In This Issue:
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GATES FOUNDATION-FUNDED EDUCATION-REFORM GROUP TO CLOSE |
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Common Core (sub)Standards: FICTION vs. NONFICTION SMACKDOWN |
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Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals: CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO PICK+CHOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢ |
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AALA LETTER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT & HIS REPLY |
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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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GEORGE McGOVERN
1922 - 2012
The presidential debates take up foreign policy on Monday evening,
having avoided education policy successfully for about two hours and
fifty-eight minutes of the prior three hours of debate. We know that
Barack Obama evokes Ed. policy while dodging questions about gun laws –
and apparently Mitt Romney likes Arne Duncan. Reasons enough to write-in
Rocky and Bullwinkle on your sample ballot.
4LAKids – which is about public education in Los Angeles - has a foreign
policy - as did+do Mayors Sam+ Tony - birds of similar feather in their
befouled nest at City Hall.
The story of Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who campaigned
for the education of girls against the Taliban proscription – and who
was shot and not quite killed for that advocacy (with the promise to
keep trying until they get the job done right) - resonates in the
chord/cord that connects my heart and mind and soul. http://bit.ly/T4DMWe
To be a victim is not heroic – but this young woman was already a Hero.
And if heroes must have a flaw it is this: She lives on planet earth
where such evil is tolerated and promulgated by a few amongst us.
“Ironic or Orwellian?: “Taliban” means “students” in Pashto.
Public education lights a candle against the darkness of ignorance.
"On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set forth to
Congress and the people 'four essential human freedoms' for which
America stands.
"In the years since then, those four freedoms: Freedom of Speech,
Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear - have
stood as a summary of our aspirations for the American Republic and for
the world.
"And Americans have always stood ready to pay the cost in energy and treasure which are needed to make those goals a reality.
"Today - wealthier, more powerful and more able than ever before in our
history - our Nation can declare another essential freedom.
"The Fifth Freedom is Freedom from Ignorance.
“It means that every man, everywhere, should be free to develop his
talents to their full potential - unhampered by arbitrary barriers of
race or birth or income. We have already begun the work of guaranteeing
that fifth freedom.
"The job, of course, will never be finished. For a nation, as for an
individual, education is a perpetually unfinished journey, a continuing
process of discovery.”
FDR was speaking to the world in his speech – the abstract made visual in Norman Rockwell’s illustrations | http://bit.ly/XCIvnj.
LBJ was speaking to the nation – but it is time to embrace Freedom
from Ignorance internationally and carve it in the stone alongside the
other four. Rockwell even has an illustration: The Problem We All Live
With - http://bit.ly/PhAy77
- which depicts Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African-American girl,
escorted by federal marshals to an all-white public school in New
Orleans on November 14, 1960. The painting currently hangs outside the
Oval Office.
WHEN MEETING WITH IMPORTANT PEOPLE it is important to control the venue.
I met with Steve Zimmer in an elevator – a small room with secure doors
(guaranteeing audience captivity) at Beaudry last Wednesday, going from 1
to 24. Steve is on a mission, a seemingly-everywhere, an Energizer
Bunny getting out the vote (GOTV) for the two school funding
propositions on the Nov 6th ballot. | http://bit.ly/Vfwmlb.
Steve had a new acronym for me: NYM – “Not Yet Mobilized” – critical
of LAUSD’s not-very-committed-commitment-to GOTV. If both measures 30 +
38 fail, NYM can rank down there with DAMH – the Dog Ate My Homework!
Buried two clicks into Maria Casilla’s LAUSD Parent Community Services
Branch website is: “Below is the link provided for the Secretary of
State’s website for individuals to register to vote”. And no mention of
the funding initiatives, no attempt to educate parents. One hopes not
too little/too late.
To vote you must be eligible and register.
• If you are ineligible find someone who is and SPREAD THE WORD.
• If you are not registered: YOU HAVE ONE DAY LEFT.
______________
Monday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election.
Citizens 18 or older who are not registered or who have moved can pick
up applications at many places throughout the state, including post
offices, public libraries, Department of Motor Vehicle offices and
county election headquarters.
For the first time this year, signing up to vote may be done online by going to http://www.RegisterToVote.ca.gov.
Mail ballots may be requested through Oct. 30. -- [http://lat.ms/ORw45O]
- Cut+pasted from The Times, which may soon be purchased and published
by Rupert Murdock, of Fox News, News of the World and Page Three Girls
fame | http://lat.ms/T7kmod.* Zimmer’s not the only Energizer Bunny: Murdoch's made a speech to the G8 about Education [http://bit.ly/nd4Qq6], invested in Wireless Education [ http://bit.ly/q8khCt], picked up no-bid contracts to create test-score databases for NY State and NY City Schools [http://huff.to/qsyftd + http://wapo.st/oyVToJ] – and hired Joel Klien away from (Mayor) Michael Bloomberg (News) subsidiary, The New York City Department of Education.
Supt Deasy writes elsewhere: “My entire focus is about helping the
community understand the impact of both Prop 30 and 38.” That focus and
urgency apparently hasn’t made it to the PCSB – and “community” is
their second name!
_____________
WEDNESDAY THE BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MET and had a major discussion on
LAUSD’s effort to place and equip Parent Centers at all schools. The
Inspector General presented a report on the efforts to date, future
efforts contemplated, and what other districts and states have been
doing: Best practices + Lessons Learned | http://t.co/NrCkb9i3.
It became apparent that the District is committed to the capital
improvement piece using bond money – but is not committed to funding
training and staffing – in other words: Human Capital. Parent Centers
become an unfunded mandate: “We will build them – but you should come up
with the money to run them …but we won’t make you.” And there isn’t
going to be enough money for nurses and librarians and supplies and
staff and afterschool programs and art and music and cleaning and
maintenance. So convert all those ‘and’s to ‘or’s and do your best as
you pick+choose!
The Building of Parent Centers is a legacy of Yolie Flores’ tenure on the Board of Ed.
Yolie’s sponsorship of Public School Choice was a disastrous low point
for the District; I like Yolie, I hate PSC. Much of that has been
undone, more remains to be undone. Yolie must have been surprised by the
greedy politics of PSC as school projects she nurtured in her district
were given away as political favors against her, the superintendent’s,
and the community’s wishes. And with no regard to the best interests of
children. Do not doubt that Yolie was an enthusiastic supporter/true
believer in the Gates/Broad/Villaraigosa/Garcia ®eform agenda …but never
doubt Yolie believes first and foremost in children.
I suspect that the political ugliness and the
“Monica’s-way-or-the-Highway” leadership prompted Yolie to leave the
board. Her legacy is the “Parents as Equal Partners in the Education of
their Children” resolution, and the commitment to Parent and Family
Centers at schools. The program has been implemented in slapdash style -
with leadership outsourced, established parent groups tossed out in
political coups, and no commitment to current (let alone ongoing)
funding and support. This is unfortunate but correctable in next
election cycle.
Yolie left the board to form Communities for Teaching Excellence with
funding from the Gates Foundation. Read Gates Foundation-funded
Education-Reform Group to Close (below) to see how that turned out.
IN ADELANTO, the adventure of The Parent Trigger continued as only 53
parents voted on behalf of the 697 students of Desert Trails Elementary
as to what outside charter operator gets to take over their school. And
like the feather in Yankee Doodle’s hat, they called it democracy | http://bit.ly/TAtaiy. Apparently having the parents and teachers form their own charter school wasn’t an option – it must be an outside operator.
THE TRADITION OF USING "TERMS OF VENERY" or "nouns of assembly":
Collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems
from a courtly English hunting tradition of the Middle Ages,. Hence a
Covey of Quail, a Pride of Lions, a Cete of Badgers, and famously: an
Exaltation of Larks. To this we can now add a Binder of Women.
SO SCOTT …HOW’S THE RUN FOR SCHOOL BOARD GOING? I promise to keep my
personal campaign out of 4LAKids as much as possible. I’m a Gemini – I
should be able to maintain a duality without becoming duplicitous. There
is another election coming up, two weeks from Tuesday; we need to stay
focused on that. So Register by Tomorrow and Vote. Early and often.
There was a Candidate Forum in Lincoln Heights Wednesday evening and six
very engaged and engaging candidates showed up. The seventh candidate,
incumbent Monica Garcia didn’t. She didn’t even bother to respond to the
invitation A lively conversation with the community was had, good
questions were asked and most were frankly and honestly answered – all
except for “Where’s Monica?”
The forum, sponsored by the District 2 Community Coalition, was held at a
place called El ARCA (East Los Angeles Remarkable Citizens'
Association), a community based, private non-profit that provides
services and special programs to the developmentally disabled population
of the community. 4LAKids will return and write more about this in the
future.
Monica did show up – albeit (and some would say disrespectfully) almost
half-an-hour-late - for a thirty-minute candidate interview at the
California School Employees Association (CSEA/classified employees) in
Glendale on Thursday evening. I wasn’t in the room so I can’t report
what she said. I was outside the room, it wasn’t necessary to put a
glass against the door to hear – but…
IN OTHER NEWS: • The Court of Appeals ruled that charter schools are
not entitled to pick+choose their prop 39 co-location. • The Common Core
Standards are not proving all that popular among Special Educators,
English Teachers and Librarians. • The LA Times wants to publish more
names and more test scores of more teachers. • And read the letter from
AALA President Perez to Supt. Deasy. And his terse reply. Last week the
water cooler rumor was nothing was happening at Beaudry that wasn’t
about Tablets for Everyone.
¡Onward/Adelante! – smf
*UPDATE: "Reports that News Corporation is in discussions with Tribune
or the LA Times are wholly inaccurate" a News Corp spokesperson told the
Hollywood Reporter on Saturday | http://bit.ly/XEaDGw ••smf: Murdoch owns FoxNews+the WSJ (which has been reporting this story) and he denies it to the Hollywood Reporter?
GATES FOUNDATION-FUNDED EDUCATION-REFORM GROUP TO CLOSE
COMMUNITIES FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE, THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION BASED IN
L.A., PLANS TO CLOSE NEXT MONTH AFTER ITS BOARD VOTED TO SHUTTER IT AND
THE GATES PHILANTHROPY ENDED FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/Rgm6Zs
October 19, 2012 :: The Gates Foundation, the country's most
influential education-policy organization, has quietly ended financial
support for a national group formed to push for favored reforms,
including an overhaul of teacher evaluations.
Communities for Teaching Excellence, headed by former L.A. school board
member Yolie Flores, is planning to close its doors next month. Although
based in Los Angeles, the group had a presence in Hillsborough County,
Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; and in Pittsburgh — all locations where the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the development of new
teacher-evaluation systems.
The group was formed in 2010 to influence public opinion and exert
pressure on public officials to adopt sometimes controversial policies.
Since then, a number of other groups have taken up a similar mission;
Gates has helped fund some of those as well.
When the organization started, Flores said, "there was not much going on
in terms of advocacy. Fast forward three years, it's a pretty crowded
space and it's a good thing."
But Communities for Teaching Excellence was not hitting its marks in
terms of generating press coverage and building community coalitions,
said Amy Wilkins, chairwoman of the board of directors. She said the
board voted to shutter the organization; the Seattle-based Gates
Foundation agreed with the decision.
"The field was more complex … and building these partnerships was more
difficult than anybody had imagined," Wilkins said. "The inventors of
this organization had envisioned more robust activity at the local level
than we were achieving."
Perceptions also were an issue: The group was depending on Gates for 75% of its budget.
"Gates was such a big part of the funding," Wilkins said. "That made
some of the partners and other funders nervous. How do you look like an
independent actor? You have to show broad public support so you're not
seen as a phony-baloney front for Gates. People criticized the
organization for that and they didn't move closer to shaking that
label."
Wilkins praised Flores and her staff, but said that the "model" of a
national advocacy organization wasn't working and that it made more
sense for Gates to support local groups engaged in comparable work.
(Wilkins also has ties to Gates funding as an official with Washington,
D.C.-based Education Trust, for which the foundation has provided
substantial support.)
Flores' group brought together community organizations and activists in
the different cities over issues including teacher tenure and seniority.
Such a coalition kept pressure on the Los Angeles Unified School
District to evaluate teachers on multiple measures, including students'
standardized test scores. The district remains in negotiations with the
teachers union over such an evaluation system.
The group coordinated media campaigns and, at times, helped recruit a
small army of parents who descended on school board meetings. Many of
these parents were recruited from independently managed local charter
schools, even though those campuses can enforce their own evaluation
rules and were not directly affected.
The group "was very effective at coalition building," said Ryan Smith,
director of education, programs and policy for the United Way of Greater
Los Angeles. "There's definitely a space that is still needed for that
kind of work."
Although Flores said test results are not the only way to gauge
achievement, she said other options are not generally available and that
such an objective measure has a necessary role in teacher reviews.
Such positions prompted opposition from the teachers union in L.A. and
others but have been supported by the Obama administration through
grants and other incentives. Across the country, many school systems are
revamping teacher evaluations as well as tenure and seniority rules.
In the L.A. area, Gates has pledged $60 million to a consortium of
charter-school groups for new teacher evaluations. The grants for other
regions totaled $230 million.
In Hillsborough County this year, new bonuses will be paid to teachers
who raise the achievement of low-performing students. In Memphis, for
the first time, student improvement on test scores makes up 35% of a
teacher's evaluation. Pittsburgh will add such measures next year.
Flores, 49, became the founding director of Communities for Teaching
Excellence after a frequently stormy, four-year tenure on the L.A. Board
of Education. Flores was frequently criticized by the teachers union
and hailed by charter-school advocates and L.A. Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa, among others. Her policy initiatives included a plan to
allow charter schools and other groups to bid for control of new and
low-performing campuses.
Common Core (sub)Standards: FICTION vs. NONFICTION SMACKDOWN
Jay Mathews: Columnist, The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/Ua4z9S
October 17, 2012 :: There is no more troubling fact about U.S.
education than this: The reading scores of 17-year-olds have shown no
significant improvement since 1980.
The new Common Core State Standards in 46 states and the District are
designed to solve that problem. Among other things, students are being
asked to read more nonfiction, considered by many experts to be the key
to success in college or the workplace.
The Common Core standards are one of our hottest trends. Virginia
declined to participate but was ignored in the rush of good feeling
about the new reform. Now, the period of happy news conferences is over,
and teachers have to make big changes. That never goes well. Expect
battles, particularly in this educationally hypersensitive region.
Teaching more nonfiction will be a key issue. Many English teachers
don’t think it will do any good. Even if it were a good idea, they say,
those who have to make the change have not had enough training to
succeed — an old story in school reform.
The clash of views is well described by two prominent scholars for the
Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based public policy group, in a new paper.
(Executive Summary + link follows) Sandra Stotsky of the University of
Arkansas and Mark Bauerlein of Emory University say the reformers who
wrote the Common Core standards have no data to support their argument
that kids have been hurt by reading too much fiction. They say analyzing
great literature would give students all the critical thinking skills
they need. The problem, they say, is not the lack of nonfiction but the
dumbed-down fiction that has been assigned in recent decades.
“Problems in college readiness stem from an incoherent, less-challenging
literature curriculum from the 1960s onward,” Bauerlein and Stotsky
say. “Until that time, a literature-heavy English curriculum was
understood as precisely the kind of pre-college training students
needed.”
The standards were inspired, in part, by a movement to improve
children’s reading abilities by replacing standard elementary school
pabulum with a rich diet of history, geography, science and the arts.
University of Virginia scholar E.D. Hirsch Jr. has written several books
on this. He established the Core Knowledge Foundation in
Charlottesville to support schools that want their third-graders
studying ancient Rome and their fourth-graders listening to Handel.
Robert Pondiscio, a former fifth-grade teacher who is vice president of
the foundation, quotes a key part of the Common Core standards making
this case:
“By reading texts in history/social studies, science, and other
disciplines, students build a foundation of knowledge in these fields
that will also give them the background to be better readers in all
content areas. Students can only gain this foundation when the
curriculum is intentionally and coherently structured to develop rich
content knowledge within and across grades.”
The Common Core guidelines recommend fourth-graders get an equal amount
of fiction and nonfiction. Eighth-grade reading should be about 55
percent nonfiction, going to a recommended 70 percent by 12th grade.
Bauerlein and Stotsky say that could hurt college readiness. The new
standards and associated tests, they say, will make “English teachers
responsible for informational reading instruction, something they have
not been trained for, and will not be trained for unless the entire
undergraduate English major as well as preparatory programs in English
education in education schools are changed.”
Pondiscio says he admires Bauerlein and Stotsky and doesn’t see why
English classes have to carry the nonfiction weight. Social studies and
science courses can do that. The real battle, he says, will be in the
elementary schools, where lesson plans have failed to provide the
vocabulary, background knowledge and context that make good readers.
Those who want the new standards say learning to read is more than just
acquiring a skill, like bike riding. It is absorbing an entire world.
That is what the fight in your local district will be about.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | How Common Core’s English Language Arts Standards Place College Readiness at Risk
A Pioneer Institute White Paper
by Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky
The aim of this paper is to convince state and local education policy makers to do two things:
• To emphasize Common Core’s existing literary-historical standards,
requiring English departments and English teachers to begin with them
as they redesign their secondary English curricula.
• To add and prioritize a new literary-historical standard of their
own along the lines of “Demonstrate knowledge of culturally important
authors and/or texts in British literature from the Renaissance to
Modernism.”
Far from contradicting Common Core, these actions follow its
injunction that, apart from “certain critical content for all students,
including: classic myths and stories from around the world, America’s
Founding Documents, foundational American literature, and Shakespeare . .
. the remaining crucial decisions about what content should be taught
are left to state and local determination.” In other words, Common Core
asks state and local officials to supplement its requirements with their
own. It also expects them to help students “systematically acquire
knowledge in literature.” This paper explains why the two priorities
spelled out above are necessary if we seek to use the English curriculum
to increase college readiness and the capacity for analytical thinking
in all students.
The paper begins by explaining why college readiness will likely
decrease when the secondary English curriculum prioritizes literary
nonfiction or informational reading and reduces the study of complex
literary texts and literary traditions. It then shows that Common Core’s
division of its reading standards is unwarranted. Common Core itself
provides no evidence to support its promise that more literary
nonfiction or informational reading in the English class will make all
students ready for college-level coursework. In addition, NAEP’s reading
frameworks, invoked by Common Core itself, provide no support for
Common Core’s division of its reading standards into ten for information
and nine for literature at all grade levels. Nor do they provide a
research base for the percentages NAEP uses for its reading tests.
Common Core’s architects have inaccurately and without warrant applied
NAEP percentages for passage types on its reading tests to the English
and reading
curriculum, misleading teachers, administrators, and test developers
alike.
The paper proceeds with a detailed description of what is present
and what is missing in Common Core’s literature standards. The
deficiencies in Common Core’s literature standards and its misplaced
stress on literary nonfiction or informational reading in the English
class reflect the limited expertise of Common Core’s architects and
sponsoring organizations. Its secondary English language arts standards
were not developed or approved by English teachers and humanities
scholars, nor were they research-based or internationally benchmarked.
We conclude by showing how NAEP’s criteria for passage selection can
guide construction of state-specific tests to ensure that all students,
not just an elite, study a meaningful range of culturally and
historically significant literary works in high school. Such tests can
promote classroom efforts to develop in all students the background
knowledge and quality of analytical thinking that authentic college
coursework requires.
Common Core believes that more informational readings in high school
will improve college readiness, apparently on the sole basis that
students in college read mostly informational texts, not literary ones.
We know of no research, however, to support that faith. Rather, the
history of college readiness in the 20th century suggests that problems
in college readiness stem from an incoherent, less-challenging
literature curriculum from the 1960s onward. Until that time, a
literature-heavy English curriculum was understood as precisely the kind
of pre-college training students needed.
The chief problem with a 50/50 division of reading instructional
goals in English language arts is its lack of an empirical rationale.
NAEP’s division of passage types is based on “estimates” of the kinds of
reading students do in and outside of school. NAEP expressly denies
that its grade 12 reading tests assess the English curriculum,
especially since it has (deliberately) never assessed drama. Moreover,
the 50/50 division in grades 6-12 makes English teachers responsible for
informational reading instruction, something they have not been trained
for, and will not be trained for unless the entire undergraduate
English major as well as preparatory programs in English education in
education schools are changed.
State law typically specifies only that state tests must be based on
state standards. Since most states have adopted Common Core’s ELA
standards as their state standards, and Common Core’s College and Career
Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading are mainly generic reading
skills, states can generate state-specific guidelines for a secondary
literature curriculum addressing what we recommend above without
conflicting with any of Common Core’s ELA standards.
Otherwise, state and local policy makers will see the very problems
in reading that Common Core aimed to remedy worsen. The achievement gap
will persist or widen; while high-achieving students in
academically-oriented private and suburban schools may receive rich
literary-historical instruction, students in the bottom two-thirds of
our student population with respect to achievement, especially those in
low-performing schools, will receive non-cumulative, watery training in
mere reading comprehension.
Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals:
CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO PICK+CHOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢
COURT SAYS LAUSD OFFER OF FACILITIES AT BELMONT H.S. WAS ADEQUATE
By a MetNews Staff Writer, Metropolitan News-Enterprise | http://bit.ly/RqdM8C
Friday, October 12, 2012 :: The Los Angeles Unified School District
did not violate the charter schools initiative by offering to locate a
charter school in adjoining classrooms at Belmont High School, contrary
to the wishes of the charter school’s directors, this district’s Court
of Appeal ruled.
While officials of Los Angeles International Charter High School
preferred to be located at Franklin High School, Justice Richard Aldrich
wrote for Div. Three, nothing in Proposition 39 requires the school
district to accommodate that desire.
The initiative—adopted in 1992 and officially titled the Charter Schools
Act—generally requires that school districts make facilities available
to charter schools so that all public school students, whether in
traditional or charter schools, attend school in substantially
equivalent physical surroundings. LAICHS, founded in 2005, is located in
the Hermon area between Highland Park and Eagle Rock, not far from
Franklin H.S.
The school presently has a lease through 2020, but has expressed concern
about meeting its rent, Aldrich explained. It requested facilities
assistance from LAUSD under Proposition 39 for school year 2010-11, but
said it did not wish to move from the area where it is now situated.
Petition for Mandate
After LAUSD concluded it could not assist the school, LAICHS filed a
petition for writ of mandate and request for money damages. A Los
Angeles Superior Court judge granted relief in the form of an order
requiring the district to “make an offer of facilities to [LAICHS] for
the 2010-2011 school year sufficient to accommodate all of [LAICHS’] 157
in-district students in conditions reasonably equivalent to those in
which the students would be accommodated if they were attending other
public schools in the district.”
The district then offered to locate the students in eight adjoining
classrooms at Belmont. The LAICHS then returned to court, arguing that
the district did not comply with the writ because the evidence did not
support the decision to locate the school at Belmont.
Following a hearing, Judge Ann I. Jones ruled that the district’s offer
to locate the school at Belmont complied with the charter schools
legislation and with the writ, which she ordered discharged.
‘Uncontroverted’ Evidence
In concluding the judge did not err, Aldrich agreed that there was
“uncontroverted” evidence the school could not be accommodated at
Franklin, as it wished, and that Belmont was the best option in the
northeast area because of the availability of adjacent classrooms,
access to shared facilities, and the amount of money the district was
putting into upgrades at the campus.
By contrast, the justice noted, placing the school at Franklin would
have required spreading the students out and/or shifting Franklin
students and teachers and altering schedules in mid-year.
The “essence” of the charter school’s argument, Aldrich elaborated, was
that LAUSD “abused its discretion by not offering facilities at Franklin
High School, the school most of LAICHS’ in-district students would
attend were they not in a charter school.” But the act, he noted, only
requires that facilities be shared “fairly” and located reasonably near
to the school’s desired location.
In concluding that the Belmont offer met that standard, Aldrich wrote:
“Belmont is located in Local District 4, just as Franklin High School
is. Belmont lies only three miles outside the geographic area
identified by LAICHS in its facilities application. Belmont is closer
to the geographic area LAICHS desired than Wilson High School, another
comparison school, and Marshall High School, one of the schools LAICHS
named as an alternative. Meanwhile, all of the high schools in the
comparison group, or in Local Districts 4 and 5 near LAICHS’ requested
area, were operating at or above capacity. Only Belmont met all of the
Proposition 39 factors.”
In addition, he said, given the extent of the potential disruption of
school life at Franklin, the district would actually be giving the
charter school favorable, rather than equal, treatment if it acceded to
its wishes.
Attorneys on appeal were Gregory V. Moser, Kendra J. Hall and John C.
Lemmo of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch for the plaintiff and
David R. Holmquist, Mark Fall, and Nathan A. Reierson of LAUSD and
Gregory G. Luke, Beverly Grossman Palmer and Byron F. Kahr of
Strumwasser & Woocher for the district.
••smf’s 2¢ -- smf full disclosure: I went out of my way as a community
member, Neighborhood Council Education chairperson and later President ,
supporter of public education and Bond Oversight Committee member
arrange for Los Angeles International Charter High School’s (LAICHS)
current location at a then vacant Christian school campus in Hermon. I
supported their cause; I helped sponsor their fundraising,
• I find LAICHS’ directors efforts to relocate – to find a cheaper
location at the expense of the taxpayers and school district - an
egregious breech of faith with our community.
• I spoke at the Board of Education to oppose LAICHS’s charter being
revoked when their directors had a financial hiccup - because I believed
the school was a community asset.
No good deeds go unpunished.
I find LAICHS continuing attempt to secure a Prop 39 co-location – free
rent - and instance upon co-locating on their own terms – a personal
affront.
And hopefully the ruling of the court sets precedent on charter operator’s abuse of co-location provisions in Prop 39.
AALA LETTER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT & HIS REPLY
From the Associated Administers of Los Angeles Weekly Update of Week of October 22, 2012 | http://bit.ly/SaRiLF
As a follow-up to the resolution regarding AALA members’ working
conditions that was passed at the Representative Assembly meeting on
October 4, 2012, Dr. Judith Perez, AALA President, sent the following
letter to the Superintendent, Dr. John Deasy, on Wednesday, October 17,
2012.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you once again to address AALA's
concerns regarding the impossible workload of school site
administrators. Our members are so overwhelmed by the extra demands
mandated by the District that they do not have time to fulfill their
primary responsibilities, to ensure school safety and focus on
instructional improvement. Their stress levels are so high that their
health is being affected.
You will recall that we raised these concerns during AALA-LAUSD
negotiations, in regular meetings with you and the two Deputy
Superintendents and at the Board meeting of October 9, 2012. We have
made numerous recommendations regarding ways to alleviate our members'
workload. On October l, you indicated during negotiations that you would
respond to us shortly regarding these ideas. Yet we have heard nothing
from you or your bargaining team.
Subsequently, a small group of elementary principals scheduled a meeting
at AALA after work hours to discuss their working conditions in depth.
To our surprise, 25 frustrated principals, representing several ESCs,
attended. On October 4, AALA's Representative Assembly unanimously
passed a resolution (attached) recommending specific changes to District
priorities.
Given these facts, you will understand our disappointment yesterday when
John Bowes informed us that you would have no response to our
recommendations for reducing administrators' workload until sometime
next month, thus forcing us to cancel negotiations previously scheduled
for today. Despite the fact that not a single senior staff member has
challenged AALA's assessment of our members' working conditions, we find
it incredible that our concerns have been pushed to the back burner.
This disregard for the working conditions of school leaders reflects a
lack of respect for administrators who are holding this District
together.
We urge you to address our concerns now.
DR. DEASY’S RESPONSE
Dr. Deasy responded to Dr. Perez’ letter in little more than an hour.
Below is an exact copy of the response sent via his iPhone:
The actual future of this district is the number one priority of my
office at moment. In care (sic) you are not aware we have the most
critical election which will determine the very future of our survival
in less than 3 weeks. My entire focus is about helping the community
understand the impact of both Prop 30 and 38
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
Steve Lopez: DON’T DEMONIZE TEACHERS BECAUSE OF
PENSION SYSTEM’S FAULTS: Yes, public pensions got out of hand. But
teachers aren't the biggest culprits, nor are they why California has
some of the nation's most shamefully underfunded schools. | http://bit.ly/WVqOzT
National School Lunch Week: MOST STUDENTS GIVE MORE HEALTHFUL STATE SCHOOL MENUS THUMBS UP: By Marisa Gerber, Lo... http://bit.ly/VqUV4a
Expand
FEDERAL MANDATES ON LOCAL EDUCATION: COSTS + CONSEQUENCES – Yes, it’s a Race, but is it in the Right Direction?:... http://bit.ly/WTv8iZ
DEVASTATING BUDGET CUTS TEAR A BIG HOLE IN STATE’S CHILD CARE NET: By Kimberly Beltran | SI&A Cabinet Report | h... http://bit.ly/RhhVwt
JOHN GREENWOOD DIES AT 67, FORMER LAUSD BOARD MEMBER: John Greenwood, a moderate, opposed court-ordered mandator... http://bit.ly/Ul4gsW
‘CHOICES’ OPENS NEW DOORS FOR STUDENTS AT FAILING LAUSD SCHOOLS: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News |... http://bit.ly/WSj1ml
TAILORING THE TESTS TO SPECIAL NEEDS: QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ADAPTIVE ASSESSMENTS …and feedback from an LAUSD sp... http://bit.ly/QxVnpM
Where’s Monica? SUCCESSFUL 1st CANDIDATE FORUM IN LINCOLN HEIGHTS: District 2 Neighborhood Coalition | http://bi... http://bit.ly/Uau0bw
According to the web there are 2301 people named Mónica Garcia in the
U.S. None of them showed up @ the LAUSD District 2 Debate last night.
Common Core (sub)Standards: FICTION vs. FICTION SMACKDOWN: Jay Mathews: Columnist, The Washington Post... http://bit.ly/R3ExAl
Here they go again: L.A. TIMES SUES LAUSD FOR INFO ON TEACHERS: smf’s 2¢: The Times’ previous “Value Addled” eff... http://bit.ly/RH34e2
TONIGHT: LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD SEAT 2 CANDIDATE FORUM: Wed, Oct 17, 6:00pm - 8:30pm El ARCA - 3839 Selig Place Lin... http://bit.ly/XnDWNy
Data or Reason?: THE POLITICS OF COMMON SENSE: In evaluating the candidates' (…or Fox News’ …or MSNBC’s …or the... http://bit.ly/V5TDeS
REPUBLICANS FOR ‘SESAME STREET’: It's possible to support Mitt Romney and Big Bird too.: Op-Ed in the LA Times b... http://bit.ly/WupUdv
320 STUDENTS ABSENT AMID NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK AT CALIF. SCHOOL [in Thousand Oaks]: Students at Medea Creek Middle ... http://bit.ly/QmOuYc
OMG! How do I Vote on Proposition B?: A PROPOSITION PARTY: Not THAT Proposition B! So smf is driving through... http://bit.ly/Qk6suf
LAUSD Inspector General’s Audit Report: PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PARENT CENTERS: to be presented and discussed at... http://bit.ly/XeBIzY
SUPPORT SLIPS FOR TAX MEASURES; SEPTEMBER REVENUES MIXED: State PTA president suggests that the governor and Mun... http://bit.ly/XeeIBg
DISPROPORTIONALITY IN SPECIAL ED POSES NEW FEDERAL HAZARD TO DISTRICTS: By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | h... http://bit.ly/RtLjyJ
CONTRARY TO COMMON WISDOM, NOTHING IS ‘AWAY’ FROM THE CLASSROOM: By Seth Rosenblatt | EdSource Today | http://bi... http://bit.ly/QIvN2p
ADVICE FOR PARENTS WHO WANT TO BE PARTNERS IN THEIR KID’S EDUCATION: By Sam Macer, Special to CNN | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/QimuVu
This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics: STABLE ALLOCATION, MARKET DESIGN AND ‘SCHOOL CHOICE’ + smf’s 2¢: by smf/4L... http://bit.ly/TU8lEi
TRANSFORMING OUR SCHOOLS + WANT TO RUIN TEACHING? GIVE RATINGS: Transforming our Schools: Readers react to a st... http://bit.ly/TU8iZ4
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LOSING RELEVANCY?: By FERMIN LEAL / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |http://bit.ly/Wb2J9p Publi... http://bit.ly/TRB1O7
Prop 39 Co-location Ruling by Court of Appeals: CHARTER SCHOOL NOT ENTITLED TO CHOOSE ITS LOCATION + smf’s 2¢: ... http://bit.ly/WlYNRP
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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