In This Issue:
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FIDDLING ON THE FISCAL CLIFF |
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LAUSD BOARD MEMBER STEVE ZIMMER WANTS TO STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS |
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THREE ED REFORMS PARENTS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT MOST |
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CHICAGO TEACHERS MAY STRIKE, TEACH POLITICAL LESSON |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily 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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“Charter schools,” it says in Wikipedia, (not the
ultimate research authority but an ultimate arbiter of public
[mis]perception) “are primary or secondary schools that receive public
money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but
are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that
apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of
accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in
each school's charter.” [1 ] | http://bit.ly/QkNcC4
Wikipedia continues: “There are two principles that guide charter schools.
“First is that they will operate as autonomous public schools, through
waivers from many of the procedural requirements of district public
schools. The second is that charter schools are accountable for student
achievement. While this accountability is one of the key arguments in
favor of charters, evidence gathered by the United States Department of
Education suggests that charter schools are not, in practice, held to
higher standards of accountability than traditional public schools.”
[That last sentence is not editorializing from 4LAKids – it’s there in the Wiki article; editorializing from the USDOE.]
WHEN CHARTER SCHOOLS CAME TO LAUSD the Board of Ed was initially
extremely resistant to them, granting charters only when they had no
other choice. And with attorneys – often the board’s own attorneys -
telling the board they had no choice.
The California Charter Schools Association – which seems on the face of
it to be to an umbrella organization representing all charters - is in
reality a back-office service provider, lobbyist and dispenser of Walton
Foundation largess for charter management organization operated/big box
charter franchises. There are few mom-and-pop/teacher-and-parent grass
roots charters in CCSA! The CCSA quickly set up LAUSD as their turf.
You can learn a lot about an operation from its competition; did you
ever hear anyone from another district saying they wished their district
was more like LAUSD? (The Mayor’s Partnership doesn’t count!)
‘Edu-business’ is a name coined by CCSA’s competition. From EdHive, a
competing charter incubator: “I’m just leaving the California Charter
Schools Association conference and I can’t keep from thinking about how
vendors seem to be so involved with an organization that should be so
much about grass-roots.
“While charter schools are the future, a select group of business
interest seeks to hijack the movement and make a fortune off of
tax-payers without adding any value. ’Edu-business’: a group of people
who see education as a business opportunity and not a service to the
community. Edu-business is going to kill the charter school movement.” |
http://bit.ly/RUtmbD
EduBusiness. The Billionaire Boys Club. Rephorm. ®eform. Broadies.
Anyway, LAUSD (and Mayor Tony’s) own ®eform board authorized a lot of
charters, slicing and dicing and co-locating; giving new schools to
charter management organizations and granting waivers without holding
those schools accountable in any way. (Charters were shut down for
cheating on state tests – and had their hands slapped for fiscal
impropriety – the integrity of tests being more sacrosanct than student
outcome or the trusteeship of public –funds.)
Now, with many dollars and students siphoned away, LAUSD cannot
afford-to and is not prepared-to hold charters to the “higher standards
of accountability than traditional public schools” as Arne Duncan and
the feds demand. LAUSD cannot even afford plant managers or libraries or
to open bathrooms in their own schools!
"I have great concern about how we'd pay for another layer of
government," Superintendent Deasy told the Daily News on Friday. "We
have zero ability to fund it."
Now SB 1290, which would require California charter schools to
outperform their traditional neighbors, is on Governor Brown’s desk.
[NEW ACCOUNTABILITY DEMANDS COMING FOR CHARTERS – STARTUPS AND RENEWALS]
And an LAUSD Board of Ed resolution proposes to strengthen LAUSD’s
oversight of charters. [ZIMMER WANTS TO STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT OF CHARTER
SCHOOLS]
This sounds somewhat unfair at first – are the Feds and the State and the Board of Ed piling-on?
But the premise+promise always was that charters would do better than
regular schools – and then share their secrets. Charters are using
millions of dollars in public funds, utilizing hundreds of millions
worth of public facilities, and educating thousands of the public’s
children. And the feds are saying that if California doesn’t come into
compliance with the Federal charter regs (ie: if Brown doesn’t sign SB
1290) they will make a federal case of it.
[•• O•VER•SIGHT can mean watchful and responsible care OR an omission or
error due to carelessness. An auto-antonym or contronym is a word with
multiple meanings, one of which is the reverse of one of its other
meanings. You never know when there’s going to be a surprise SAT vocab
test!]
ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON I WAS INVITED TO A MEETING OF RIFed + DISPLACED
LAUSD MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS EMPLOYEES - held in the cafeteria of
Cortines High School, These are hard workers who don't want to file a
grievance, who don't want to sue. They just want their jobs back.
As I tweeted from the meeting, in the school's quad outside
contractors/outsourced painters were doing some of what used to be their
jobs, painting out graffiti.
And the money saved by the RIFs - if indeed any was any - is being paid
in forced overtime to air conditioning staff - [HEAT WAVE COSTS LAUSD
MORE THAN $400K IN A.C. REPAIRS] because someone didn't do their
homework.
They also serve who soldier on:
"Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd."
Social justice isn't something that can be turned on-and-off with the times like a spigot.
ARNE DUNCAN ADDRESSED THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION LAST WEEK and never
mentioned the things he’s been talking about for the past
three-and-half-years: Charter Schools, Evaluating Teachers Based on Test
Scores, and Transforming “Failing” Schools.
There must be an election coming up.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
• Next Friday, Sept 14th is Student Recovery Day in LAUSD
• There are 7 million truants in the United States. That isn’t 7 million
students skipping class at a given moment – that’s 7 million students
who miss one month or more of school per year.
FIDDLING ON THE FISCAL CLIFF
By Jeff Simering, Director of Legislation, Council of Great City Schools/Sept. Urban Educator | http://bit.ly/P2BeaH
7-Sep-12 :: The financial condition of school districts has yet to
rebound from the recession. And cuts to small education programs funded
by the federal budget and the virtual freeze on major formula grant
programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and
Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) in recent years have
exacerbated the problem. The result is larger class sizes and shorter
school years, in addition to reductions in service levels, staffing,
extracurricular activities, and maintenance and building repairs. In
these respects, public school systems have already fallen off the fiscal
precipice, but Congress may have more in store.
Public schools across the country face another substantial round of cuts
if lawmakers can’t reach a budget deal by the end of the year. Yet, the
nation’s financial and defense industries are screaming the loudest
about the plight they face if the Bush-era tax cuts are not extended and
defense spending is not exempted. The bipartisan Congressional Budget
Office (CBO) recently issued its Mid-Year Budget and Economic Outlook
predicting a decline in economic growth and the possibility of a new
recession if no Congressional action is taken on federal budget and tax
laws.
The resulting sequestration of federal discretionary-program
appropriations and reduced funding for certain entitlement programs,
along with the expiration of portions of the federal tax code, are
projected to decrease the gross domestic product by 0.5 percent in 2013
and increase unemployment to 9 percent.
An alternative analysis by CBO, using more moderate projections of
federal entitlement, budget and tax expenditures, results in estimates
of economic growth of 1.7 percent and unemployment of 8 percent in 2013,
but the budget group warns of financial and economic unsustainability
over the long run without more drastic action. Despite the alarming
economic predictions from the CBO and the hysterical pronouncements by
the financial and defense industries, Congressional leaders have agreed
to temporarily put aside the hard work until after the elections,
instead passing a six-month Continuing Resolution (“CR”) to keep the
federal government running through March.
This Continuing Resolution removes much of the pressure for any
immediate legislative action on the “fiscal cliff ” before the
election—even though seven temporary CRs nearly shut down the federal
government multiple times last year and a stalemate last August on the
debt ceiling brought the federal government to the brink of financial
default on its debt obligations. Fortuitously, the U.S. Education
Department adopted an alternative interpretation (which had been
recommended and promoted by the Council of the Great City Schools) on
how the automatic across-the-board cuts/sequestration could be applied
to key education programs.
The Department announced that currently appropriated federal education
funds from the FY 2012 spending bill (for school year 2012-2013) would
not be subject to sequestration in January 2013.
This alternative precludes mid-year budget cuts in this new school year,
but the potential of an 8 to 9 percent sequestration in school year
2013-2014 continues to be a real possibility without Congressional
action.
A timely resolution of these critical federal budget and tax issues
should not be expected, particularly in the middle of a contentious
presidential and congressional election season.
But, it is not too soon for educators to join the defense and financial sectors in sounding the alarm bells.
LAUSD BOARD MEMBER STEVE ZIMMER WANTS TO STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS
By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, L.A. Daily News | http://bit.ly/P3BMiA
9/7/2012 | 7:35:18 PM PDT :: School board member Steve Zimmer is
taking aim at two of the most contentious issues facing Los Angeles
Unified, with separate proposals to exclude high-stakes test scores from
teacher evaluations and to strengthen the oversight of charter schools.
Both resolutions on Tuesday's board agenda have generated heated debate
behind the scenes, with critics worried that the proposals could delay
or derail the progress that's been made toward long-awaited reforms.
In an interview Friday, Zimmer insisted that each of the issues has
reached a critical stage, and that board members need to decide the
direction they want the district to take.
The performance evaluation proposal is especially timely, with LAUSD
under a court order to negotiate with union leaders on a system that
uses student test scores to help gauge teacher success.
District administrators have long advocated the use of Academic Growth
over Time - which uses a complex formula of test scores and demographic
data - but union leaders say AGT is an unreliable measure of pupil
progress.
Zimmer now wants his colleagues to endorse the use of multiple
measurements - everything from periodic assessments to student
portfolios - in the evaluation process.
"The reason to do the resolution now is that it might move us forward to
a position that we're not necessarily comfortable with, but can live
with," said Zimmer, whose district includes part of the San Fernando
Valley, as well as Hollywood and the Westside.
"This is not the time for orthodoxy. It's a rare opportunity to seek
compromise that will greatly impact the next generation of students and
the quantity of growth and the quality of their learning."
While the district and unions disagree over the methods used to evaluate
teachers, they agree that the ultimate goal is to raise the quality of
the instructor to improve student achievement.
"When you look at simplifying the analysis of a teacher's work down to a
single score - like the (health) grade you'd give a restaurant - that
isn't going to help any teacher get better at their job," said Warren
Fletcher, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
"Teachers welcome accountability, but we want it in a meaningful way."
Los Angeles Unified is using AGT in an experimental performance
evaluation involving hundreds of volunteer teachers. It also factors in
classroom observation, parent and student feedback and a teacher's
contribution to the community.
West Valley board member Tamar Galatzan wants to know why the board is being asked to vote now on the AGT issue.
"We started down this path a long time ago, and that was the time to object," she said.
She also noted that the district is facing a court-ordered deadline of
Dec. 4 for coming up with a new teacher evaluation, and is in sensitive
talks with union leaders.
"The issue is being negotiated at the bargaining table right now," she
said. "This resolution is an attempt to make an end run around the
bargaining."
Galatzan was referring to the talks resulting from a ruling in Doe vs.
Deasy, a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group EdVoice that challenged how
the district evaluates its teaching corps.
EdVoice, the United Way and a number of other education advocacy groups are lining up to oppose Zimmer's motion.
"We believe that AGT and other educator effectiveness tools are key
aspects to ensuring quality instruction for all Los Angeles children,"
said Ryan Smith, director of education policy for the United Way of
Greater Los Angeles.
Educators4Excellence, a group of classroom reformers, said the district needs to push ahead with its use of AGT.
"Putting the district's teacher evaluation system on hold while we wait
years for a perfect measure of student growth data would mean another
generation of teachers go without any meaningful feedback," said Ama
Nyamekye, executive director of E4E. "We must move forward."
Zimmer also thinks it's time for the board to review the approval and
oversight of charter schools, with more than 230 of the campuses housing
110,000 students within the 700-square-mile district.
"When you've crossed those kinds of thresholds, we need to take a
careful and complete look at our role as authorizer," Zimmer said.
He plans to introduce a resolution on Tuesday directing Superintendent
John Deasy to craft plans for monitoring the charters, sharing best
practices and resolving conflicts in sharing district facilities. It
also endorses the creation of a 13-member Charter Oversight Commission
to advise the school board on individual applications.
Until those elements are in place, Zimmer wants the school board to
postpone or refer new charter applications to the Los Angeles County
Office of Education - a move that critics decry as illegal.
In a letter sent Friday to Los Angeles Unified, the attorney for the
California Charter Schools Association said the Charter Schools Act
requires the school board to "continue to accept, hear and take action
on all charter petitions."
Corri Tate Ravare, managing regional director for the Los Angeles branch
of CCSA, said the organization believes the moratorium would severely
limit parental choice.
"It would be shutting the door on the parents of 10,000 children who are on waiting lists for charters," Ravare said.
She said she understands the need for district oversight of the schools,
but said LAUSD's charter office has always worked professionally and
collaboratively with the organization.
Jose Cole-Gutierrez, executive director of the district's Charter
Schools Division, said the agency conducts an annual "deep dive" at each
school, which includes a review of academic and financial records,
teacher credentials and admissions of special-education students.
"We're the largest district authorizer in the nation and we believe
we're among the best, but we're always wanting to improve and learn and
increase student achievement," he said.
Galatzan, the Charter Association attorney and Deasy himself also worry about paying for the additional bureaucracy.
"I have great concern about how we'd pay for another layer of government," Deasy said. "We have zero ability to fund it."
THREE ED REFORMS PARENTS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT MOST
By Carol Burris from Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet/The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/Q9oCjn
8/23/2012 :: As summer comes to a close, students are preparing to go
back to school. I find that most of them enjoy returning. Certainly, our
daughters did. There is something exciting about a new beginning. Kids
look forward to seeing their friends and meeting their new teacher.
Teachers matter a lot to kids. When I ask the students in my school to
describe their teachers, they use adjectives like “great,” “caring,”
“smart” and “patient.” It is upon the caring and trusting relationship
between student and teacher that learning is built.
If you ask most Americans what they think of their child’s school, by
and large, they think it is really pretty good. Although most parents
see room for improvement, few think that the “sky is falling” on the
roof of their neighborhood public school. When their son or daughter
comes home with poor grades, most of the time they understand that their
child’s effort had something to do with it. Parents, I find, are quite
sensible in their perspective and do not automatically fault the
teacher.
It is unfortunate, then, we are lambasted with sweeping condemnations of
public schools and the teachers who work in them. It creates cognitive
dissonance between our faith in what we know and experience, and our
opinion of public schools in general. You can see that ‘belief gap’ in
polling.
Although I agree that we should all make a serious commitment to
improving education, I worry that reformers, many of whom have built
careers and fame by constantly disparaging our schools, are successfully
promoting changes that are not in the best interest of students. It may
be that the “cures” they propose are far more harmful than the problems
they seek to address. Here are the three reforms that I think parents
should worry about the most.
(1) EXCESSIVE TESTING.
I strongly believe that the assessment of student learning is an
important part of schooling. Assessment helps inform teachers, schools
and parents about what students know and have yet to learn. Aggregate
assessment information informs teachers and principals about the
efficacy of their programs and their curriculum. What has occurred,
however, in the past decade, is that standardized assessment has grown
exponentially — especially in the younger grades. This year, New York
State fourth graders, who are nine or ten years old, were subject to 675
minutes (over 11 hours) of state testing. And this did not include test
prep and field testing. Both a NYSUT survey of teachers as well as an
informal survey of teachers and parents by www.newyorkprincipals.org
found that young students were breaking down in tears and suffering from
anxiety due to testing.
Excessive testing is unhealthy. Students begin to identify with their
scores. Last June, I was appalled when I heard a 7th grader tell his
mom, “What do you want from me? I’m only “a two.”
(2) THE USE OF TEST SCORES FOR PURPOSES WHICH ARE NOT STUDENT-CENTERED.
Student test scores should be used to help parents and teachers
determine what a student knows and does not know. They should not be
used for other purposes, such as evaluating teachers in order to dismiss
them or to give bonuses. They should not determine which school should
be closed or be rewarded. When that happens, the relationship between
the child and the teacher, and the child and the school changes. Some
children become more desirable than others. Some children might be
looked upon as getting in the way of achieving a goal. This is not
because teachers and principals are bad people; it is because they are
human. They may be overly concerned, but I know outstanding, thoughtful
teachers who are worried that their relationship with students will
change when they are evaluated by test scores. They want to educate
students, not test prep them.
Now that all of the teacher, principal and school evaluations are based
on growth models, yearly testing, I predict, will continue to expand.
Each time that happens, precious learning time is lost.
(3) THE AMASSING OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENT SCORES IN NATIONAL AND STATE DATABASES.
State and national databases are being created in order to analyze and
house students’ test scores. No parental permission is required. I
wonder why not. Students who take the SAT must sign off before we send
their scores to colleges. Before my high school’s students could
participate in the National Educational Longitudinal Study, they needed
written permission from their parents. Yet, in New York, massive amounts
of student data are now being collected and sent beyond the school
without parental permission —end of year course grades, test scores,
attendance, ethnicity, disabilities and the kinds of modifications that
students receive. This data will be used to evaluate teachers, schools,
schools of education and perhaps for other purposes yet unknown. Schools
are no longer reporting collective data; we are now sending individual
student data. Although the name remains in the district, what assurances
do parents truly have that future databases will not be connected and
used
for other purposes? The more data that is sent, the easier it will be to
identify the individual student.
Eleven states have agreed to give confidential teacher and student data
for free to a shared learning collaborative funded by Bill Gates and run
by Murdoch’s Wireless Corp. Wireless received $44 million for the
project. With Common Core State Standards testing, such databases are
expected to expand. Funding for data warehousing siphons taxpayer
dollars from the classroom to corporations like Wireless and Pearson.
Because Common Core testing will be computer-based, the purchase of
hardware, software and upgrades will consume school budgets, while
providing profits for the testing and computer industries.
Although all of the above is in motion, it can be modified or stopped.
Parents should speak to their local PTAs and School Boards, as well as
their legislators. They should ask questions regarding what data is
being collected and to whom it is sent.
I think it is time to get Back to Basics. Let’s make sure that every
test a student takes is used to measure and enhance her learning, not
for adult, high-stakes purposes. Basic commonsense tells us that student
test results belong to families, not databases. Remind politicians that
the relationship between student and teacher, not student and test
helps our young people get through life’s challenges. Finally, let’s
return to the basic purpose of public schooling — to promote the
academic, social and emotional growth of our children. It is the role of
schools to develop healthy and productive citizens, not master test
takers.
• This was written by Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High
School in Rockville Centre, New York. Carol is the co-author of the New
York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers
by student scores. Over 1,500 New York principals and more than 5,400
teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens have signed
the letter which can be found here.
CHICAGO TEACHERS MAY STRIKE, TEACH POLITICAL LESSON
by Becky Vevea, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday | http://n.pr/NTYCMO
September 9, 2012 from WBEZ :: Twenty-five thousand Chicago teachers
are planning to walk off the job Monday if they don't have a contract by
midnight Sunday. As the Democrats look to unions to help them get out
the vote, a strike by Chicago teachers might just put a crimp in those
plans.
On Friday during rush hour, a handful of parents and students stood on a
bridge over the Eisenhower Expressway, holding signs that read, "Honk
if you support teachers." Among them is Rhoda Gutierrez, who has two
children in a Chicago public elementary school.
"We're here because we know this makes not just an impact on our city, but nationally," she says.
Parents like Gutierrez and others, who support the teachers union, are
up against a school district and a mayor who have a very different idea
about what the public schools should look like.
In the contract battle between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago
Teachers Union, the two sides are furiously campaigning for public
opinion as the city braces for the first teacher strike since 1987.
Emanuel is pushing for big changes: a longer school day and year, a new
system for evaluating teachers and a whole new way to pay teachers. At
the Democratic National Convention last week, he defended many of his
reforms.
"For the first time in a decade, [students are] getting a very rigorous
academic standard," he said. "For the first time, we're getting five new
high schools all dedicated to science, technology, engineering and
math. Six thousand more kids are going to magnet schools. We're making
major changes."
The union wants Emanuel to pay teachers more for what amounts to more work.
Teachers are also pushing back on some reforms that the mayor didn't tout at the DNC.
They want smaller class sizes, more art and music, and job protection
when the district shuts down low-performing schools and opens privately
run charter schools, which are not typically unionized.
Steven Ashby, a labor professor at the University of Illinois, says a
strike in Chicago could present problems for President Obama's
re-election.
"He will win Illinois delegates in the November election, but
nevertheless, the last thing he wants is the Republican Party talking
about how teachers are on strike in Chicago," West says.
It's also a big gamble for the union. Ashby says the outcome in Chicago
could affect the future of organized labor at a time when membership is
down and public sector unions are struggling.
Back at the overpass, parent Jennifer Biggs agrees with what the union
is fighting for, but says there really is no political candidate
supporting those goals.
"The Democrats and the Republicans seem to be on the same page with
education, which to me is terribly scary," she says. "I just think
they're really going to lose some votes, or a lot of people might even
just stay home."
Picket lines are scheduled to start Monday morning, if the two sides can't reach a deal by 11:59 p.m.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
CHICAGO TEACHERS MAY STRIKE, TEACH POLITICAL LESSON: by Becky Vevea, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday | http://n.... http://bit.ly/RsugBi
Outlook: K-12 FUNDING, LEGISLATION AND THE POLITICAL PLATFORMS: by Fritz Edelstein, from School Planning & Manag... http://bit.ly/O3TKin
Report - SKIPPING TO NOWHERE: Students share their views about missing school: a report from http://GetSchooled.com ... http://bit.ly/QsYQFs
Expand
LAUSD BOARD MEMBER STEVE ZIMMER WANTS TO STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer... http://bit.ly/TAdVcP
Expand
THREE ED REFORMS PARENTS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT MOST: By Carol Burris from Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet/The Washing... http://bit.ly/P1p5D3
‘WHY ARE CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS SUSPENDING MORE STUDENTS THAN THEY GRADUATE?’: Statewide hearing examines the proble... http://bit.ly/RjqEBt
Horace Mann: THOUGHTS ON TEACHING FROM THE “FATHER OF PUBLIC EDUCATION”: Horace Mann, circa 1850. Daguerreotype ... http://bit.ly/RsQnln
®eform…? What ®eform?: AS OBAMA IS NOMINATED, DUNCAN SPEECH FINESSES TOUCHY ISSUES: By Alyson Klein, EdWeek Poli... http://bit.ly/P0H8t8
CalSTRS: STUDY EXPOSES TEACHER PENSION SCAMS. State Controller finds teacher retirement fund lax on anti-spiking... http://bit.ly/QkJcMg
HEAT WAVE COSTS LAUSD MORE THAN $400K IN A.C. REPAIRS + smf’s 2¢: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News ... http://bit.ly/TpuHNj
Study: SPECIAL EDUCATION SPENDING REDUCTION TO NATIONAL MEDIAN COULD SAVE DISTRICTS $10 BILLION + COULD CUTTING ... http://bit.ly/NVXxOu
NEW ACCOUNTABILITY DEMANDS COMING FOR CHARTERS – STARTUPS AND RENEWALS: By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | h... http://bit.ly/QfEaAC
Stay tuned: CALIFORNIA SPENDING, OUTCOME IN SPECIAL ED WELL BELOW NATIONAL AVERAGES: By Kimberly Beltran SI&A Ca... http://bit.ly/RpDRDg
TAKING CARE OF TRUANTS: L.A. Unified's new, gentler plan emphasizes counseling over handing out tickets + smf’s ... http://bit.ly/ResUK7
Expand
PARENT & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN THE “SUPERINTENDENT’S DISTRICT”: by smf 6 September 2012 :: In the redesign/r... http://bit.ly/OSrXDN
I am @ angry meeting of RIFed M&O employees @ Cortines HS. Outside
the room outsourced contractors are doing their work. –smf
PTA + CHP PARTNER IN TEEN DRIVING SAFETY EVENT: “What Do You Consider Lethal?”: http://bit.ly/R80Tnx
It isn’t all Democrats in the Tarheel State: N.C. COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS MANDATE ON PRE-K FOR AT-RISK CHILDREN... http://bit.ly/ThW3F7
Law Review Article: SAFEGUARDING SOUND BASIC EDUCATION IN TIMES OF FISCAL CONTRAINT: “Constitutional rights cann... http://bit.ly/R7SkJz
HOW WILL EDUCATION PLAY AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION?: By Alyson Klein, EdWeek Politics K-12 Blog | ... http://bit.ly/PY1qTp
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
MONDAY: School Discipline Policy Hearing at LAPL | http://bit.ly/Q7B0D4
TUESDAY: School Board meets twice. Again. | http://bit.ly/Q7AODH
FRIDAY: Student Recovery Day. | http://bit.ly/RMdThI
*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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