In This Issue:  | | • | A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES | | | • | LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts proposed | | | • | TUESDAY'S ELECTION: For your voting consideration | | | • | THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS | | | • | 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: | | | | News story: TEACHERS RALLY AGAINST CUTS IN LOS ANGELES by Daisy Nguyen, Associated Press
Friday, May 13, 2011 - 20:34 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) --Thousands of teachers from the nation's second-largest school district filled a downtown Los Angeles square Friday afternoon to demonstrate against the threat of cuts in education funding.
Decked in union red T-shirts, they held signs that read "Layoffs Hurt Students" and "No Class Size Increase" in Pershing Square as passing motorists honked with approval. It was one of several mass gatherings throughout the state, including rallies at the state Capitol, in San Francisco, San Diego and San Bernardino. (more: http://bit.ly/jg57kW)
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observed/recalled:
"And I went down to the demonstration. To get my fair share of abuse. Singing, 'We're gonna vent our frustration. If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse'."
I rode to the rally on the train. Gold Line. Surrounded by red UTLA (and few Pasadena Unified) T-shirts, with signs: 'Stop The Cuts'/'Education Can't Wait' - and the occasional stroller. Parents and teachers and students sitting, strap hangers standing.
This train's final destination is Atlantic Station. Next stop is Chinatown station.
This journey's final destination is Fully-Funded K-12 Education.
Stand clear the doors are closing. Next stop Union Station.
The red rivulet flows down the stairwell and merges into the concourse, growing, turning right and right again, past the pretzel stand, the Starbucks to the left, down the escalator. A torrent, a steam, a river onto the Red Line platform. How apropos. Stand clear. Behind the yellow line. No playing loud music.
People Get Ready, there's a train a'comin.
Civic Center. Next stop: Pershing Square,
Off the train, Up the stairs. Through the turnstiles. Up the escalator. Out of the darkness, Put on your shades. The State of Emergency emerges into the light.
A patch of green in the concrete city. General Pershing went to Europe so we could do this; he made his fourth star gold and L.A. gave him a square.
A forest of video antennae. ABC. NBC. Channel 9. Channel 2. Channel 5. Fox. Samba whistles and the red army conquers the crosswalk. Honk for education. Rehearsing the chant: A Pueblo Unidos. A rock 'n roll stage for a small concert. We are Fremont High School. Roosevelt. RFK-12. Make your own sign. Make your own taco. 3:30: Out of string at the sign booth.
Duffy has an angry Blackberry message: "Protest and rally on your own time!"
A drum-line and cowbells and more samba whistles – something akin to 9:8 time. Education Cuts Hurt The Kids Of Our State.
Bridge St. School. The beat slows to 5:4. Lots o' familiar faces but I can't find the one I'm supposed to find.
The mariachi begins to play. Nine young women in pink. The silver trumpet a quarter-tone sharp - the way it's supposed to be.
Que bonitos ojos tienes / De bajo de esas dos cejas / De bajo de esas dos cejas /Que bonitos ojos tienes.
The student mariachi program in LAUSD, another shining light ignored in the propaganda/strategic communications/spin of failure. Gracias Maria Reza.
I find my PTA speaker and we slip backstage in a shelter of trees and shade cloth and folding chairs, the panorama of the crowd in red before us. The more faded the red t-shirt the rowdier the wearer. The old-timers in pink, veterans of many rallies and Tuesday work-actions and many washings stand out.
Teachers have a strange social dynamic. Some haven't been out of school since pre-K. They trained in groups but work alone alone in rooms with doors closed surrounded by children. They grade papers alone. Some are collaborative, some are not. Some – and often the best – are intimidated by other adults (not a good thing for parent engagement) because they don't see enough of them. But in groups teachers are very social – it is not accidental that the collective noun for fish and teachers is 'school'. Today the mass is critical and infectious.
In the throng someone is waving a upside-down California Flag. Stop the Cuts. WE ARE ONE. Parents. Teachers. Students. School Staff. College Faculty, Northridge. Pomona, Fullerton. Layoffs hurt kids. Education can't wait.
A folk singer: We Shall Not Be Moved.
Hello Everyone. Welcome to Pershing Square. Hola a todos.
And so it begins, The Village It Takes in congress assembled. The fire marshal asks us to spread out – keep the access and egress clear.
We are not the only Village. L.A, San Francisco. San Diego. San Bernardino, Sacramento. Can you hear us Sacramento? Can you hear our voices? We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.
CTA no longer means California Teachers Association – it is Childrens Tenacious Advocates. ACSA, CASBO, CFT, CLF, CSBA, CSEA, PTA, NEA - all the letters of the alphabet soup of the advocates for public education. WE ARE ONE. The coalition coalesced,
The budget crisis is a disaster of epic proportions.
Helicopters hover, converting fossil fuel into stable camera platforms for the six and eleven o'clock news.
Rhetoric flows accented by bombast and outrage. Enough of it is true to be The Truth murmured and spoken and shouted to power. Sisters and brothers education and children must be a priority. Cancel the cuts. Teachers are people, not line items. Teach the Arts, Teach Music. Keep the Libraries Open. Nurses in the nurses office. Close the school; Close a Mind,
Call and response: What do we want?: EDUCATION. When do we want it?: NOW. No Justice. NO PEACE. They say: CUT BACK, we say: FIGHT BACK. They say: FURLOUGH. we say: HELL NO.
A sign says DEASY: FUND SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
PTA speaks about all of the above and the death by a thousand cuts of Arts Education in our schools – rails against the mindset not teaching if it's not tested. The Whole Child, How a student-to-music-teacher-ratio of 8000:1 in LAUSD is unacceptable. How the Arts and Libraries and childrens social welfare and medical services are critical.
Another speaker: "I don't know about about the minority party in Sacramento. I don't know what they have against Education. I don't know what the have against Public Safety. I don't know what they have against Children,"
Another speaker: "My heart is with only kids. Legislators: Were is your heart?"
The folk singer is back, observing that the current governor's father – the first Governor Brown – must be spinning in his grave over the demise of his dream – dreamt and built and left in place – now come undone. He sings the anthem of Solidarity Forever and it rises from the crowd like a hymn from the unconscious, learned in another generation.
A sign calls for Pink Slips for our elected representatives,
A City Firefighter says "You teachers are our heroes".
A PTA parent from Inglewood stands to say half of the teachers there have been given pink slips – can this be true? - and that we parents have your teachers backs.
She issues The Call to Action.
First: Every one of us must call our legislators, It's not that difficult. Two phone calls – how hard is that?
Second: We must each get five people to do the same. And they must get five people.
"I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain."
Student drummers drum a Brazilian polyrhythm and the crowd stirs and sways and dances waving their signs. And we melt away. Down the streets. Down the escalator. Red streams into the ground. Into the subway. Into the future. Motivated.. Actuated. Authenticated. Empowered. Recharged. Into the future.
"And if you try some time you just might find you get what you need."
Onward/Amen - smf
A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES
ONLY 24% OF LATINO STUDENTS, 20% OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND 40% OF WHITES WILL GRADUATE THIS YEAR WITH ALL OF THESE COURSES PASSED + smf's 2¢
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/kjzxvE
5/11/2011 10:56:12 PM PDT - Five years after Los Angeles Unified passed an ambitious policy requiring all students to take college-required courses to graduate, the rate of students passing those classes remains alarmingly low, according to a district review of the program obtained by the Daily News Tuesday.
Prompted by strong community and political pressure, in 2005 the LAUSD school board approved new rules for high schools requiring all students to pass a series of 15 college prep courses in order to get their diplomas.
The "A-G requirements," which include four years of college prep English and two years of lab science, math and foreign language, were supposed to help increase the low numbers of LAUSD students who were graduating college-ready.
According to district statistics, in 2003 just 36 percent of Latino students, 45 percent of African-American students and 52 percent of white students completed these courses.
Since the passage of that policy, the number of students passing the mandated math, science, English and foreign language classes with a C or better remains dismal. According to the district's review, just 24 percent of Latino students, 20 percent of African-American students and 40 percent of white students are set to graduate this year with all of these courses passed.
New LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who delayed a presentation of the report he commissioned Tuesday, said he plans to make increasing the number of students graduating ready for college a key goal of his administration.
"Obviously we have a long way to go," Deasy said.
"I want to get to 100 percent graduation, but those diplomas need to mean something, and in California that means passing your A-G courses."
According to the report, most LAUSD students are getting access to college-level courses, and 61 percent of all high school classes taught at LAUSD high schools are part of the A-G curriculum. However, the report reveals that individual schools differ greatly in how well they are giving kids access to rigorous courses.
For example, at Daniel Pearl Journalism Magnet High School, 72 percent of all classes taught are college prep courses while at Arleta High less than half meet college requirements.
Some educators explained that this disparity between schools and the low passage rate of students was connected to the district's lack of planning for this far-reaching proposal.
"This plan was never thought out ... there was no strategy for implementation," said former LAUSD board member David Tokofsky, who sat on the school board in 2005. Tokofsky, who voted in favor of the new policy along with his six other colleagues on the board, said the new rules became more about politics than students.
Community activists who advocated for the new rules though, stressed that their battle was an effort to raise the bar for thousands of students who, at the time, were not even allowed to take the courses they needed to gain entry into college.
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●● smf's 2¢ | Deasy: "I want to get to 100 percent graduation, but those diplomas need to mean something, and in California that means passing your A-G courses."
1. Deasy misspeaks. The A-G requirements are NOT a California requirement to get a diploma, they are an LAUSD requirement.
2. The California A-G UC/CSU entry requirement is for students to pass the A-G courses with a grade of "C" or better; the LAUSD requirement is to 'pass' with a "D" or better. Once a student gets a "D" in ANY A-G class he does NOT meet the UC/CSU requirement unless the class is repeated.
3. A-G are MINIMUM entry requirements. In the real world students' Grade Point Average, SAT scores, AP course load and testing . work portfolios, application essays, interviews, recommendations and a myriad of other factors come into play.
LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts proposed
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | http://bit.ly/mmOzFi
5/11/2011 - Los Angeles Unified officials Tuesday approved a series of changes to the landmark Public School Choice program, including eliminating a community vote and limiting the new campuses that can be included.
New LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who recommended the changes, also proposed streamlining the teacher contracts at the School Choice campuses that are run by internal district-based teams.
The streamlined contracts grant school management more flexibility and local control but could also reduce some workplace rules favored by unions.
The changes are the first major overhaul of the School Choice program, which was approved in 2009 and allows nonprofit groups, charter operators and district teachers groups to compete to run some public campuses.
Deasy said his changes are essential to maintaining the success of the reform effort, in which some 50 schools have already participated. Union critics, however, argued that some of the new rules would actually limit choice.
"These changes restrict voice and choice from a process that was supposed to be all about that," said Betty Forrester, secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles.
Forrester said the "thin contracts" were created by the union to apply only to a small number of pilot schools and should not be forced upon teachers at the School Choice campuses.
Pilot schools are smaller district campuses that have charter like freedoms to control their budgets, schedules and hiring. Educators who work at pilot schools agree to the streamlined contract, which reduces some workplace rules and can make it easier to fire teachers.
UTLA also opposes the elimination of the community vote in the School Choice program, which Forrester said is the only way for parents to have a say in the reform process.
The community vote aspect of School Choice, which allows parents, students and staff to cast nonbinding votes for who they think should run the schools, has been criticized as being rife with irregularities and subject to manipulation. It allowed some voters to cast more than one ballot and had dismally low participation rates from parents.
Some board members celebrated Deasy's proposal to eliminate the vote, including School Choice author Yolie Flores.
"Over the last two years we've learned what works and what doesn't for this program, and clearly the advisory vote was not working," Flores said.
"It became a political manipulation process."
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●● smf: WHAT IS A VOTE, WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IF NOT A "POLITICAL MANIPULATION PROCESS"?
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Deasy said he may return with an alternative proposal to gather community input.
Board member Steve Zimmer said he would "pitch a battle" if no alternative community vote process was brought to the board in the near future.
"That is non-negotiable," Zimmer said.
Other changes approved Tuesday included:
Limiting the new schools that can be selected to only those surrounded by low-performing schools with test scores that rank below 800 on the state Academic Performance Index, which uses a scale of 200 to 1000.
Encouraging more parent participation through increased workshops and outreach.
Providing more staff and resources for schools that are selected to participate in the process.
Granting the superintendent more power to decide what happens to a participating campus that receives no qualified bids.
Some 37 new and existing schools have been selected to participate in the third round of the Public School Choice process. Those campuses, which include six in the San Fernando Valley, will open in fall 2012 under their new leadership.
TUESDAY'S ELECTION: For your voting consideration
[smf: I am forwarding the following unsolicited email from a 4LAKids reader and warrior in the battle for good public education in LAUSD. I have removed the writer's name because she is a district employee who should remain anonymous so as to stand a chance of keeping her job – and unfortunately it comes to that. Her opposition to Luis Sanchez is complete; her endorsement of Bennett Kayser is restrained ...but well reasoned. Let's face it: Thomas Jefferson is not a candidate in every election and there are many who couldn't vote for Tom! I don't necessarily agree with her opinion of the school police but she should say these things. She quotes me and I hate quoting myself ...but I did edit my comments because somebody should!]
Dear dear friends (sending to those I know - please feel free to forward),
Please allow me to weigh in on Luis Sanchez as I live in District 5. I have a kid in a good local school, and if he gets elected I believe PUBLIC education will be further at risk. Although I wish I were more enthusiastic about Bennett Kayser, I will vote for him because I believe he will be fair to ALL models of instruction and work hard for the success of all students in the district.
He is the better choice for me ---- Ah, democracy!
Here are just two of many reasons why I can't consider Sanchez:
CHARTER SCHOOLS vs. CHARTER SCHOOLS vs. TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Charter alternatives started by parents, teachers and other dedicated educators are great and necessary, and contribute to the mosaic of good education.
But there are corporations who view education as an industry to be conquered. They sit in the halls of Beaudry (LAUSD headquarters) and lobby Monica Garcia and her chief of staff Luis Sanchez. She ingratiates herself with business and succeeds in a divide-and-conquer effort to pit ALL charters (grassroots and corporate) and existing public schools against each other. Luis Sanchez is her mini-me, and favors charters over traditional public schools. It’s not in children’s best interests to pit groups of passionate people who have the same goals against each other. It’s in all our interests to learn from each other and grow collaboratively.
LOS ANGELES SCHOOL POLICE DEPARTMENT
Luis Sanchez cites LASPD support more than any other group. Isn’t that a little weird? Do the LASPD teach our children? Are they publicly accountable? Are they even competent?
How much do they cost? Why is there a giant banner hanging on a building along the west side of the 110 that says “The Los Angeles School Police Department is Hiring!" when the district sends layoffs to 7,000?
Remember, this is the department of the idiot who shot himself and shut down the Valley. This is the department that still does not have any apparent public oversight for officer misbehavior. This is a department that costs the district money in legal settlements for said misbehavior. This is the department I called on March 8th of this year for parents whose daughter had run away as soon as she’d been dropped off at school, that didn’t want to talk to the parents on the phone, and that then took an hour to get to the school. Fortunately I called the LAPD at the same time and they arrived in about 15 minutes. (The girl returned the next day, by the way. Phew!)
I could go on (and on!) but I’ll end with this forward from PTA dad, friend, and advocate for kids Scott Folsom on his views of Luis Sanchez: "Luis's running like he's against the bureaucrats and he's the bureaucrat in chief. The most Inside of the Beaudry Insiders, He sits in the secret board meetings. Luis is a way to use shameless and shameful in the same sentence. Or perhaps ask 'Have you no no shame, sir?' On Monday the final pink slips go out - Luis might as well deliver them himself. But how do I really feel?"
Yours in the cause of quality, fun and loving education for all,
(signed) A PARENT, A TEACHER AND ADVOCATE FOR THE ARTS
THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
IF STATE EDUCATION CUTS ARE DRASTIC, THE LIBRARIANS' ONLY CHANCE OF KEEPING A PAYCHECK IS TO PROVE THEY'RE QUALIFIED TO BE SWITCHED TO CLASSROOM TEACHING. SO LAUSD ATTORNEYS GRILL THEM.
● POINT/COUNTERPOINT(lessness): Compare+Contrast this article with: School Libraries and Librarians in the Rest of the World: 23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN LIBRARY SPENDING AND STUDENT LEARNING | http://bit.ly/kef4Ak
● UPDATE: This story has picked up by the Huffington Post – making it a National Disgrace! | http://huff.to/lto6Bv
By Hector Tobar, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/mRucBU
May 13, 2011 - In a basement downtown, the librarians are being interrogated.
On most days, they work in middle schools and high schools operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District, fielding student queries about American history and Greek mythology, and retrieving copies of vampire novels.
But this week, you'll find them in a makeshift LAUSD courtroom set up on the bare concrete floor of a building on East 9th Street. Several sit in plastic chairs, watching from an improvised gallery as their fellow librarians are questioned.
A court reporter takes down testimony. A judge grants or denies objections from attorneys. Armed police officers hover nearby. On the witness stand, one librarian at a time is summoned to explain why she — the vast majority are women — should be allowed to keep her job.
The librarians are guilty of nothing except earning salaries the district feels the need to cut. But as they're cross-examined by determined LAUSD attorneys, they're continually put on the defensive.
"When was the last time you taught a course for which your librarian credential was not required?" an LAUSD attorney asked Laura Graff, the librarian at Sun Valley High School, at a court session on Monday.
"I'm not sure what you're asking," Graff said. "I teach all subjects, all day. In the library."
"Do you take attendance?" the attorney insisted. "Do you issue grades?"
I've seen a lot of strange things in two decades as a reporter, but nothing quite as disgraceful and weird as this inquisition the LAUSD is inflicting upon more than 80 school librarians.
"With my experience, it makes me angry to be interrogated," Graff told me after the 40 minutes she spent on the witness stand, describing the work she's done at libraries and schools going back to the 1970s. "I don't think any teacher-librarian needs to sit here and explain how they help teach students."
Sitting in during two court sessions this week, I felt bad for everyone present, including the LAUSD attorneys. After all, in the presence of a school librarian, you feel the need to whisper and be respectful. It must be very difficult, I thought, to grill a librarian.
For LAUSD officials, it's a means to an end: balancing the budget.
Some 85 credentialed teacher-librarians got layoff notices in March. If state education cuts end up being as bad as most think likely, their only chance to keep a paycheck is to prove that they're qualified to be transferred into classroom teaching jobs.
Since all middle and high school librarians are required to have a state teaching credential in addition to a librarian credential, this should be an easy task — except for a school district rule that makes such transfers contingent on having taught students within the last five years.
To get the librarians off the payroll, the district's attorneys need to prove to an administrative law judge that the librarians don't have that recent teaching experience. To try to prove that they do teach, the librarians, in turn, come to their hearings with copies of lesson plans they've prepared and reading groups they've organized.
Sandra Lagasse, for 20 years the librarian at White Middle School in Carson, arrived at the temporary courtroom Wednesday with copies of her lesson plans in Greek word origins and mythology.
On the witness stand, she described tutoring students in geometry and history, including subjects like the Hammurabi Code. Her multi-subject teaching credential was entered into evidence as "Exhibit 515."
Lagasse also described the "Reading Counts" program she runs in the library, in which every student in the school is assessed for reading skills.
"This is not a class, correct?" a school district attorney asked her during cross-examination.
"No," she said. "It is part of a class."
"There is no class at your school called 'Reading Counts'? Correct."
"No."
Lagasse endured her time on the stand with quiet dignity and confidence. She described how groups of up to 75 students file into her library — and how she works individually with many students.
Later she told me: "I know I'm doing my job right when a student tells me, 'Mrs. Lagasse, that book you gave me was so good. Do you have anything else like it?' "
It's a noble profession. And it happens to be the only one Michael Bernard wants to practice.
"It's true, I'm a librarian and that's all I want to be," said the librarian at North Hollywood High School, who has been a librarian for 23 years and has a master's degree in library science.
"The larger issue is the destruction of school libraries," Bernard told me. "None of the lawyers was talking about that."
School district rules say that only a certified teacher-librarian can manage a school library. So if Bernard is laid off, his library, with its 40,000 books and new computer terminals, could be shut down.
Word of the libraries' pending doom is starting to spread through the district. Adalgisa Grazziani, the librarian at Marshall High School, told me that the kids at her school are asking if they can take home books when the library there is closed.
"Can I have the fantasy collection?" one asked her.
If they could speak freely at their dismissal hearings, the librarians likely would tell all present what a tragedy it is to close a library.
Instead, they sit and try to politely answer such questions as, "Have you ever taught physical education?"
It doesn't seem right to punish an educator for choosing the quiet and contemplation of book stacks over the noise and hubbub of a classroom or a gymnasium. But that's where we are in these strange and stupid times.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
From my cold plastic chair: LAUSD TEACHER-LIBRARIAN COURT: Settle in, it’s a long one. from The Library is Not... http://bit.ly/lbQ1yQ
PARTISAN RHETORIC INFLAMES COLLEGE BOARD RACE: The main issue in the election had been waste in the Los Angeles ... http://bit.ly/mv9fsK
L.A. SCHOOL BOARD RUNOFF GROWS EXPENSIVE AND CONTENTIOUS: The teachers union is backing Bennett Kayser against L... http://bit.ly/jwAOsK
NEW YORK TEACHER REVIEWS WILL PUT MORE FOCUS ON STATE TESTS + BIG ROLE OF TEST SCORES IN IN NEW YORK TEACHER EVA... http://bit.ly/kWtM8n
LAUSD fake shooting case: LAUSD officer pleads not guilty to faking his own shooting - latimes.com latimes.com/news/local/la-…
THE LACCD INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT ON THE CONSTRUCTION+VdK DEBACLES IS OUT - if not public. Apparently "Whitewash" maligns fence painters.
CALIFORNIA TEACHER PROTESTS: Thousands Rally Against Education Cuts: JULIET WILLIAMS, Associate Press, from the ... http://bit.ly/iSqfea
$12 BILLION IN CUTS SEEN: 5,000 teachers rally for funding in Pershing Square: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | ... http://bit.ly/l83cwa
CALIFORNIA AT A CROSSROADS; MY GENERATION’S FUTURE HANGS IN BALANCE: By Miriam Hernandez - Junior at Roosevel... http://bit.ly/lPCATa
WHAT DON’T LEGISLATORS UNDERSTAND ABOUT ’EMERGENCY’?: Themes in the News for the week of May 9-13, 2011 by UCLA ... http://bit.ly/jiuHKl
School Libraries and Librarians in LAUSD: THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS: If state edu... http://bit.ly/ieN5dc
TEACHER LAYOFFS OUT OF SYNC WITH BUDGET IMPASSE: Should law be changed to reflect reality? What a concept! Loui... http://bit.ly/l2H7Ni
School Libraries and Librarians in the Rest of the World: 23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN LIBRARY SPENDING... http://bit.ly/kef4Ak
2 from EdWeek: HOUSE GOP BEGINS TO MAKE OVER NCLB/ESEA/PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THEIR OWN IMAGE: House Bill Calls for... http://bit.ly/kkRPjH
WILL CHROMEBOOKS FOR EDUCATION BE A GOOD DEAL FOR SCHOOLS?: By Audrey Watters /Read Write Web | http://rww.to/jZ... http://bit.ly/izTH4D
EAST TRUST—WEST ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING THE LATEST 2010-11 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEST (CELD... http://bit.ly/kU9PE8
STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF TOM TORLAKSON RELEASES RESULTS OF 2010–11 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEST: Cali... http://bit.ly/lubruW
SB355: EDUCATION REFORM BILL FAILS IN STATE SENATE COMMITTEE + Teacher tenure targeted: Legislature goes after m... http://bit.ly/kncZBS
WANNA MARCH? Join PTSA(Parents+Teachers+Students+Artists) March from VAPA HS/Central HS#9 @450 N.Grand to Pershing Sq
FRI THE13th :An unprecedented day 4 Kids w/5 simultaneous rallies throughout the State as protesters converge on the capitol in Sacramento.
Go 2 the Demonstration/Get+Give your fair share of Abuse! I HOPE 2 SEE EVERY SINGLE 4LAKids SUBSCRIBER @ THE PERSHING SQUARE RALLY TODAY@ 4
James Sohn: Former chief of L.A. Unified construction program joins firm that contracted with district - latimes.com http://lat.ms/jaN4sc
First pinkslip librarians then humiliate them! See Hector Tobar in todays Times:http://lat.ms/kDhrrS Compare to this:http://bit.ly/kJho8H
Because of the Great Blogger Crash there have been no updates on 4LAKids for a day! But much is going on, little of it good. Tweets follow!
ASSEMBLY GOP ISSUES BUDGET AHEAD OF GOVERENOR’S PLAN: Posted by Kevin Yamamura SacBee Capitol Alert | http:... http://bit.ly/m6B3tk
12 May Favorite Reply Delete
SAVE THE ARTS BENEFIT AT THE HISTORIC COCOANUT GROVE - Saturday, June 11th at 6:00pm: an email to 4LAKids from ... http://bit.ly/kpJz1N
23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN SCHOOL LIBRARY SPENDING AND STUDENT LEARNING: FROM THE REPORT: “Clearly, t... http://bit.ly/iylpKf
Joel Klein in The Atlantic: “THE FALURE OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS”: smf: Five years ago I went to New York City with a... http://bit.ly/lIp303
NBC EDUCATION NATION in L.A May 13 – 19.: PillarLA.com writes: We’d like to inform you about Education Nation -... http://bit.ly/lgRcbG
LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts a... http://bit.ly/ldbQg2
A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES. Only 24% of Latino students, 20% of African-Americans and 40% o... http://bit.ly/j0pyEZ
HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH SCHOOL 'RECONSTITUTION' AND STUDENT WALKOUT: L.A. Board of Education approves plan to reva... http://bit.ly/ij1QHS
The Education of Jose Pedraza: WHY FIXING SCHOOLS ISN'T SIMPLE MATH: by Julianne Hing , Colorlines.com | http://... http://bit.ly/j5LZvb
TEACHERS, PARENTS LAUNCH "WEEK OF EMERGENCY" TO HELP AVERT CUTS TO EDUCATION: Concerned citizens are urged to co... http://bit.ly/m8Xgi4
PAY-2-LEARN/School Funding: FEE RESTRICTIONS MAY FORCE SCHOOLS TO CUT EXTRACURRICULAR PROGRAMS: Legal settlement... http://bit.ly/m20JjU
PAY-2-LEARN - REPORT: An Investigation of Mandatory Fees for Educational Activities in California’s Public Schoo... http://bit.ly/jhm0tp
L.A. DISTRICT PLANS SHAKEUP AT HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH: By July, officials, spurred by board member Yolie Flores, a... http://bit.ly/mQvctM
L.A. TIMES RATES TEACHERS AGAIN, UNFORTUNATELY + Deasy's letter to The Times + Leading mathematician debunks ‘va... http://bit.ly/l5KCHq
TORLAKSON/CDE RELEASES API SCORES FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS + School, District and State Reports: California Depart... http://bit.ly/mAviZ0
TEST SCORES DON’T MEAN THAT MUCH: Editorial by Jim Boren, Editorial Page Editor – The Fresno Bee | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/m8nmnS
DUAL-LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAMS ARE THE NEW FACE OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION – WITHOUT THE STIGMA. They offer the ch... http://bit.ly/lgPOFS
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
SAVE THE DATE! *** SAVE THE ARTS!
SAVE THE ARTS BENEFIT AT THE HISTORIC COCOANUT GROVE - Saturday, June 11th at 6:00pm CLICK HERE FOR THE SORDID BUT OH-SO-ARTISTIC DETAILS: http://bit.ly/kpJz1N
*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!.
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