In This Issue:  | | • | LAUSD: PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PRIVATE MONEY MAY PROVE A MIXED BAG | | | • | SB 268: STATE BILL COULD LIMIT PARENTS' APPEALS OF INTERDISTRICT PERMIT DENIALS | | | • | LAUSD TO REMOVE CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY MILK FROM SCHOOLS, SUPERINTENT SAYS + DEASY’S MILK MEMO | | | • | NEW LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT ADDS SIX-FIGURE POSITIONS TO MANAGEMENT TEAM | | | • | 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: | | | | Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning 'come help me'. - Wikipedia
___________________
A FRIEND/COLLEAGUE STOPPED ME in the crowded entrance hall of California State PTA Convention in Long Beach on Wednesday.
"I'm interested to see what you write this week," he said.
It was only Wednesday morning and already, I conceded, there was a raft of potential material.
"You mean about how food policy in LAUSD seems to be settled on Jimmy Kimmel Live?" I asked, thinking about the nationally televised meeting-of-the-minds between Superintendent Deasy and Celebrity (and formerly Naked) Chef Jamie Oliver resulting in The End Of Chocolate Milk As We Know It. Or perhaps he, like the rest of us, was anticipating a rousing speech to the convention from Governor Brown. Or possibly he anticipated the cosmic convergence of the PTA Convention, the LAUSD Parent Summit and the Times Festival of Books.
No, he replied. He was thinking about the big-budget / outside-crew brought in by Superintendent Deasy to support his superintendency. Not just from outside the District it seems, but from outside the budget. Funded by others - and, one would assume - accountable to them. (Watch Eli Broad's interview on last week's Sixty Minutes if you doubt the accountability connection.|http://bit.ly/iJO9fk)
And today's Times editorial seems to agree (Public Education and Private Money May Prove A Mixed Bag)
NOW, AS I SIT DOWN IN LONG BEACH TO WRITE ON SATURDAY, I AM GOING TO LEAD WITH SOMETHING ELSE - though the hiring of Deasy's team at great expense, in closed session, of outside consultants (no matter what the funding stream) is of great concern both in terms of accounting and accountability. And Browns' call to action was rousing ...and the small band-aid on his nose huge on the arena screens.
(Leaving no obvious metaphor unturned - it's going to take more than cuts and a band-aid -- or a clarion call to arms to fix School Funding in California. Shakespeare's Henry V on the morn of Agincourt delivers the words - but the battle in 1415 decided the history. 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
The Good News: GRANADA HILLS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL WON THE NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON. That's news. Yes, Granada Hills is a charter - but it's the kind of school the founders of the charter movement had in mind: A conversion charter, a single entity independently operated - a next step in the evolution of a comprehensive high school. Not a cog in corporate machine or a franchise in a chain. Congratulations the the students who made this happen.
The Bad News / MY REAL CONCERN IS THIS: from an e-mail I received Friday - following up on an email I received the day before from the executive director of a non-profit foundation that has been supporting school libraries in LAUSD.
The first message was this: "Is it a done deal that they will have kiosks? Anything we can do about this? - This is CRAZY!"
I forwarded this appeal to a friend/troublemaker/pink-slipped Elementary Librarian (seeing as they're doomed, let's give them the dignity of the title) - and received this info back (in part):
â— A few months ago another non-profit corporation (that shall remain nameless) supporting school libraries referred my elementary librarian to a link to the LAUSD website for "100 WAYS TO VOLUNTEER IN THE LAUSD." [current version: http://bit.ly/mNx94A] The non-profit had been directed to the link by someone in LAUSD when the non-profit expressed concerns about libraries not being staffed: "Don't worry, we have it covered."
At the very bottom of the list under SUPPORT LITERACY the first thing it listed was "Volunteer as a Librarian."
smf Notes: This was NOT "Volunteer in the Library" - which is a most excellent voluntary opportunity and is to be encouraged, recommended and entered in one's Golden Book at the Gateway to Paradise. I have done this - and indeed many Elementary Librarians got their start as volunteers. But replacing an employee with a volunteer is an outright and specific violation of federal labor law and the California Ed Code.. And let's not pussyfoot around legality: Eliminating or defunding Library Aide positions and creating a new voluntary position and calling it something else doesn't pass the smell test in the court of public opinion or the Superior Court in and for the County of Los Angeles or the US Federal District Court.
The Ed Code is quite clear in the mandate; librarians are not optional. Operating a school library without a qualified employee violates the Ed Code. A direct you to http://1.usa.gov/lshvQu which describes the role, responsibility, qualifications and standards of school librarians, K-12.
It took our librarian two months to finally find someone at LAUSD to remove this volunteer "opportunity" from the website without a lawsuit. It now says "Provide support for or matching funds for Wonder of Reading Libraries."
Interesting choice. (Though I guess it blows the secret identity of the second unnamed non-profit.)
But if you look at the current list you will see this volunteer opportunity under SUPPORT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT:
Really? How many LAUSD Music Teachers got pink slips this time around?
So there you have it. The rant o' th' week.
The good news - no matter what the process - is that chocolate milk has been made an option for families at home, like Catchup-The Vegetable, as popular as ever but retired from the School Lunch Program.
Granada Hills joins the pantheon of LAUSD Academic Decathlon Champions.
And engaged and enraged - we now have an anthem:
CUT$ HURT KIDS - SONG (to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It)
If you're mad about the gridlock - clap your hands
If you're mad about the games - clap your hands
If you're mad about the budget, 'cause all they do is fudge it
If you're mad about decisions - clap your hands
If you're mad about the layoffs - stomp your feet
If you're mad about the cuts - stomp your feet
If you're mad about the bungling, which affects school funding
If you're mad about decisions - stomp your feet
If you're mad with larger classes - shout, "NO MORE!"
If you're mad with losing arts - shout, "NO MORE!"
If you're mad with less and less, because it's such a mess
If you're mad about decisions - shout, "NO MORE!"
If you're mad about the cuts - do all three
If you're mad about deferrals - do all three
If you're mad about the pending Prop 98 suspending
If you're mad about decisions - do all three
We are speaking up for kids - PTA (raise signs & shout PTA!)
We are speaking up for kids - PTA
Listen to us shout, KIDS are what we're all about
We are speaking up for kids - PTA
(Feel free to omit the last verse because PTA - even though we have Parents and Teachers in our name, have Children in our heart. You don't need a membership card to join your voice with ours.) And feel free to sing in the shower, at city hall, at your school, at pick-up and drop off. Sing with your kids in the street, at the Capitol. Organize a flash mob. Remember what Arlo taught us in the sixties about the draft. (There is no draft anymore, thanks in part to Arlo+Alice!)
[Cue the music}
"And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if you're in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in say 'Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.'. And walk ou "You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out? They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it's a movement.
"And that's exactly what it is."
¡Onward/Adelante!
- smf
LAUSD: PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PRIVATE MONEY MAY PROVE A MIXED BAG
WE SUPPORT TAKING PRIVATE DOLLARS TO HELP MAKE ENDS MEET. BUT THERE IS REASON FOR CONCERN WHEN A SLATE OF TOP POSITIONS IS FILLED THROUGH THE LARGESSE OF PRIVATE CITIZEN BENEFACTORS.
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/m1Hax3
May 1, 2011 - These days, public schools have to get their money where they can. And that's what the Los Angeles Unified School District is doing. Last week, The Times reported that about 20 senior jobs in the school bureaucracy will be funded not by taxpayer dollars but by philanthropists Eli Broad and Casey Wasserman, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
Times are unquestionably tough, and funding for schools has been cut to the point that they're struggling to fulfill their mission, so we support taking private dollars to help make ends meet. But there is reason for concern when a slate of top positions is filled through the largesse of benefactors, even well-intentioned ones, who have their own agendas in the school reform wars.
Broad and Wasserman, for instance, are strong proponents of charter schools, and the Gates Foundation has supported charter schools as well as softening tenure rules and making test scores a bigger part of teacher evaluations. Several of the new hires also come from that reform world. The new superintendent of schools, John Deasy, is a former official at the Gates Foundation.
Again, there's not necessarily a problem with any of this. Deasy appears to be a thoughtful and smart leader for L.A. Unified, and he deserves a chance to show what he can do with his own team. If he can do it without dipping into classroom resources, so much the better. The problem is that it can be difficult over time to figure out who's driving the reform train. Deasy says he will not "accommodate a funder" and that he'll set the agenda. But those lines can blur all too easily in a cash-strapped school system that must continually plead for money.
Bill Gates used to believe that one of the solutions to failing schools was to create smaller ones with 500 students or fewer. His foundation spent $1 billion toward this; seeing the opportunity to bring in private dollars, districts started shifting to smaller schools. Small schools became the big new trend. But then the foundation conducted a study that found that, by itself, school size had little if any effect on achievement. The foundation dropped the project and moved on to teacher reform, but by then some urban districts throughout the nation had changed to small - and more expensive to operate - schools.
Let's say a school district sought funding for a new teacher evaluation system that would include classroom observation and a computer system to measure teacher success by how students score on standardized tests. What if a benefactor were willing to chip in for the data system but not the evaluations? Might that skew what the evaluation system ended up looking like?
L.A. Unified has long needed to set up a fundraising arm to bring in more money. Ideally, it would be a nonprofit organization that openly seeks donations from diverse sources and provides for the needs of as many schools as possible. It could include a public wish list of spending priorities.
Philanthropists understandably want their money to be spent on projects they deem valuable, with a minimum of waste. But school officials - who are answerable to voters and taxpayers - must be cautious about ceding too much control over how the money will be spent or the setting of priorities for the district. At times, it can be too tempting to go where the money is.
SB 268: STATE BILL COULD LIMIT PARENTS' APPEALS OF INTERDISTRICT PERMIT DENIALS
By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer | Daily Breeze | http://bit.ly/mrauw1
04/30/2011 - A bill in the state Legislature could alter the process that allows parents to transfer their children between school districts, potentially affecting thousands of students in the South Bay.
The legislation, carried by South Bay Sen. Rod Wright, would limit the criteria that could be considered when parents appeal the denial of permits that would allow their children to attend school districts outside their home area.
Senate Bill 268 is sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District, which last year was met with parent uproar when it sought to clamp down on the large number of outgoing permits in an effort to retain attendance-based funding from the state.
This year, about a third of those permits - thousands overall - were given to students who transferred to South Bay school districts, taking pupil-based funding with them. Today is the deadline to apply for transfer permits for 2011-12.
Melissa Schoonmaker, Los Angeles Unified's coordinator for the Permits and Student Transfers Office, said the bill is needed to clarify standards used by the Los Angeles County Board of Education when it hears appeals from parents who have been denied permits.
The bill, set for a hearing Monday before the Senate Appropriations Committee, would affect county boards of education across the state. The Education Code currently contains no standards of review for appeal hearings, which have been increasing in number as many school districts
"For us, it's just providing neutral standards that every county board will be able to look at every appeal in front of them in the same fashion," Schoonmaker said. "It makes it a fair process for the parent; it makes it a clearer process so that one parent isn't treated differently from another parent. Each case is viewed in the same lens."
The district is again facing a backlash from parents who have organized a petition against the legislation, which they fear would limit their chances of leaving LAUSD for higher-performing outside schools.
Anger at Los Angeles Unified is rampant on a Facebook page for parents concerned about interdistrict transfers.
"They decided to go the back-door legislative route and try to change the rules essentially," said David Coffin, a Westchester parent who has two sons on permits in a high-achieving Manhattan Beach school.
Wright, a Democrat based in Inglewood who represents much of the South Bay, was unavailable to comment on the bill this week. But his office put out a statement saying "clarity" was needed in permit appeal hearings, where "decisions can be perceived as arbitrary."
It's not clear how much of an immediate effect the bill would have, but it comes as LAUSD has limited the reasons for which it will grant outgoing permits.
Last year, Schoonmaker said, the district granted more than 10,500 outgoing permits, and only 330 were appealed to the county board. Of those, the county sided with parents - granting the permits - in 107 cases.
Under the legislation, county boards could essentially only consider whether a school district had followed its own policy - or a transfer agreement between two districts - in denying a permit. There is also a provision allowing parents to present "relevant information that, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, could not have been produced, or that was improperly excluded" at the school district's permit hearing.
Schoonmaker said the latter provision would allow parents to tell their side of the story to county boards.
Nonetheless, the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which has jurisdiction over 80 school districts, opposes the bill.
"We believe that limiting the criteria to that proposed in the bill will create a disadvantage to those the appeal process was designed to serve, the parents and the students," Victor Thompson, LACOE's director of students support services, told the Senate Education Committee. "For example, if a school district only had five criteria and the parent was appealing based on other criteria, what would be the motivation to appeal?"
Right now, the county board can consider myriad criteria when deciding on an appeal - making the bureaucratic process somewhat friendly to parents, Thompson said in an interview.
"We've developed the criteria the county board uses over decades and decades. The criteria was designed to be broad enough to accommodate all the different school districts," Thompson said.
High-achieving Wiseburn School District, which gets 40 percent of its student body from other districts, is likewise critical of the bill and has written to Wright in opposition.
"What used to be a surplus of students is now a situation where there's a scarcity of students. So in a sense there's competition for students," Superintendent Tom Johnstone said in an interview.
"Obviously LAUSD doesn't want to lose that per-pupil funding. It boils down to economics. For us, it's a lot more than economics; and for parents, it's a lot more than economics."
smf: ALSO SEE: SB 268? . . . and now for something completely different (and a little more focused on parents and children): "ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY WAY" SCHOOL CHOICE PLAN IN MICHIGAN | http://bit.ly/kiXJeL
LAUSD TO REMOVE CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY MILK FROM SCHOOLS, SUPERINTENT SAYS + DEASY’S MILK MEMO
DURING AN APPEARANCE WITH CELEBRITY CHEF JAMIE OLIVER ON JIMMY KIMMEL'S LATE-NIGHT SHOW, LAUSD SUPT. JOHN DEASY SAYS THE LOS ANGELES SCHOOL SYSTEM WILL STOP OFFERING HIGH-SUGAR CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRY MILK.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/jY4to6
April 28, 2011 - Los Angeles schools will remove high-sugar chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk from their lunch and breakfast menus after food activists campaigned for the change, L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced this week.
Deasy revealed his intent, which will require approval by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education, during an appearance with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday night.
The policy change is part of a carefully negotiated happy ending between the Los Angeles Unified School District and Oliver. The chef's confrontations with the school system became a main theme in the current season of the TV reality show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."
The timing of the flavored-milk ban, which had been under consideration for some time, gave Oliver a positive outcome and allowed the nation's second-largest school system to escape the villain's role. Deasy quickly alerted the school board to the deal before going on television.
In early episodes, Oliver's show had presented former Supt. Ramon Cortines and school board members with unflattering sound bites and camera angles. But with Deasy, the British chef gushed that he'd enroll his own child in L.A. public schools, if he had one here.
L.A. Unified led the nation in efforts to ban junk-food snacks and sodas, but its meals could be healthier, despite exceeding federal standards.
"A popular breakfast offering of Frosted Flakes doused in chocolate milk with a side of coffee cake and a carton of orange juice contains 51 grams of added sugar (or 79 grams of total sugar counting those that occur naturally in the milk and the juice)," wrote USC school-nutrition experts Emily Ventura and Michael Goran in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial. A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of sugar, they noted.
Food activist Matthew Sharp called the impending ban, which would take effect in the next school year, "an important teaching tool for students to wean off the sweet tooth" that again puts L.A. Unified among national leaders in nutrition.
The high-sugar chocolate milk has been banned in other districts across the country, including Fairfax County in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Other steps to improve school food in Los Angeles could include swapping out burgers in favor of sandwiches and offering pasta and soup rather than chicken nuggets, said Sharp of the nonprofit California Food Policy Advocates.
Healthier offerings could cost more, however, and prove less popular, jeopardizing federal funding if student consumption drops. That same concern holds with eliminating flavored milk, although the menu change itself will have no added cost.
About 75% of milk sold is flavored, Oliver noted on the Kimmel show.
Sharp said he anticipated a slight, temporary drop in milk consumption. But, he added, "it's a little tough to know how the real audience of students will react."
__________________
TEXT OF DEASY’S INFORMATIVE TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE
Los Angeles Unified School District
Office of the Superintendent
TO: Members, Board of Education
FROM: Dr. John E. Deasy, Superintendent
SUBJECT:ELIMINATION OF MILK WITH ADDED SUGARS
INFORMATIVE Date April 26, 2011
I am recommending the elimination of flavored milk with added sugars in all LAUSD schools in anticipation of the renewal of milk contracts by the Board of Education on June 14, 2011. This change will benefit our students by offering them only milk products that lack the higher amounts of added sugars. The District should not experience any appreciable difference in revenue received from the federal reimbursement program.
BACKGROUND LAUSD cares deeply about student nutrition and our goal is to be the premier school food establishment in America. LAUSD is already a recognized national leader in the effort to promote healthy food and lifestyles to combat diabetes, obesity and other health issues- including the banning of sodas and other drinks high in sugar, sale of junk food, elimination of foods with added trans fats, and the increase of access to fruits and vegetables.
Over the past decade, the Board of Education has done an outstanding job in establishing meal nutritional standards exceeding the USDA requirements. The District's nutrition policies are more stringent than any school district in the United States. To this end, the elimination of flavored milk with added sugars further strengthens the District's goal of providing a balanced nutritious meal for all students. Added sugars in our flavored milk products provide an additional 6 to 13 grams of sugars to the milk products served to our students. With the increasing rates of obesity and diabetes of our student population, it is necessary that the District make this decision to promote healthy outcomes for our students.
In mitigating the possible decrease of milk consumption by students, District staff will be involved in various awareness campaigns via different mediums on the importance of drinking milk which is a high source of calcium and other essential nutrients. This information campaign will include, but not be limited to, utilizing the assistance of KLCS, parent groups and other nationwide initiatives. LAUSD is committed to providing our students and parents the most up-to-date information about healthy eating and healthy lifestyles. We strive to continue working with the greater community to provide the best quality school food to all our students.
If you have any questions, please contact me or Enrique Boull't at (213) 241-4133.
c: Michelle King
David Holmquist
Enrique Boull't
Judy Elliott
Jefferson Crain
NEW LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT ADDS SIX-FIGURE POSITIONS TO MANAGEMENT TEAM
By Connie Llanos Staff Writer | LA Daily News/Daily Breeze | http://bit.ly/fIKJmP
4/26/2011 07:37:31 PM PDT - Less than two weeks after taking the helm of Los Angeles Unified, Superintendent John Deasy is adding six-figure positions to his reorganized management team - a move he says will help the district meet his ambitious performance goals.
The nine administrative jobs are being added even as the district faces a $408 million budget deficit and 5,000 teacher layoffs next year.
But Deasy said the shake-up will not drain the district's general fund - in fact, it will save $25,000 - because it also involves eliminating some jobs and reassigning current personnel.
"These positions have a net positive impact on the district's budget," Deasy said. "These leaders that I've hired will all be on performance contracts ... and they will be a key part of helping us reach our performance targets.
Those goals include doubling the percentage of students who can read at grade level in third grade and raising high school graduation rates from 54 to 70 percent over the next three years.
At least two of the new jobs will be funded through grants from the nonprofit Wasserman Foundation, Deasy said. Others will be paid for using state grants that fund intervention and after-school enrichment programs.
Five of the positions were approved by the school board Tuesday: Jaime Aquino as deputy superintendent of instruction with a salary of $250,000; Maria Casillas, chief of school, family and parent community services, $170,000; Donna Muncey, chief of intensive support and intervention, $171,312; Tom Waldman, director of communications and media relations, $139,080; and Matt Hill, chief strategy officer, $196,352
The four other posts - including director of talent management, teaching and leadership development - are expected to be submitted later this year.
Some union leaders expressed concern that the district is adding well-paid administrators while struggling with a $408 million deficit.
"These hires come at a time when more than 5,000 teachers and health and human services professionals have been (notified of potential layoffs) and when teachers are being asked to give up furlough days," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
Union leaders also expressed concern over the district's increased reliance on outside funding.
Since 2009, the district has accepted millions in grant funding from philanthropic organizations to pay for executive positions.
Grants have included at least $4.4 million from The Wasserman Foundation, founded by entertainment mogul Lew Wasserman, and at least $1.2 million from the Walton Foundation, started by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen.
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad has also paid for the salaries of key district staff and he contributed $775,000 for Deasy's transition work, including $500,000 for an audit to find budget efficiencies at LAUSD.
All of those foundation grants require that the money be used for specific reform efforts or specific positions and cannot be used to pay for teacher salaries or to close the district's deficit.
Critics of these fundraising efforts, though, are concerned about the district accepting money from foundations that have supported independent public charter schools and anti-union initiatives in the past.
"When any individual is hired, I believe the person that cuts their check has a major voice in their work," said Judy Perez, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles.
"When LAUSD hires someone, their loyalty is to the district, but I wonder if the funding for their salary is coming from Broad, their loyalty is to Broad?"
School board President Monica Garcia said LAUSD is seeking more involvement from members of the philanthropic, business and civic communities.
"I think it's fantastic that the philanthropic community now wants to be our partner. ... We are trying to build a district of multiple stakeholders and we're looking to create the best team in the country at LAUSD," Garcia said.
"Perhaps those that are concerned are the ones that used to have a stranglehold on this place."
School board member Richard Vladovic also stressed that, despite the grim budget picture, it was important for Deasy to develop the team that would help him move the district forward.
"The world goes on," Vladovic said.
"And we need to have the infrastructure in place to meet all the challenges that lie ahead."
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
Capitol Alert: Jerry Brown has cancerous growth removed from nose -- from blogs.sacbee.com via SacConnect.us http://mee.bo/iw2kh6
A-G + CTE: SCHOOL REFORMS THAT CALL FOR FRESH THINKING AND SUPPORT: Themes in the News for the week of April 25-... http://bit.ly/ly8xts
Public Policy Institute of California Survey: WORRIED ABOUT BUDGET’S TOLL ON SCHOOLS, MOST CALIFORNIANS FAVOR IN... http://bit.ly/ipWk2P
SUE BURR GIVEN DUAL ROLE OVER EDUCATION: She and Mike Kirst to advise Jerry Brown: By John Fensterwald - Educate... http://bit.ly/muufkF
SB 268? …and now for something completely different (and a little more focused on parents and children): ‘ANY TI... http://bit.ly/kiXJeL
STATE BILL COULD LIMIT PARENTS’ APPEALS OF INTERDISTRICT PERMIT DENIALS: By Melissa Pamer Staff Writer | Daily B... http://bit.ly/kzgGhA
N.Y, Chicago, L.A.: THREE NEW SCHOOLS CHIEFS, THREE THINGS TO KNOW: Melanie Smollin | TakePart - Inspiration to ... http://bit.ly/jG8jE3
L.A. MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSED CUTS TO MUSIC PROGRAM: la tIMES | http://lat.ms/aqgFbE April 28,... http://bit.ly/jfUsQ5
BROWN VOWS TO FIGHT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING AT PTA CONVENTION: By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press/FROM THE... http://bit.ly/jF3sIT
GOVERNOR BROWN JOINS THOUSANDS TO CONNECT FOR KIDS AT KICKOFF OF ANNUAL PTA CONVENTION: PTA PRESS RELEASE PRE... http://bit.ly/lGwgRY
LAUSD TO REMOVE CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY MILK FROM SCHOOLS, SUPERINTENT SAYS + DEASY’S MILK MEMO: During an appeara... http://bit.ly/j8sdCs
LOS ANGELES UNIFIED IS ACADEMIC DECATHLON’S STAR STUDENT: The nation's troubled second-largest school system doe... http://bit.ly/ltInXv
CAN JOHN DEASY FIX HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH? LAUSD superintendent faces his first test at a disastrous, fractured sc... http://bit.ly/mLJ3Fx
LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM IN EAGLE ROCK MAY 4: Please Join Us for LAUSD School Board Runoff Elect... http://bit.ly/kvaYYp
May 24th Day of Action Parents & Community: “WAKE UP, CALIFORNIA”: Hello from the Educate Our State team: Yeste... http://bit.ly/jTkBpQ
LAUSD CHIEF WANTS TO BAN FLAVORED MILK: The Associated Press | http://bit.ly/e6QJfG 4/27/2011 08:09:29 AM PDT -... http://bit.ly/ezTMAG
PLAN TO REMOVE CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED MILK FROM L.A. SCHOOLS WINS PRAISE FROM JAMIE OLIVER: Howard Blume |LA Times/L... http://bit.ly/dN9wIl
NEW LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT ADDS SIX-FIGURE POSITIONS TO MANAGEMENT TEAM: By Connie Llanos Staff Writer | LA Daily ... http://bit.ly/ej1UaJ
NEW STUDY SHOWS SEVERE CUTS TO STATE PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS - MORE EXPECTED: Recession Forces Severe Cuts to Some St... http://bit.ly/ebrZUp
Saving our Kids: SCHOOLS ARE EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS: Annette Mercer – L.A. CityWatch | http://bit.ly/htlPnh
LAUSD TEACHERS UNION CHALLEGES LAYOFFS: AUDIO FILE: MP3 Download Adolfo Guzman-Lopez - KPCC | http://bit.ly/eh7ncB
LAUSD TEACHER LAYOFF HEARINGS TO COMMENCE: …the sad news is that this has become an annual event ... http://bit.ly/gRy57z
FINAL FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS BUT MAINTAINS NEA, ARTS EDUCATION: From Arts Ed Mail | h http://bit.ly/fT4e2X
BILL CALLS FOR STONGER PARENTAL CONSENT: If passed, written permission must be obtained by school to release stu... http://bit.ly/ebtfw8
LIBRARIES REALLY NOT THE ISSUE. It is, as always: Education.: by Celes King IV, Vice Chair, CORE-CA | http://bit.ly/h4J4vz
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 Brown: 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. THEY DO!.
|
