOTH BASED IN LOS ANGELES. THE COMBINED GROUP WOULD BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST IN THE UNITED STATES. BUT A MERGER COULD TAKE AWAY CHOICES FOR PARENTS, ONE EXPERT SAYS
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/gmJUG0
March 10, 2011 - Two of the state's largest charter school organizations are in talks to merge, raising questions about the future of their 33 campuses and the local charter movement. Such a partnership could create the largest charter school operation in California, and one of the nation's biggest with 12,000 students.
Negotiations are underway between financially struggling ICEF Public Schools and Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, both based in Los Angeles. Word of a looming deal emerged at a San Diego charter-school convention this week in remarks by former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, who has served on the boards of both organizations.
In a later speech on Wednesday to the same gathering, current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa exhorted charter schools to take charge of more low-performing traditional schools, accept greater numbers of harder-to-educate students and support the closing of low-performing charters.
Charter schools are publicly funded, independently operated and free of some regulations that govern traditional schools; most are non-union.
ICEF and Alliance are different in form and history, a distinctness that needs to be preserved, ICEF officials said.
Alliance was begun by high-powered business and community leaders involved in the LEARN reform effort of the early 1990s within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Chief Executive Judy Burton had a long L.A. Unified career before joining other Alliance leaders who, like her, had become impatient with the pace of school improvement. The 18 Alliance schools focus intensely on academics, typically relegating arts and athletics to informal after-school activities. The vast majority of its students are low-income Latinos.
ICEF was started by Mike Piscal, a brash former Harvard Westlake teacher who developed a clientele largely within the black community, which appreciated his inclusion of arts programs and formal athletics. He served substantial numbers of low-income students, but also retained a solid base within the black middle class. Piscal left ICEF last fall amid his organization's financial woes — he had long resisted cutting programs to keep pace with declining and increasingly delayed state funding.
"I just hope that something that was important to the entire community will not be lost if this merger happens," Piscal said Wednesday.
A merger could eliminate distinct, valuable choices for parents, said Priscilla Wohlstetter, a USC professor who directs the university's Center on Educational Governance: "I honestly am not certain that we have found the McDonald's recipe for teaching public school students."
Bigger is not necessarily better, said Los Angeles teacher Janet Landon, who heard both mayors speak and is trying to start her own charter. "To create another 30 schools under a single bureaucracy is just replicating the school district," she said, only without a union to protect employee rights or a publicly elected board to hold officials accountable.
Riordan's efforts over the last few months resulted in fundraising and debt relief that improved ICEF's balance sheet by $15 million, but he said the group still needs $11 million to become fiscally sound.
Several ICEF insiders faulted Riordan for becoming so committed to a merger that he effectively discouraged donors from supporting an independent ICEF.
Riordan disagreed: "It's hard to get people to invest in a company that's having a lot of financial trouble. For us to have raised the amount of money we did raise — it's a miracle."
"Both organizations are dedicated to merging," Riordan said in an interview.
ICEF chief executive and former LA school board member Caprice Young said that Riordan, who chairs her board, had spoken prematurely about the certainty of a merger. She also conceded that barring an alternate financial rescue, a "partnership," as she termed it, would be difficult to avoid.
Under terms proposed by Alliance, it would control a governing-board majority and could close an ICEF school "that does not maintain adequate enrollment or meet expected academic standards." A couple of ICEF schools are not fully enrolled.
The ICEF schools would probably be overseen by a director who would report to Alliance, in an attempt to maintain ICEF's unique approach.
Some consolidation within the charter school sector is inevitable, Villaraigosa said in an interview. But he also expressed concern that small operators who run quality schools could be squeezed out.
The mayor billed his address as a follow-up to one in December, in which he criticized the local teachers union as an obstacle to reform. Villaraigosa, besides demanding more of charters, also said that traditional schools deserved the same flexibility as charters, and that all models of schools should be working better together, including on efforts to increase funding for schools.
"Imagine the day when parents and students can choose a school based on learning style and teaching method," he said, "instead of the number of metal detectors on campus or the percentage of teachers laid off last year."
●● smf’s 2¢: Three observations, right off the bat:
1. Richard Riordan speaking out prematurely? That’s never happened before!
2. Judy Burton is the best education administrator I’ve ever worked with.
3. Caprice Young is – with the exception of Roy Romer – probably the most astute education politician I’ve observed..
That said: Is it just me….but isn’t this news for the business page? …not the education beat?
The business page has words in their lexicon to describe what’s going on here: Mergers and Acquisitions, Arbitrage, Leveraging investments. Billionaires Richard Riordan and Eli Broad (and others) have invested millions from their billions – Venturing Capital – to leverage the public money in charter schools.
And financially one of the investments in their portfolio is upside-down.
So they are consolidating the business plan - that’s the way it’s done in big business when big money is in play and deregulation is upon the industry. It really doesn’t matter if the industry is energy futures, real estate, banking or public education.
You don’t need a Harvard Business School degree to see which way the cash flows.
Of course, there’s no no public watchdog over charter schools; no whistle-blower, no Securities and Exchange Commission to make sure it’s done right.
I doubt if the State Board of Ed is going to step in.
And – with Mayor Tony being part of the story – you know the LAUSD Board of Ed isn’t going to go there.
Where, gentle readers, is the public oversight, the accountability and the transparency? Because the folk here are protecting their investments – not the public investment or the public interest.
And who’s looking out for the kids?
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
Something 2 think about: READ THESE FIRST:
ARE '”FAILING” SCHOOLS REALLY FAILING?: “Achievement-based evaluation likely underestimates the effectiveness of... http://bit.ly/hOMAuD Monday, March 07, 2011 1:42:49 PM via twitterfeed
WHY EMPLOYEE PENSIONS AREN’T BANKRUPTING STATES: On average plans are able to pay benefits at their current leve... http://bit.ly/h2rdeA Monday, March 07, 2011 9:54:26 PM via twitterfeed
THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: By E.D. KAIN IN American times/a forbes b... http://bit.ly/dUDcZc
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GRENADA HILLS LEADS LIST OF L.A. SCHOOLS IN STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON COMPETITION: By Daily News wires | http://b... http://bit.ly/gkvN8m a
L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD CANDIDATE RETURNS DONATIONS FROM BOND PROGRAM CONTRACTORS, CALLS FOR BAN: LA Times/... http://bit.ly/hUmwIk
KIRST: EXPEDITE PARENT TRIGGER - No need to get Legislature involved: By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | htt... http://bit.ly/epn21y
PUT OUR CHILDREN FIRST THIS JUNE: By Mónica García and John Deasy in The Huffington Post |http://huff.to/elipE2 ... http://bit.ly/hAV2Nn
POSSIBLE LOSS OF CLASSROOMS TO CHARTERS AT LOCAL SCHOOLS DUE TO PROP 39 FUELS RESENTMENT AMONG PARENTS, TEACHERS... http://bit.ly/g8HjYj
STATE CUTS TAKE A TOLL ON STUDENTS’ EDUCATION: Editorial from the Pearl Post, the student newspaper of Daniel Pe... http://bit.ly/gyI3fL
PSC 2.0:RAMON CORTINES RECOMMENDS DISTRICT EDUCATORS OPERATE MOST CAMPUSES + Recommendation memo: By Connie Llan... http://bit.ly/gHppDD
COMMUNITY TEAM GETS NOD FROM SCHOOLS CHIEF TO RUN NEW SCHOOL: A team of local administrators and teachers who ho... http://bit.ly/hIkQnT
EAGLE ROCK ELEMENTARY STUDENTS GET A GOLD STAR IN SCIENCE OLYMPIAD: Students show off their science skills at th... http://bit.ly/hkMzwn
L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FIRES BUILDING PROGRAM CHIEF + Editorial: COMMUNITY CAMPUS FOLLIES: L.A. Communi... http://bit.ly/hSWHC5
ELECTION OUTCOME IN BOARD ELECTION #5: An open email to Bennett Kayser, cc: to John Fernandez: BOARD OF EDUCATIO... http://bit.ly/eilGxv
WILL LAUSD LAYOFFS BE A MODEL?: Appeals court refusal to delay settlement means districts not totally tied to se... http://bit.ly/hT9AjC
I WANT AN UNCOMMON CURRICULUM: by Tom Vander Ark | EdReformer.com | http://bit.ly/fNTxIH March 8, 2011 - It’s i... http://bit.ly/fEFzDN
EDUCATION HAS NOT KEPT PACE WITH COMMUNICATION: Charles Lawton – Op-Ed in the Portland (Maine) Press Herald | ht... http://bit.ly/hU6MJE
LAUSD PROJECTS FACE SHUTDOWN FRIDAY: Dear Superintendent Cortines, This letter serves to inform you t... http://bit.ly/g1Sk6a
THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT ON FRIDAY: by Timothy D. Slekar - Head of the Division of Education, Human Develop... http://bit.ly/gfvWJi
MORE THAN YOU PROBABLY EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DISPUTE BEWEEN LAUSD FSD AND TEAMSTERS LOCAL #572: by smf f... http://bit.ly/gJ21be
EFFECTING CHANGE AT THE LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT TOMORROW THROUGH THE BALLOT BOX: 4LAKids Reader a... http://bit.ly/hvas1g
SCHOOLS WEIGH THE BENEFITS OF MORE CLASSROOM TIME: Educators note that the quality of the hours students spend i... http://bit.ly/hZBADb
PRESCHOOLS AND CENTERS TARGETED FOR BIGGEST EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION BUDGET CUT: by Timothy Fitzharris, Legisla... http://bit.ly/eEZ92I
“Pull the Trigger?” or “Pull the Plug?”: ‘TRIGGER’ TROUBLES + smf 2¢ - Attempts to evade the 'parent trigger,' s... http://bit.ly/e5P7CN
From Sacramento: THE REALITY BEHIND RECENT BUDGET RHETORIC + CA GOP SPLIT ONPUTTING TAX PLAN ON BALLOT + Editori... http://bit.ly/f4xDqY
Steve Lopez: TIMES’ COMMUNITY COLLEGE INVESTIGATION UNEARTHS SHAMEFUL WASTE: Revelations about abuses in Los Ang... http://bit.ly/glk8Jz
CHEATING SCHOOLS CANT BE TOLERATED …but what about playing fast-and-loose with the truth?: Letters to the LA Tim... http://bit.ly/g1LcNQ
High School Sports: TAFT WINS DIVISION I Final, GIRLS PITCH,PLAING HARDBALL WITH THE BOYS + more: from the LA Ti... http://bit.ly/eV9QoY
McPHERSON, KANSAS SCHOOLS FIRST IN U.S. TO OPT OUT OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND TESTING: KSN NBC News/Wichita | http:... http://bit.ly/gFTifS
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! • 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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