In This Issue:
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“IT’S A RACE TO THE BOTTOM”: Looking out of state for what California once offered |
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L.A. UNIFIED HAUNTED BY AN OLD DEAL + smf’s 2¢ |
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“Value Addled”: SADLY, THE NEWS FROM THE TEACHING FRONT ISN’T GOOD |
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FOR ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM, HARD WORK AND ADRENALINE RUSHES |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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On Tuesday the Board of Education passed a
“qualified” one-year budget for next year (“Qualified” meaning it’s not
really balanced …and the law requires a three year budget) based on the
rose-colored assumptions that:
1. Everything will be rosy in the Governor’s May Revision of the State’s Budget;
2. That the courts will decide in LAUSD’s favor in a pending lawsuit,
3. That the unions will concede some other things …in exchange for what?
4. That the voters of California will approve the Governor’s Tax Hike
Initiative (which itself changed substantially within 24 hours); and
5. That ⅔ of the voters in Los Angeles will approve a Parcel Tax to raise their taxes $295 a year on the same ballot.
Those are some pretty presumptuous assumptions.
Don’t get me wrong – 4LAKids hopes the May Revise will be everything we
all hope for - and will undoubtedly advocate YES votes on the
Governor’s Initiative and the Parcel Tax, and for the Our Children/Our
Future (Munger/PTA) Initiative if they qualify for the ballot – because
California needs the tax revenues, the Governor needs the Realignment
Constitutional Change and Public Education (and your school and all
these children) needs OCOF. The parcel tax puts the Board of Education
in charge of those funds, not the Legislature. OCOF puts the local
school in charge of their funds, not the lege or the school board.
The Board of Ed also approved sending out 11, 700
preliminary-layoff/RIF/”pink slip” notices. To one quarter of the LAUSD
teacher force. 20,000 layoff notices went out in all of California, 58%
of them in LAUSD.
No matter how important the programs are to the superintendent and the
board, they gutted Arts Education, they gutted Adult Education, they
gutted Early Childhood Ed, they gutted Gifted Ed, they gutted After
School Programs and eliminated the Academic Decathlon and the All City
Band. The Board took two old resolutions about policies that had been
approved and never implemented re: Child Abuse Identification and
Prevention and passed them again. More studies and reports and plans are
called for. (I am reminded of Einstein’s Definition of Insanity. And
the historical success of studies, plans and reports in solving
problems.) This may be a way to work on pedagogy and educational policy
…but the safety of children is at stake
No more resolutions: Resolve.
IN SACRAMENTO – where I spend much of this week – the governor reached a
compromise with the CFT and their Millionaires Tax. And furthered his
intended/unintended mission to defund Transitional Kindergarten, reduce
Early Childhood Education to child care (again a plug for OCOF – which
funds ECE and K-12) while pushing for a per-pupil-funding-formula that
would simply spread the inadequate funding thinner with a different
knife.
ALSO IN SACRAMENTO, a couple of Academic Decathlon Teams were staying in
my hotel – reminding us all that this may be the last year for LAUSD’s
participation. And teams from LAUSD are perennial National Champions.
To all the decathletes from Redlands, Redondo or LAUSD: you are all
already champions. To Cliff Ker, LAUSD AcaDecca Director: Happy New
Grandfatherhood!
AND – I know this has had us all concerned – the Feds have ruled that
it’s apparently OK to eat the pink slime …but you don’t have to if you
don’t want to. (It goes better with ketchup-the-vegetable.)
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
THIS JUST IN:
● SCHOOL REFORM LEGEND PREPARES TO TAKE OVER WAYWARD JOHN MCDONOGH HIGH
SCHOOL: The reappearance of shy, self-effacing Steve Barr in New Orleans
| . http://bit.ly/w2Ef8c
● Special Report: SAN GABRIEL TRIBUNE TO LAUNCH SCHOOL SAFETY WEBSITE in response to Miramonte and LAUSD child abuse issues | http://bit.ly/wG7mFQ
“IT’S A RACE TO THE BOTTOM”: Looking out of state for what California once offered
GREAT EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ARE BEING DECIMATED THROUGH BUDGET CUTS IN THIS STATE.
By Steve Lopez, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/x275hf
March 14, 2012::: Many moons ago, I went to California public schools,
then on to a community college and later got my degree from a state
university. And I can tell you we had some complaints.
They weren't using enough turf builder on the outfield grass. The band
instruments had been around a few years. And the San Jose State student
newspaper only published five days a week.
The problems are a little different these days.
My daughter attends elementary school in Los Angeles Unified, which has
just sent out 11,700 layoff notices in the latest round of miserable
news.
Eleven-thousand seven-hundred.
Even if the actual cuts fall way below that number, as expected,
there'll be plenty of pain to go around. Art, physical education, early
childhood education and adult education — among many other things — are
on the chopping block at schools around the state.
I had it good as a kid and didn't even know it. State leaders believed,
back when I went to California schools, that a quality, affordable
education for everyone was not just a civic virtue but an economic
no-brainer.
Today, the Golden State is making every effort to destroy its own best
traditions. At every level of public education, from elementary school
to graduate school, constant budget cuts are decimating once-great
institutions and devaluing our greatest resource — eager young minds.
Last week, California State University students marched on Sacramento to
protest the devastating effects of a 42% decline in state funding over
the last decade. Tuition and fees have nearly tripled in that time, even
though students are getting less for their money.
I was in the Bay Area recently and caught this headline in the Contra Costa Times:
"Believe it: Harvard cheaper than Cal State."
Well, certainly not if you go by the sticker prices for tuition, room
and board. But on Harvard's website, there's a calculator that says a
family of four with a $130,000 annual income could qualify for as much
as a $39,750 scholarship for the undergrad program. So instead of
$56,750 for freshman tuition, room and board at Harvard, the bill would
come to $17,000.
At Cal State L.A., the cost of tuition, room board and other fees is
$21,335 per year, and that same family of four making $130,000 wouldn't
qualify for aid, according to the calculator.
"I am seeing families more open to looking at alternatives out of
state," said Audrey Kahane, a West Hills consultant who works with
families and kids on college admissions.
One of her clients, the Sigel family, just opted out of California. Jeff
Sigel told me his daughter, Molly, is completing her first year of
college in Israel but plans to return home to the U.S. for her sophomore
year.
"She's been accepted at UC Santa Cruz and San Diego State," said the
father, but his daughter will instead go to the State University of New
York at Binghamton. It will cost more than San Diego and less than Santa
Cruz, he said, but there was another major financial factor in the
decision.
"It seems more likely she will graduate on time in Binghamton," Sigel
said, because drastic cuts in course offerings are making it harder for
California students to finish in four years.
On the Cal State L.A. campus Monday afternoon, sophomore Andres Valdez
told me he scrambled to get into a critical thinking class required for
his major, only to see the class canceled.
Juan Garcia, who works by day and takes evening classes, said he
couldn't get into an anthropology class he needs for his master's
degree. "I may have to extend my stay here," he said, even as tuition
and fees keep going up.
Community colleges, meanwhile, were already reeling from a $415-million
cut this year when another $149-million cut was tacked on last month.
L.A. City College President Jamillah Moore told me the school's budget
was $67 million in 2007, it's down to $53 million now, and she's got to
get it down to $50 million by July 1.
"We're turning students away altogether," said Lawrence Bradford, vice president for student services.
Bradford handed me a business card he had printed at his own expense,
and at one point he asked Ted Segal, a counselor, if the office printer
was working. No, said Segal. They'd run out of replacement parts, and it
was still out of order.
Class sizes have gone from 25 to 50 in some cases, Bradford said, to
help manage costs. And many students have been forced to hang on an
extra year or two, while managing jobs and families, as they wait for
classes to open up.
"It's really painful to have students who know what they want to do, and we can't help them," Bradford said.
I wouldn't say the remedies are simple, but I will say this:
You cannot fix any of this in a state more inclined to build prisons
than schools, despite projections of a huge shortage of college-educated
workers by 2025. You can't fix it when you're the only major
oil-producing state with no excise tax, and you refuse to correct the
huge property tax advantage Proposition 13 extended to corporations. You
can't fix it without modest concessions from public employees,
including teachers, on pensions and benefits.
And you certainly can't fix it with three competing and unimaginative
tax-increase proposals — one by Gov. Jerry Brown — that would restore
some school funding, but are likely to do each other in come November.
We used to be able to brag about our schools, and maybe we took quality
for granted. That's all behind us now, and even mediocrity is fading
from sight in the rearview mirror.
________________________
LETTERS TO THE TIMES | http://lat.ms/FQl02T
School cuts put futures at risk
Re "It's a race to the bottom," Column, March 14
We moms clip box tops to earn dimes for our schools while our south
Orange County legislators refuse our kids millions but pretend
otherwise.
My son attends public elementary school in the Capistrano Unified School
District; he is doomed to be part of a lost generation of students
unless serious funding changes are made.
Julie Colombero
Aliso Viejo
Steve Lopez is wrong in asserting that "it's a race to the bottom." The race is over. California is already at the bottom.
Program cuts being considered by L.A. Unified include academic
decathlon, gifted and talented, music and arts, and early childhood
education. These programs turn children on to learning. They nurture and
foster students to become California's future leaders, scientists and
innovators. California will no longer be the innovative and economic
engine of the U.S.
California voters who allow budgets for schools and colleges to be cut
by legislators should be ashamed of their betrayal of our children and
our future.
Lloyd A. Dent
Studio City
L.A. UNIFIED HAUNTED BY AN OLD DEAL + smf’s 2¢
TEACHERS NEVER IMAGINED MOLESTATION CASES WHEN THEY
WON A DEAL TO EXPUNGE UNPROVEN MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS FROM FILES AFTER
FOUR YEARS
By Sandy Banks, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/zXn9uW
March 17, 2012 :: Today's lesson, boys and girls, is to be careful what deals you make when your back is against the wall.
Let's open our history book to 1992, when California was mired in a
recession and the Los Angeles Unified School District was forced to cut
its budget by $400 million.
Teachers had walked off the job three years earlier and were threatening
to strike again if the district followed through on its plan to cut
their pay by 12%. So political kingpin Willie Brown brokered a deal that
reduced the pay cut to 10% and expanded teachers' campus rights.
Most of the perks seemed pretty mundane:
Teachers would be allowed to park in the principal's parking space and
use the principal's private bathroom. They would no longer have to
perform "yard duty" when their students were on the playground.
And — in a clause that is haunting the district now — campus files would
be routinely purged of allegations of teacher misconduct that had not
been proved or did not result in discipline.
Today, in the aftermath of a series of teacher sex abuse arrests, that
20-year-old policy is making it hard to figure out whether more troubled
teachers are operating under the radar.
Two elementary school teachers jailed on sex charges — from Miramonte in
South Los Angeles and Telfair in Pacoima — had been the subject of
complaints before. So Supt. John Deasy has ordered every principal to
review the files of every employee on every campus.
But a personnel file is only as useful as the rules that govern what it
holds. And the deal that expanded teachers' rights looks to some, in
hindsight, like a predator's loophole.
It wasn't controversial back then, just a way to protect a hard-working teacher from a petty bureaucrat.
"We were trying to do something good for our members," said Sam Kresner,
a former elementary school teacher who led the union's negotiating
team.
The policy is straightforward. It requires that unproven allegations of
misconduct, or complaints that did not result in discipline, be removed
from a teacher's file after four years.
The rationale, Kresner said, is straightforward too: "If you happen to
stumble at one point in your career, that shouldn't be on your permanent
record."
By "stumble" he doesn't mean molesting children. The protection was
intended for teachers accused of minor misdeeds: having a messy desk,
being absent too much; bringing your class in late from the playground.
"We always assumed that anything serious would be treated as a
disciplinary matter," Kresner said. "We were never trying to protect
people who were doing really bad things. We were trying to take
something away from principals who were looking at small infractions as a
way to punish people."
I was a reporter covering the school district then, when there was a sense of open warfare between teachers and principals.
Student achievement was tragically low, yet campuses were strangled by
power struggles over everything from how teachers should dress on campus
to how lottery money should be spent.
The union contract ran more than 300 pages and included rules on such basics as who could operate the mimeograph machine.
What did all this have to do with improving learning? Not much, and parents knew it.
I was also the mother of a Los Angeles Unified student, and that 1992 contract had me looking at private schools.
Another of its power-sharing provisions took the right to assign classes
away from principals and allowed teachers to choose, by seniority,
which grade or subject they would teach.
At my daughter's school, the very worst and most senior teacher — even
her colleagues called her "the witch" — dumped her fifth-grade class and
took over kindergarten, putting vulnerable 5-year-olds at the mercy of
her screaming fits.
That didn't sit well with parents. We were disappointed that longevity was allowed to trump temperament and competence.
School is no place for a factory approach. "That's one of the problems
with negotiations," Kresner admitted. "You're trying to defend the
people who are just getting by.... Contracts are built on both teachers
and administrators who aren't at the top of the list.
"The administrators wanted to protect their turf. My job was to protect our members."
That's the trouble with "power sharing." The only ones who are powerless are the children.
They thrive when educators are on the same page, but they have no
champion at the bargaining table and no clout in the deal-making.
It's naive to presume that what's good for teachers is always going to
be good for children. Decisions made in teachers' best interests don't
always trickle down in ways that benefit students.
Kresner, who retired a few years ago, said teachers and administrators
today "are working together better than we were before." But the
economic squeeze, campus scandals and demands of high-stakes testing are
stressing that relationship.
A few months ago, before the Miramonte scandal, the district and the
teachers union agreed to support a "thin" contract that would require
collaboration between teachers and principals and give individual
campuses unprecedented autonomy.
We'll soon see how that pact holds up. Deasy is pressing the union to
eliminate the contract clause that allows misconduct claims to be
absolved. But union president Warren Fletcher has his hands full with
angry teachers, convinced that Deasy is on a witch hunt.
Erasing the clause seems like a no-brainer. It shouldn't be necessary in
a district where principals are picked for their leadership skills and
teachers rewarded for their success with students.
That's the kind of district Los Angeles Unified imagines itself to be.
But unfolding stories of classroom horrors — unnoticed, unreported or
brushed off — tie the district to its dysfunctional history.
The contract clause is not the problem. It's a symbol of a deeper
illness: an adversarial approach in an overwhelmed district where rules
are a stand-in for common sense.
•• smf – Sandy Bank’s concluding sentence is truth writ large.
BUT THESE FACTS REMAIN, BOYS+GIRLS. IN CASES OF ALLEGED CHILD ABUSE;
• - The law REQUIRES that reports be made to either Law Enforcement or Child Protective Services. There are no exceptions.
• - The law REQUIRES that the Superintendent report the allegations to
the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. There are no exceptions.
Those agencies DO NOT expunge the records.
“Value Addled”: SADLY, THE NEWS FROM THE TEACHING FRONT ISN’T GOOD
Op-Ed By Kay McSpadden, High School English Teacher in York ,NC - Charlotte Observer | http://bit.ly/AhpRF7
Saturday, Mar. 17, 2012 :: Nadia Zanariri is leaving public education.
A successful Advanced Placement World History teacher at Miami Beach
Senior High School and a mentor teacher for Miami-Dade County, Zanariri
is calling it quits after nine years.
Not because her high school is a challenging urban school with a mix of
students – although it is. And not because her classes are overcrowded –
although they are.
Zanariri is leaving public education because next year Florida will
require public school teachers to be evaluated on a value added model, a
methodology that has a margin of error as high as 66 points.
“Teachers are ranked on a curve, thus a certain percentage will always
be considered failures,” Zaniriri writes in Edweek. “I will not let
myself be labeled an ‘ineffective’ teacher after continuously striving
to improve my instruction, my knowledge base, my relationship with my
students and parents. I will not be labeled an ineffective teacher
after spending hours on the phone, in person and over email contacting
parents over skipping students, sick students, struggling students,
amazing students… I will not be labeled an ineffective teacher after
spending hours on my weekends and evenings grading student papers when I
should be reading to my own young children.
“It has reached the point where I know that I will inevitably wind up a
loser, no matter how hard I work… I am a proud product of public schools
from elementary to university, but the policies imposed in recent years
by politicians are destroying the same system politicians claim to be
saving.”
Zanariri’s comments were published a few days after the most recent
MetLife survey about teacher satisfaction was released. I’ve been in the
classroom since 1977 and the results didn’t surprise me. Beaten down by
a recession that has hit education hard with budget cuts, layoffs, and
furloughs, and perhaps more importantly, by the scapegoating of teachers
in the public discourse, teachers report the lowest level of
satisfaction with the profession in over 20 years. A third of teachers
plan to leave within the next five years.
Interestingly enough, the results were stable regardless of where the
teachers worked, the kinds of students they taught, or how long they had
been teachers.
During my career, it’s never been harder to be a teacher in America.
This week I was invited to meet with my district’s first-year teachers
for part of their induction and professional development. They have been
reading “Notes from a Classroom,” a book I published in 2007 that
includes many essays about education, and they had prepared a list of
questions for me.
First they told me their stories. One elementary guidance counselor
wanted ways to help her students broaden their horizons, to resist the
temptation to “think small” about their futures. A high school guidance
counselor wept when he recalled a gifted soccer player who is now
serving time in prison.
A music teacher wanted to know how to deal with an emotionally disturbed
youngster who is sabotaging his performance ensemble. A PE teacher
wanted advice on how to channel the high energy of his 7th and 8th
graders into meaningful class discussions.
One teacher is being bullied by a parent. Another teacher is being
bullied by a disruptive group of students. A 4th-grade teacher worries
about her students with disabilities, and the teacher who works in an
alternative school worries about the multiple challenges her students
face.
These first-year teachers were tired, and they wanted answers. Here I
was, someone who’s written a book. What could I do to help?
It wasn’t a moment of epic fail, but it was close. In an hour I could do
little more than listen and commiserate, offering small suggestions
around the edges of the problems that loom large throughout their days.
“I’ve survived,” I said, “and you will, too.”
At least I hope that’s true. The news from the front isn’t so good right
now. It’s far too easy to blame teachers rather than address the
systemic social and economic stresses that hobble our students and keep
them from being successful.
As we walked out of the meeting, one of the teachers – a former student –
leaned toward me and said, “Every day I try to teach like you.”
It was an unlooked for gift – her tribute to class discussions and long
nights reading difficult assignments, essays rewritten until they were
error-free, and above all, the fun of exploring through questions, the
pleasure of finding things out.
Nothing unusual – just the kind of learning going on in classrooms everywhere, every day.
The kind of learning increasingly at risk as good teachers flee the profession and new teachers question whether or not to stay.
FOR ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM, HARD WORK AND ADRENALINE RUSHES
A GROUP OF EIGHT LOS ANGELES HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
GETS HOOKED ON THE 'MIND BATTLE' THAT THE COMPETITION REPRESENTS. THE
COACH VOUCHES FOR THEIR COMMITMENT. 'THEY'RE FEARLESS,' HE SAYS.
By Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/wkdESR
March 18, 2012—Reporting from Sacramento :: On a recent afternoon,
Andy Ayala looked like a TV reporter in the middle of his stand-up on a
rooftop in Mid-Wilshire, downtown skyscrapers and palm trees just over
his shoulder. His feet were planted firmly, his back straight, his brow
furrowed with a note of authority.
But there was no camera rolling as the 17-year-old ad-libbed an
impromptu speech on what it means to be an American — overcoming
adversity and pursuing big dreams. His coach and a few teammates with a
sharp critique stood by.
The state Academic Decathlon in Sacramento was a week away. The clock
was running out for this team from Los Angeles High School to improve
enough to come home with a medal or two in the tough competition.
There wasn't a minute to waste on anything but an honest appraisal of Andy's speech.
He started strong and ended strong, but seemed to trail off in the
middle, they told him. And there were moments when his elocution could
have been clearer. But his argument was solid.
On this day, the team had spread out across what is probably the best
study spot in Los Angeles, a roof-top perch — the "penthouse," as it's
known around school — with a killer panoramic view.
The team of seniors has given up afternoons and Saturdays and time that
could be spent doing just about anything but studying. But this group of
eight has become hooked.
"It's really the competition, the adrenaline rush," said Kristian Saravia. "That's what deca is — a mind battle."
"When people think about adrenaline, they think soccer, football — not
studying," added Sun Garcia Baltazar. "It gives you a rush. It's such a
nerdy rush."
::
The day before the team left for the state competition, the coach
admitted that he hadn't thought they'd make it to the grueling two-day
event.
"I don't have a team of superstars," said Richard Cunningham, 76, who is
in his sixth season as decathlon coach at L.A. High. "I don't have kids
who are guaranteed to be a top scorer. I don't have a single 4.0 kid on
this team."
What the team does have, though, is commitment. "They're fearless," he
said. "It takes courage to say they are going to do this."
The night before, the team stayed until after 10 p.m. before Cunningham
finally drove some of them home. A few stayed on the next day too,
poring over dense binders with a year's worth of highlighter marks, even
though the trek to Sacramento would be long and start early. To save
money, the team took two buses and a train.
::
If dressed-up "decathletes" are pacing the sidewalk and talking aloud to themselves, it must be Speech Day.
The team from L.A. High formed a circle, standing arms-length apart, for
a practice exercise: All eight gave their speeches at the same time.
"If you can give your speech in the middle of that chaos, you should have no problem standing up there," Cunningham said.
Snippets of their speeches rose above the din: Justin De Toro singing
"Happy birthday" at the start of his, Andy discussing the Cuban Missile
Crisis and Sharmaine Cerezo wrapping up her speech with "sometimes all a
teenager needs is a hug." (May Sathatham ran over to give her one.)
"Slow down!" said John De Toro, a former competitor, who is Justin's
older brother and who helps coach the team. "You guys need to be more
energetic. I need more enthusiasm!"
They tried again and again, each time with more energy.
::
The unofficial winners of the Super Quiz were Granada Hills Charter High
School and Marshall High School in Los Feliz; they beat out more than
60 teams from around California. The overall winner of the 10-subject
competition will be announced Sunday. And that's when medals will be
given out.
In the Super Quiz, in which each team member takes a written test, Los
Angeles High's Salome Ok and Joanna Manansala were both one away from
getting perfect scores. "So close!" Salome said.
The end of the Super Quiz likely marks the end of a year's worth of hard work.
"Even if I don't like 80% of it, if I could do it again next year, I
would," Joanna said, "because this moment right here is priceless."
Their time has run out. Now, they have to go back to clean up the penthouse and help Cunningham recruit a new team.
RADIO STORY Featuring Marshall HS AcaDecca Team
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201203160850/b
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
USDA’s ‘PINK SLIME’ CHOICE: Schools will be able to opt out, Kids can have additive or more fat
| http://lat.ms/FP5XXB
SHARE THE BURDEN, SHARE THE BENEFITS: Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA/Week of March 12-16, 2012 | http://bi... http://bit.ly/AxfqkJ
AT THE PTA, CLASHES OVER CUPCAKES AND CULTURE: By KYLE SPENCER, NEW YORK TIMES | http://nyti.ms/wICDnN Dav... http://bit.ly/FPKhYg
U P D A T E D - EDUCATION COALITION POLICY STATEMENT: Budget Position
and Need for New Revenues Amidst School Layoffs Notices and Threats of
Additional Trigger Cuts + Position on Per Pupil Funding + Early
Childhood Ed Cuts http://bit.ly/FQ4Wf8
P E T I T I O N - Los Angeles Board of Education: Rescind all layoff notices for LAUSD teacher librarians http://chn.ge/FPjvhn
OF THE 20K PINK SLIPS SENT TO CALIFORNIA TEACHERS THURSDAY MORE THAN HALF WENT TO LAUSD STAFF: By Lindsay Willia... http://bit.ly/xjzEKi
INTERESTING FACT: No other portions of the State Budget has been cut as much as K-12 education
Primary Sources: America's Teachers on America's Schools - SURVEY FINDS TEACHERS DON'T TRUST ANNUAL STATE SKILLS... http://bit.ly/y8eMNg
STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF TOM TORLAKSON LEADS OPPOSITION TO CHILD CARE CUTS: California Department of Education | htt... http://bit.ly/FOsAJ6
OF TWENTY THOUSAND EDUCATORS PINK-SLIPPED IN CALIFORNIA, PINK SLIPS ARRIVE IN 11,700 LAUSD MAIBOXES: …if Los Ang... http://bit.ly/ymcbQU
POTENTIAL BUDGET CUTS . . .: Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update Week of March 19, 2012 | htt... http://bit.ly/y4serJ
“Value-addled” assessments: OVER 1400 NEW YORK PRINCIPALS CANNOT BE WRONG ABOUT TEACHER EVALUATIONS: by email fr... http://bit.ly/xL0Igy
A bittersweet moment as LAUSD AcaDeca teams head to state competition: By Tami Abdollah | KPCC 89.3 pass/fail |... http://bit.ly/zwUMqx
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: The value of adult education: 15 March 2012 | Re "L.A. adult education classes are threat... http://bit.ly/zRNeV8
LACCD Follies: LA COLLEGE VIOLATED CONTRACTOR’S RIGHTS, JUDGE RULES: The evidence against FTR International didn... http://bit.ly/A1a7z3
(PI)E + (PI)ZZA = A CELEBRATION OF MATH: Millikan Middle School students enjoy pieces of pi: One pupil even won ... http://bit.ly/zo24WV
ACROBAT BROWN DOES BACK FLIP ON TAX HIKE MEASURE: Governor strikes a deal with California Federation of Teachers... http://bit.ly/wUxzzJ
GOV. BROWN REACHES BALLOT DEAL WITH “MILLIONAIRES TAX” GROUP: By JULIET WILLIAMS and ROBERT JABLON Associated P... http://bit.ly/xwDubL
LAUSD APPROVES WORST-CASE SCENARIO CUTS TO ART CLASSES, ADULT AND EARLY-CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Barbara Jones, Staf... http://bit.ly/xwof1V
GOP LAWMAKERS TAKE AIM AT TEACHERS ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT: They join Villaraigosa and L.A.'s school board ... http://bit.ly/xQNbUW
LA SCHOOL DISTRICT SEEKS PARCEL TAX, SALARY CUTS: By CHRISTINA HOAG Associated Press (from Mercury News) | http:... http://bit.ly/xzgCaU
LAUSD BOARD REJECTS OCEAN CHARTER FACILITY ON WALGROVE ELEMENTARY CAMPUS + smf’s ?: The LAUSD's Board of Educati... http://bit.ly/zeKMhp
LAUSD BOARD APPROVES DEEP PROGRAM CUTS, BUT HOPES THEY WON’T BE NEEDED: Board is hoping voters and the state res... http://bit.ly/x9TAxY
A WHOLE LOTTA BAD NEWS AND A LITTLE GOOD NEWS: Cuts + layoffs + a parcel tax + recycled eyewash for child abuse ... http://bit.ly/yQ1T5p
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:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
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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