In This Issue:  | | • | PSC 2.0: CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS TO RUN 7 MORE L.A. UNIFIED CAMPUSES + CHARTER SCHOOLS WIN OUT IN LATEST ROUND OF REFORM EFFORT + more + smf's 2� | | | • | A CALL TO ACTION – THE HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WALK-OUT: | | | • | REPORT DETAILS SHARP GROWTH IN PRACTICES THAT PUSH STUDENTS OUT OF SCHOOLS AND INTO THE JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS + Report | | | • | VALEDICTION | | | • | 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: | | | | WARREN CHRISTOPHER (Oct 27, 1925 - March 18, 2011, Hollywood High School Class of '42) has passed away, memorialized by President Obama as 'a resolute pursuer of peace', - and by President Carter as 'the best public servant I ever knew'. Christopher pursued that peace in the Middle East - it was he that negotiated the end of the Iran Hostage Crisis - in the Balkans and Viet Nam and on the mean streets of Los Angeles in the aftermaths of both the Watts Riots and the Rodney King Affair. Hollywood High School has produced more famous graduates - but none more important or statesmanlike - or true to HHS's motto of "Achieve the Honorable". His Times obit is here: http://lat.ms/gzEWza. Godspeed.
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IN THE NAME OF REFORM - driven by expedience couched as 'urgency', pressed by budgetary bean-counters and the agenda of charter school proponents - we are undoing the most powerful and successful Parent Choice and achievement-driven educational program in the nation: Magnet Schools.
The evidence - no matter how you measure it - is out there: Magnet Schools work. They improve the performance of the students in them and they improve the performance and programs of the mainstream schools that house them.
Parents and students continue to apply-for and attend magnet schools ...magnets are the "choice" of choice.
The waiting lists for Magnets (which don't just serve gifted students) are larger than the total applicant pool for charter schools. Magnet programs coexist happily and cooperatively on campuses alongside traditional programs without the acrimony of charter school co-locations.
Magnet Programs Work. They outperform most charters, pilots and partnership schools. They enhance and encourage parental involvement. They graduate students. Magnets are a 'Best Practice' - and they are being systematically cut-and-eliminated instead of being encouraged-and-replicated. It is true they cost a little more � mainly for transportation costs � but their bang-for-the-buck/return-on-investment is proven. Nothing succeeds like success.
The Hamilton High School student organizers of Friday's walk out describe the LAUSD magnet program as "one of the most democratic and effective systems ever created in public education".
What Magnet schools are NOT are Charter Schools � with the-built in big-bucks PR+political support. They are not sexy or 'this weeks flavor' of ed reform. They are not promoted by entrepreneurial philanthropists, billionaires and venture capitalists because they are not revenue engines � instead they are successful paradigms of success ...and - like the electric cars of the mid-'90's - the competition!
Look at magnet costs realistically: The cost to he District of a student in a magnet program is far less than the cost to the District of the loss of a student to a charter program. Or a drop out. Or the cost to society of a young person in jail.
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The Week That Was -MONDAY STARTED WELL: Granada Hills Charter High School (a real stand-alone charter school outside the CMO model) won the California Academic Decathlon.
ALSO ON MONDAY LAUSD FACILITIES CHIEF JAMES SOHN'S RESIGNATION WAS ACCEPTED. Sohn's tenure has been turbulent; he was Superintendent Cortines' facilities chief � filling a Cortines-created vacancy. Some of his decisions drew ire within the district � from employees, boardmembers and the Inspector General; his previous employment at the Community College District drew fire from The Times. A new superintendent is coming in � it was time for Sohn to go.
AS TUESDAY'S BOARD OF ED MEETING ON PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE v.2.0 OPENED, Steve Zimmer spoke about how this was his most hopeful meeting ever as a boardmember. When I spoke to him 21 hours later in the same room he recounted that the day before had been his darkest day on the board.
Deeper in this issue [see GRAB+GO and accounts by others] you will read of what happened. Of how parents and teachers and community members were betrayed. Additionally betrayed was Superintendent Cortines ...unbetrayed was Mayor Tony � his will be done � supported by the best school board his friends' � and charter school proponents' � money could buy.
AS DARK AS TUESDAY WAS, LET US ALL FIND HOPE IN FRIDAY � when students at Hamilton High School (and at other schools) led as-good-of-a protest rally against everything wrong with public education as ever I've been a part of. I've been a parent leader in LAUSD for over fifteen years � and nothing made me happier than to be led by Hami students of Friday morning.
We need to be following the kids more often. They walked out to preserve their Magnet Schools. For Arts and Music Programs. They marched to protect teachers' jobs and their own educations. To protest underfunding from Sacramento. To empower themselves. To put the tax extensions on the ballot. I stood with reporters and teachers and cops on the sidelines � listening to the truth being told eloquently ...and we agreed that it just doesn't get any better or more organized or real!
For all of our talk about accountability and transparency and being informed-by-data let us not forget Authenticity. A couple of thousand high school kids on the lawn in the sun with guitars and a marching band � speaking The Truth for everyone to hear � it doesn't get any more authentic.
MARCH 25, 1911 - Tuesday's vote, the 7300 LAUSD RIFs and 19,000 education RIFs in California (if LA Unified is 20% of California K-12, why do we have 38% of workforce reduction?), the privatization of public education by corporate charters, the attacks on collective bargaining and the rash of anti-labor sentiment all need to be seen through the historical lens and the teachable moment. Next Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the 146 martyred heroes - some as young as fifteen - of that tragedy. see: http://bit.ly/icn8FY + http://lat.ms/geF2Nj + http://bit.ly/hnu9mr
"We're from Beaudry, we're here to help...": WELCOME TO THE ONE-STOP EMPLOYEE REDUCTION IN FORCE (RIF) AND CHANGE IN BASIS SUPPORT CENTER: If you have received a Reduction in Force Notice and have questions, please call (213) 241-6315. | http://bit.ly/hEcmCG
GRAB+GO: Mayor Tony flexed his political muscle Tuesday and his will was done by his bought-and-paid-for school board.
Last time out the board for the most part followed Superintendent Cortines recommendations on Public School Choice v.1.0. And for the most part the public's will was done: Schools were given over to community supported groups of teachers.
Mayor Tony was not happy - and Superintendent Cortines - his own hand-picked superintendent - fell further from Tony's favor.
Now there is a new superintendent more to Antonio's current liking, waiting in the wings.
And this time Mayor Tony's will was done. "More Charter Schools" he wanted - and - the heck with the "Public" or the "Choice" � More charter schools he got!
School board president Monica Garcia stepped out her chair to offer 'a few amendments' to the superintendent's plans - and undid the whole thing, overruling months of public input, community buy-in and hard work. "Not enough parents showed up to vote", the board members complained (in agreement with the 'election advisors' brought in by Gates, Broad + Co.) ...not an argument they made when they were elected with 11%-and-less turnouts!
And the big Charter Management Organizations - the big-box/chain-stores of quasi-public education - Green Dot and The Alliance and Aspire and Camino Nuevo were given hundreds of millions of dollars worth of brand new public schools to run with their private agendas, schools the public will be paying for over the next thirty or forty years. How do they and we ever thank you, Mayor Tony?
Tuesday's action will see 10 new campuses and three existing lower performance schools transformed into charter schools, affecting more than 20,000 students. The new campuses represent hundreds of millions of dollars in voter approved/taxpayer investment - NOT billionaire philanthropists' - turned over to private operators with little oversight or accountability
There were exceptions: State AcaDeca champions Granada Hills Charter High School won't get to operate the new school it wanted in the Valley. But Granada Hills is not a big charter school management organization/supporter of Mayor Tony.
MATTIE Academy Charter School didn't get to operate South Region High School No. 4, - but SRHS#4 is located in Long Beach and serves students in Carson. What does Mayor Tony care about Long Beach or Carson?
Conspicuously noted: The big Charter School Management Organizations didn't apply en masse for the so-called "focus schools" � 'used' underperforming schools ...opting instead to choose the new schools. I thought he idea of charter schools is to improve existing programs ...but why bother when offered a brand new facility for free? Or, perhaps, for a political contribution or two.
WHERE IS THE 'CHOICE'? Charter schools are supposed to be a local-driven bottom-up reform as educators and the community take control of their neighborhood school and parents elect or don't elect to participate. Tuesday's board action was as top-down as it gets: 20,000 students assigned to corporate-run charters by board fiat.
(When I was younger and dinosaurs roamed the earth you could buy the Italian cars called Fiats in the U.S,; the joke was the name stood for "Fix It Again, Tony". Irony ...or farce?)
I don't know about you but I have far more faith in kids out on the lawn in the sun than the folks in the boardrooms and the backrooms with their not-so-well-hidden agendas and deals.
Sing it: "We will...we will... Rock you!"
ïOnward/Adelante! - smf
PSC 2.0: CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS TO RUN 7 MORE L.A. UNIFIED CAMPUSES + CHARTER SCHOOLS WIN OUT IN LATEST ROUND OF REFORM EFFORT + more + smf's 2�
CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS TO RUN 7 MORE L.A. UNIFIED CAMPUSES
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/dLQLpH
The school board divvies up or relinquishes 10 new campuses, including seven new high schools, and three low-performing schools. Not all were sought by charters; some go to teachers and district-led groups.
March 16, 2011 - Major charter-school organizations won the right Tuesday to operate at seven of 13 schools under a policy that allows bidders inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to take control of new and academically struggling campuses.
Charter schools got most of what they wanted by the end of a 5 1/2-hour meeting in which the Board of Education divvied up or relinquished 10 new campuses, including seven new high schools, and three low-performing schools. About 20,000 students will be attending those schools next year.
District officials were lobbied hard to support more charter schools than last year, when groups of district teachers, often working with administrators, prevailed on most plans. This year, the recommendations of L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines included more charters, and a board majority went even further to cede control of district schools to outside organizations.
Cortines, for example, had wanted low-achieving Clay Middle School, in Athens, to be split between a team from the school and Green Dot Public Schools, a charter organization. He talked of the potential to demonstrate how a charter and a district operation could collaborate; charters are publicly funded and independently run.
Board President Monica Garcia pushed instead to have the entire school turned over to Green Dot.
Garcia, the closest ally of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was joined by the mayor's other allies in approving the full handover. Villaraigosa has spoken frequently of schools going to groups with "proven track records," a veritable mantra of charter-school applicants.
The board also overruled Cortines by giving a new Echo Park elementary school to the Camino Nuevo charter. He had favored a local group of teachers and residents because, he said, the charter's emphasis on teaching in Spanish in the early grades was not the right fit for all the students who would be attending that school.
But the board upheld Cortines' recommendation to give a much-contested new west San Fernando Valley high school to a district- and teacher-led proposal that includes a performing arts academy. Losing out was Granada Hills Charter High School, a high performer that just won the state's Academic Decathlon and has a waiting list of about 2,000 students.
"This is one of the hardest recommendations and votes I have taken," said board member Tamar Galatzan. Granada Hills is "really one of the jewels in my board district." The district plan "filled a gap we have in the Valley. We don't have a performing arts high school."
However, she also expressed concern about whether the district could afford such a program amid an ongoing budget crisis that could include the layoffs of thousands of teachers.
Altogether, seven of 11 charter school proposals prevailed. Other charter winners included: Synergy, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, PUC and Aspire � all well-established charter organizations. Teachers and district-led groups also prevailed; there weren't charter bids for every campus.
Another beneficiary of the board's aggressive posture was MLA Partner Schools, a nonprofit that won the right to control Muir Middle School, where employees will be required to re-interview for their jobs. Cortines recommended against MLA because of what he characterized as the group's mixed record at two high schools already under its control. He also noted that, as of next year, Muir will no longer feed into Manual Arts High School, an MLA campus.
MLA, which isn't a charter, operates schools under the union contract, so it has faced less opposition from charter-school opponents, including some leaders of the teachers union.
The MLA bid was resurrected by Garcia. MLA officials co-hosted a January fundraiser for Garcia's chief of staff Luis Sanchez, who is in a runoff for a school board seat. That event also raised money for Eric Lee, who unsuccessfully tried to defeat board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.
The day's events infuriated LaMotte. She was the lone vote against the entire final motion and expressed dismay at the overriding of Cortines.
"What's the purpose of this if we're not going to listen to the man," she said. "You need to get this political stuff out of your heads."
smf's 2 cents: - LEST YOU MISSED IT: Another beneficiary of the board's aggressive posture was MLA Partner Schools, a nonprofit that won the right to control Muir Middle School, where employees will be required to re-interview for their jobs. Cortines recommended against MLA because of what he characterized as the group's mixed record at two high schools already under its control. He also noted that, as of next year, Muir will no longer feed into Manual Arts High School, an MLA campus.
MLA, which isn't a charter, operates schools under the union contract, so it has faced less opposition from charter-school opponents, including some leaders of the teachers union.
The MLA bid was resurrected by Garcia. MLA officials co-hosted a January fundraiser for Garcia's chief of staff Luis Sanchez, who is in a runoff for a school board seat. That event also raised money for Eric Lee, who unsuccessfully tried to defeat board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.�
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE:
1. Go to the Ethics Commission website and search campaign contributions for Luis Sanchez http://bit.ly/fEBSbp
2. Cross reference it with the MLA Board of Directors. http://bit.ly/icaTWo Include spouses.
3. What other charter and partnership operators � or companies with business before the Bd of Ed - have contributed who stood to benefit � or did benefit � from Tuesday�s vote?
4. Don�t limit your search to Sanchez, check out all the board members. http://bit.ly/hrWxyE Search by candidate/officeholder or search by contributor.
5. Don�t forget to check out Independent Campaign Expenditures to Board candidates http://bit.ly/eNjZyp � that�s where the real money is. Again, search by candidate [ Sanchez: http://bit.ly/eNjZyp ] or contributor [Coalition for School Reform to Support Galatzan, Sanchez, and Vladovic for Board of Education 2011 http://bit.ly/eNjZyp - and United Teachers Los Angeles - PACE (Political Action Council of Educators) http://bit.ly/eNjZyp are special interests to watch:
6. Don�t do this on school district or your employers time!
CHARTER SCHOOLS WIN OUT IN LATEST ROUND OF REFORM EFFORT
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, LA Daily News| http://bit.ly/egG0B4
16 March 2011 - The Los Angeles Unified school board exerted its political muscle Tuesday, reversing several recommendations from outgoing Superintendent Ramon Cortines by placing more charter operators in charge of district schools.
Following a packed five-hour hearing, the board gave charters control of schools representing nearly a quarter of the students in the Public School Choice reform plan. Cortines had recommended that more of those schools be managed under teams led by district employees.
The school board also asked that three chronically low-performing campuses be overhauled, forcing all employees at those schools to reapply for their jobs. Cortines had only recommended one school for an overhaul.
It also requested for one school to go through the School Choice process again, after Cortines recommended it stay under district control.
"I am much more satisfied this year than I was last year," said school board member Yolie Flores, who authored the School Choice process.
"I think we took more seriously our sense of urgency and the quality of the plans."
Cortines, who is set to retire on April 15, looked sullen at times as the school board members made changes to almost all of his recommendations.
He also made a point to state several times during the meeting that he would not be in charge of implementing the decisions made by the school board. Deputy Superintendent John Deasy will take over LAUSD after Cortines' retirement.
After the meeting, however, Cortines said he did his job "and the board did theirs."
The School Choice program allows outside groups to compete with district-led teams for management authority over new and under-performing schools.
In the first round last year, most of the schools were given to district-led teams. The board's decision Tuesday was seen by some as a rejection of last year's heavily-criticized decision.
Thirteen campuses - divided collectively into 28 smaller schools - were up for bid in this round.
Charter operators, which run schools free of most district and state mandates and do not have to hire LAUSD employees, submitted 11 applications. The board chose eight, representing about 4,700 students, while Cortines had recommended six.
"Thanks to the school board, almost 5,000 more Los Angeles children will now have the opportunity to attend charter schools with proven records of success and the proven ability to reduce the achievement gap that too often plagues children from low income families," said Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association.
The remaining schools were given to district led groups, including Valley Region High School #4 in Granada Hills.
Also four small schools on the campus of Valley Region High School #5, in San Fernando went to teacher-led groups.
Advocates for the reform community applauded the school board's vote Tuesday, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was one the district's loudest critics last year.
"Today, the lives of more than 20,000 students and their families will change for the better," Villaraigosa said in a written statement.
"The opportunity to attend a revitalized school will set students on the course to a brighter future."
Some felt the political influence placed on the board by the reform community, however, compromised the process.
"There is huge pressure on the board majority from the mayor's office," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
"Everybody expects the board to make up for what they have been told was a lapse in judgment the first time around by not giving more schools to charters."
At the end of the lengthy meeting, several teachers chided the board, accusing them of "giving away schools."
One board member, Marguerite La Motte, voted against all of the plans because the other members reversed so many of Cortines' recommendations.
One decision that surprised many community members was the board's decision to keep the district in charge of a new high school opening this fall in Granada Hills.
That campus was hotly sought after by Granada Hills Charter High School and had the support of many in the community, who even paid to raise billboards promoting the charter's proposal.
District officials have accused Granada Hills Charter of recruiting the best students - and transferring out lower performing kids.
But Brian Bauer, executive director of Granada, said his enrollment patterns match other neighboring schools and refuted accusations of cherry-picking students.
FIVE ACADEMIES CHOSEN FOR TAYLOR YARD HIGH SCHOOL
Patch.com - David Fonseca - http://bit.ly/eDEb7i
The Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Trustees decided on Tuesday afternoon which five learning academies will be allowed to operate in Central Region High School #13, better known as the Taylor ...
LAUSD TRUSTEES PICK CAMINO NUEVO TO RUN ECHO PARK'S NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL
Patch.com - Anthea Raymond - http://bit.ly/eJCQSN
The Los Angeles Unified School District board of trustees voted Tuesday to select an established charter operator to run the new middle school in Echo Park. The board selected Camino Nuevo Charter Academy on a 4 -3 vote against the ...
LAUSD WILL RUN NEW SECONDARY SCHOOL NEAR CARSON
Daily Breeze - Melissa Pamer ‎- http://bit.ly/eiuxdW
A new secondary campus near Carson set to open in September will be run by Los Angeles Unified School District rather than a charter organization, the school board decided Tuesday. As part of the second round of decisions ...
PSC v2.0: L.A.SCHOOL BOARD TO DECIDE WHO WILL RUN NEW SCHOOLS -Various groups are vying to run the 7 new high s... http://bit.ly/fGM1i5
A CALL TO ACTION – THE HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WALK-OUT:
For Immediate Release
This Friday at 9am, we. the 3,400 students of Hamilton High School will be walking out of our classrooms, signs in hand, wearing "Save Hami" T-shirts to demand an education. This is not a school wide "Ditch Day". We are walking out not to avoid our classrooms, but to save them. To protest the terrible budget cuts our school could face. To protest the 22 pink slips handed out to our beloved teachers, to protest the potential closure of our school library. We are walking out to protest to protest the increase of class sizes by 50% or more. And we will walk out to stop our magnets from facing a 90% loss in funding.
LAUSD stands to lose $500 million in funding. To compensate for that loss, LAUSD plans to make extremely deep, disastrous cuts–90% of our funding is in danger of going away. These cuts would almost entirely eliminate instructional funds used for computers, field trips, guidance counselors, libraries, books, nurses and psychologists and magnet-coordinators. These cuts would dismantle one of the most democratic and effective systems ever created in public education.
The students of Hamilton High School will not stand for the destruction of the classes, teachers, administrators and programs that we love. We will not stand idly by as our education is slashed to the point of no return. We are a committed, organized and intellectual grass-roots movement of students. And on Friday we walk to preserve our right and the rights of our younger brother and sisters to a quality public education.
Hamilton High School
2955 S. Robertson, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
9 A.M.
Friday March 18, 2011.
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news coverage:
HAMILTON HIGH STUDENTS WALK OUT TO PROTEST CUTS, TEACHER LAYOFF NOTICES + STUDENTS WALK OUT OF CLASS TO PROTEST ... http://bit.ly/eTLn3t
smf tweets: as a parent leader for 15 years it's great to be led by students @ the hamilton hs walk out! Onward Hopefully! -smf Friday, March 18, 2011 9:40:09 AM via twitter
STUDENT WALKOUTS PLANNED TO PROTEST LAUSD LAYOFFS: Thousands of employees are slated to receive pink slips. KT... http://bit.ly/gxKxbP
HAMILTON HIGH STUDENTS’ BRILLIANT POLITICAL ORGANIZING COUP: by Bill Boyarsky • LA Observed | http://bit.ly/gNA1... http://bit.ly/i8wcfo
RALLY IN FRONT OF HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL TO SAVE MUSIC+ARTS EDUCATION IN LAUSD @ 9AM FRIDAY18 MARCH - 2955 S. Robertson Blvd BeThere+PassItOn!
L.A. STUDENTS FIGHT FOR QUALITY EDUCATION AS THEIR TEACHERS GET LAYOFF NOTICES: By Steve Lopez | LA Times columni... http://bit.ly/gv6dWR Thursday, March 17, 2011
WALTER REED MIDDLE SCHOOL OUTRAGE: Award-Winning Music Teachers Get Their Walking Papers - Only a few days after... http://bit.ly/hOpg1q
REPORT DETAILS SHARP GROWTH IN PRACTICES THAT PUSH STUDENTS OUT OF SCHOOLS AND INTO THE JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS + Report
from FOCUS: a publication of the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities | http://www.aacld.org/
NEW REPORT SHOWS HIGH-STAKES TESTING AND ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICIES IN NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CATALYZES "SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE"
MARCH 18, 2011 - Washington, DC - A report released today details the sharp growth in practices that push K-12 students out of schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, with especially alarming effects on students of color and youth with disabilities. Federal Policy, ESEA Reauthorization, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, the result of a year-long collaboration of research, education, civil rights, and juvenile justice organizations, also offers policy solutions for ways that federal law can reduce the pushout and over-criminalization of students. Nearly 150 organizations have endorsed the paper.
"As Congress works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), it is essential to examine how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has itself contributed to the School-to-Prison Pipeline," states the report. "Indeed, No Child Left Behind's 'get-tough' approach to accountability has led to more students being left even further behind, thus feeding the dropout crisis and the School-to-Prison Pipeline."
The report's detailed analysis shows that NCLB worsened the learning environment and made schools less effective. It led to decreased graduation rates, slower rates of academic improvement and of closing racial achievement gaps, as well as an increased burden on the justice system and wasted tax dollars.
The paper calls for an improved federal role in education, in which the public will be given a more accurate and meaningful assessment of schools' strengths and weaknesses, schools will provided more tools for improving their performance, and students' educational opportunities will be better protected.
"By focusing accountability almost exclusively on test scores and attaching high stakes to them, NCLB has given schools a perverse incentive to allow or even encourage students to leave," explained George Wood, Executive Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy.
"NCLB has led to the dramatic narrowing and weakening of curriculum," added Monty Neill, Executive Director of FairTest. "Because so much of the school day is focused on test preparation instead of well-rounded instruction, more students become alienated, making the jobs of teachers even harder."
The report also points out that NCLB directly encourages the use of zero-tolerance school discipline policies and the referral of students to law enforcement for disciplinary infractions. The result has been the over-criminalization of students across the country.
These policies have contributed to record-high suspension and expulsion rates, sharp rises in the use of school-based arrests and referral of students to law enforcement, and declining graduation rates. "The effects have been particularly severe for students of color and students with disabilities," said Len Rieser, Executive Director of Education Law Center - PA. "Racial disparities in school discipline have actually gotten worse. Our education system is becoming less equitable than it was only ten years ago."
"Moreover, NCLB has not done nearly enough to allow young people who are not in school to re-enter the education system. Many are left without a place to turn as they attempt to realize their goals," said Robert Schwartz, Executive Director of Juvenile Law Center.
According to Jim Freeman, Director of the Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Program at Advancement Project, "The increased reliance on these two 'get-tough' strategies - high-stakes testing and zero tolerance - is alarming. There is clear evidence that they have failed to achieve their intended results. Instead, they cause significant harm, especially to students of color and low-income communities. They combine to create unhealthy and unproductive school environments that fuel the School-to-Prison Pipeline."
Damon Hewitt, Director of the Education Practice at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund pointed out the historical significance of these developments. "The original Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 was a civil rights statute at its core, intended to reduce inequitable educational opportunities experienced by poor children and children of color. The current version of that law - NCLB - actually contributes to those inequities. But with common-sense amendments, a revised ESEA can recapture its original purpose."
The report describes reauthorization of the ESEA as an important opportunity to begin dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and makes a number of recommendations to Congress:
* Create a stronger, more effective school and student assessment and accountability system capable of recognizing multiple forms of success and offering useful information for school improvement.
* Provide funding and incentives aimed at improving school climate, reducing the use of exclusionary discipline, and limiting the flow of students from schools to the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
* Facilitate the re-enrollment, re-entry, and proper education of students returning to school from expulsion and juvenile justice system placements.
VALEDICTION
by smf - Termed out, Wednesday was my last meeting of the Bond Oversight Committee. To paraphrase Archimedes: "Give me a microphone with a long enough cord and a platform on which to place it, and I shall bore the world." This is what I said:
This is my valedictory as I leave the Bond Oversight Committee. I assure you that I was not the valedictorian at my high school. The fact that I graduated at all was an affront to my nemesis: the boy's vice principal at Hollywood High School. I was a spectacular under-achiever, he was a petty martinet: we deserved each other. Perhaps LAUSD's greatest reform is that boy's vice principals have been dispensed with
The Bond Oversight Committee is a noble concept: a group of public citizens advising the board and reporting to the voters and taxpayers on the expenditure of public funds in furtherance of the public's goals in the bond language. We wax poetic at times about the bond language -but we need to remember that the bond language is not board or district policy - It is The Law. That message was forgotten at the Community College District
When I came to this body ten years ago we were deep in the quagmire that was the Belmont Learning Center. We were busing kids out of their neighborhoods. We were on year 'round calendars. We were overcrowded. We had built zero new schools in thirty years We had incompetents managing school modernization. The only thing keeping the folks running the E-Rate program out of jail is the fact that cluelessness is apparently not a federal crime. That Sixty Minutes missed this story amazes me as a filmmaker.
Led by Roy Romer and James McConnell and Guy Mehula -a culture of excellence - and a 'can-do'-mission took over the Facilities Services Division -- all three words in STRATEGIC EXECUTION PLANS were implemented. That mission and vision was supported by the Board of Ed and this committee - and Together We (that adverb and that pronoun, inclusive and first person plural are inseparable and mission critical) built and modernized schools for then, current and future schoolchildren - and did so in the best interests of parents, voters and taxpayers.
Together we built a mega-construction program second to none. Effective, excellent, dynamic and accountable.
Did we do a perfect job? Hell no.
Did we exceed expectations? Hell yes.
Did we succeed? Not yet.
Colleagues, in my work with you on the BOC I have had three places where I'm happy with the outcomes of discussions I began.
I pushed for CORE FACILITIES - that all schools should have food service and libraries and auditoria and gymnasia. We got this included in the bond language and facilities mission.
I pushed for FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN districtwide - and that has happened.
And I pushed for SAFETY AND HEALTH INITIATIVES - and for SEISMIC SAFETY in schools where recently discovered earthquake faults might - might - endanger students. Good work has happened in that direction at University High and Burbank Middle.
LAST FRIDAY AT 2:46 PM LOCAL TIME the most devastating earthquake in Japan's modern history struck - followed by a tsunami and fires. The devastation was almost total in some localities.. At 2:46 on a Friday afternoon school was in session.
But if you look at the horrific photographs you do not see the pictures we saw from China three years ago -of adults pulling dead and maimed children from pancaked schools.
That's because Japan knows how to build schools. Build to survive and withstand quakes -protect their young occupants and hopefully serve as emergency community shelters in the aftermath. That is the intent of the Field Act - California’s rigorous school building standards and inspection regime.
Last Friday we saw this in action as Crescent City Schools were closed and reopened as tsunami shelters - effectively meeting that community's needs.
The recent failures of this Facilities Service Division to comply with the Field Act,failing to have Inspectors of Record in place -and failing to remedy the situation when it was documented - at over 100 of 300 projects. I do not use the word "failure" lightly -it is a loaded word in education- but this level of failure is total and cataclysmic. I do not mean to imply that the failure of inspection put children in peril - but it could have - and that is a failure of management and legal compliance that is inexcusable.
I question other decisions made of late over Maintenance and Operations and the cleaning of schools that directly effect health and safety. I fear that this superintendent and this board are overcommitted to cost cutting and budget reduction and place test scores over student safety.
Change is inevitable. Many of us are leaving. There will soon be a new Superintendent and a new Chief facilities Executive. The corrections to the inspection program will happen. Sooner or later there will be budget reform and the economy will come back. Political winds will change. We will be able to sell bonds again. Eventually LAUSD will be all it can be.
Connie Rice wrote an Op-Ed in the Times on Sunday that suggests that this district is incapable of managing its construction and modernization program. A decade ago Connie and I would probably have agreed. Five or Six or Seven or Eight years ago we would have said the District was doing it right and excellently.
"Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot. ."
Today,as we step aside,I've got to agree that Connie is right again. The politics and the self interest and the reality of the economy - and a failure of management and leadership provides little hope. Yesterday's meeting at this very horseshoe was seven adults poorly dividing thirteen schools by seven -with the singular possessive pronoun "my schools" too much in evidence and "Together We" not heard at all. There is hope - but that hope comes from outside - a direction suggested by Ms. Rice - a joint powers construction authority administered by the state.
Thank you colleagues for your service and friendship, thank you for doing your homework and for caring about the kids that go to and will go to these schools. Thank you also all the folks who have shared the mission - staff and educators, bureaucrats and overpaid consultants. Thanks to the men and women in hard hats who build the buildings and the teachers and educators who make them schools. Thank you Michaeal Lehrer, who was here when I came aboard and taught me the sheer joy of speaking truth to power. Thank you Tom and Gary and Frank. Thank you librarians and counselors and school nurses - hopefully you are not the passenger pigeons of public education. Thank you parents and voters and taxpayers. And if there are kids watching -thank you for making this all worthwhile. Now change the channel - there must be something better on.
Thank you. And onward into tomorrow.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
Video: PINK SLIPPED TEACHER RAPS ABOUT LAUSD LAYOFFS. WORD.: from LAist + YouTube | http://bit.ly/eLYDwf With t... http://bit.ly/eNhwHy
LET’S MOVE! CAN IT MAKE A DENT IN THE CHILDHOOD OBESITY PROBLEM?: Jessica Pauline Ogilvie, L.A. Times | http://l... http://bit.ly/ijy6Gm
HAMILTON HIGH STUDENTS WALK OUT TO PROTEST CUTS, TEACHER LAYOFF NOTICES + STUDENTS WALK OUT OF CLASS TO PROTEST ... http://bit.ly/eTLn3t
NOT EXACTLY A CUT …BUT DELAYED SCHOOL PAYMENTS HAVE A COST: Greg Lucas – California’s Capitol | http://bit.ly/fc... http://bit.ly/dZcvUf
REPORT DETAILS SHARP GROWTH IN PRACTICES THAT PUSH STUDENTS OUT OF SCHOOLS AND INTO THE JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JU... http://bit.ly/eSS0q6
as a parent leader for 15 years it's great to be led by students @ the hamilton hs walk out! Onward Hopefully! -smf Friday, March 18, 2011 9:40:09 AM via twitter
STUDENT WALKOUTS PLANNED TO PROTEST LAUSD LAYOFFS: Thousands of employees are slated to receive pink slips. KT... http://bit.ly/gxKxbP
THE VIEW FROM ECHO PARK: Five Academies Chosen for Taylor Yard High School + LAUSD Trustees Pick Camino Nuevo to... http://bit.ly/h593cR
COLLEGE BOARD RELEASES AP REPORT TO THE NATION: Eagle Rock H.S. one of top schools U.S.: from Urban Educator | T... http://bit.ly/f9SSay
BUDGET UPDATE: LAWMAKERS TAKE $1 BILLION FROM FIRST 5: Published on First 5 LA (http://www.first5la.org) 17 Au... http://bit.ly/ejCdfK
"Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011": NEW UCLA REPORT SHOWS EXTENT OF BUDGET CUTS ON CALIFORNIA HIGH S... http://bit.ly/g8tkQT
HAMILTON HIGH STUDENTS’ BRILLIANT POLITICAL ORGANIZING COUP: by Bill Boyarsky • LA Observed | http://bit.ly/gNA1... http://bit.ly/i8wcfo
RALLY IN FRONT OF HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL TO SAVE MUSIC+ARTS EDUCATION IN LAUSD @ 9AM FRIDAY18 MARCH - 2955 S. Robertson Blvd BeThere+PassItOn!
L.A. STUDENTS FIGHT FOR QULITY EDUCATION AS THEIR TEACHERS GET LAYOFF NOTICES: By Steve Lopez | LA Times columni... http://bit.ly/gv6dWR Thursday, March 17, 2011
REMEDY TO PROBLEMS REGARDING PROP. 39 AND COLOCATION COULD BE DECIDED BY LEGAL ACTION SAYS LAUSD BOARD MEMBER ZI... http://bit.ly/heaDhM
TOP TEN TIPS FOR ASSESSING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: Cindy Johanson, Executive Director of The George Lucas Educat... http://bit.ly/i9OKil
PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE ON “PARENT TRIGGER†LEGISLATION: from Leonie Haimson | Parents Across Ameri... http://bit.ly/eLQh3f
PSC 2.0: CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS TO RUN 7 MORE L.A. UNIFIED CAMPUSES + CHARTER SCHOOLS WIN OUT IN LATEST ROUND ... http://bit.ly/gXyfwC
DAY OF UPHEAVAL AT LAUSD: Teachers, unions protest as LAUSD sends last of 7,300 pink slips: By Connie Llanos,... http://bit.ly/hwSZjl
Breaking News Alert: LEGISLATURE TO VOTE ON BUDGET TOMORROW/WEDNESDAY: from SacBee CapitolAlert | http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/hNTxrB
Sohn out, Shortly in: LAUSD CHIEF FACILITIES EXECUTIVE JAMES D. SOHN ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION: INTERIM TO BE NAMED ... http://bit.ly/dUcs68
WALTER REED MIDDLE SCHOOL OUTRAGE: Award-Winning Music Teachers Get Their Walking Papers - Only a few days after... http://bit.ly/hOpg1q
PSC v2.0: L.A.SCHOOL BOARD TO DECIDE WHO WILL RUN NEW SCHOOLS -Various groups are vying to run the 7 new hi:gh s... http://bit.ly/fGM1i5
Orange County: WHAT BUDGET CUTS IS YOUR DISTRICT MAKING?: By FERMIN LEAL and SCOTT MARTINDALE,THE ORANGE COUNTY ... http://bit.ly/igl1GL
SAN FERNANDO HIGH MAKES SCHOOL’S FIRST APPEARANCE AT STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON: San Fernando High School students... http://bit.ly/ij5WTK
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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