In This Issue:
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BROWN LASHES OUT AT REGULATORS AND TESTERS, MAKES CASE FOR HIS REFORMS |
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Opportunity Lost: 20,000 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS NOT GETTING SUPPORT, 4,150 IN LAUSD |
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CTA TARGETS CLASS-SIZE WAIVERS |
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES |
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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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The rhetoric soared this week. President Obama’s
inaugural speech. Myrlie Evers-Williams invocation. Richard Blanco’s
poem - reminding us that this glorious American “One Day’ has twenty
small empty desks and twenty children marked absent, today and forever.
Governor Brown – “With a caustic critique of excessive testing and
overregulation and a fervent call for respecting the ‘dignity and
freedom of teachers and students’,” quoted The Little Engine That Could
and William Butler Yeats in the same speech …while giving even the
Republicans something to applaud. Hilary Clinton boldly assumed
responsibility: “It happened on my watch…” …and reminded
pretenders-perched-on-pretense what leadership really is. Even the
usually verbally circumambulatory Steve Zimmer was concise at a Westside
candidate forum, reminding his opponent and the audience that:
“Teaching is a team sport” …albeit one where an unwelcome dissenting
voice is sometimes required. And also that
reason (with three supporting votes) trumps volume.
THERE WAS NO ELOQUENCE AND NO ASSUMING OF RESPONSIBILITY in the
superintendent’s office as yet another episode of alleged abuse became
public. Despite all the prior assurances that parents would be
informed, the particulars of the case (from last March) was obviously
news at Oscar de LaTorre Jr. Elementary – with hurried parent
informational meetings with District Staff. Again it was a Bad Teacher
and the Bad Principal who escaped the superintendent’s justice (and are
collecting pensions) because of the Bad Ed Code and the Bad California
Commission Teacher Credentialing – which unfairly imposes the same
restrictions on LAUSD as it does on the 1, 099 other California school
districts.
With nine months to practice the fine art of CYA: “Deasy told The Times
that his recollection was that the adult [allegedly abused] was a
co-worker of Pimentel.” His recollection? I’m sorry; when peoples’
lives are on the line and names are being named in the media shouldn’t
one work from notes? Bail is set at $12 million. If an adult was abused
where was that report? Was the co-worker a fellow teacher? A classroom
aide? A volunteer?
“There ought to be a law,” the apologists squeak, looking to Senator
Padilla and SB 10 – “…and as soon as there is that law we’ll follow it!”
Unfortunately there is a whole Ed Code and Criminal Code full of laws
about child abuse and mandatory reporting and dismissing teachers –
and a sheaf of policy and bulletins un-followed and/or selectively
enforced. And fingers pointed …always elsewhere.
THE GOVERNOR’S PROPOSAL VIS-A-VIS A WEIGHTED STUDENT FORMULA (rebranded
the “Local Control Funding Formula”) is welcome news in Los Angeles –
and San Diego, Long Beach, San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento and Fresno –
but those urban districts are seven of 1,100. The lessons from
kindergarten about looking both ways and not running with scissors also
included playing well with others. There is much playing well to be
done.
THE SUPERINTENDENT’S $17 MILLION PILOT PROPOSAL to place tablets in the
hands of all students came back as a $50 million pilot (with more
schools piloted) and was approved by the Bond Oversight Committee
Wednesday. The full project has an eventual price tag upwards of $500
million – with many questions remaining to be answered. Like: Do the
kids get to take the tablets home? …And How+Who will pay for the
technical support? And whether the State will eventually fund the whole
effort from a future state school bond. Stay tuned.
EVEN WITH THE US DEPT OF ED OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS SCRUTINY OF LAUSD –
which started in March 2010 as an investigation of the lack of access
and effectiveness of English Language Learner programs [http://bit.ly/Uv9UrA] – a report this week identifies 4,150 LAUSD students who are not being helped. What’s with that?
MEANWHILE, LAUSD INTENDS TO ENSURE STUDENT SAFETY with 1000 part-time
"security aides" - armed with a vest, a walkie-talkie and a roll of
slickers. Wouldn't schools be safer, cleaner and more healthy with their
own plant manager/custodian? An actual dedicated employee with an
actual job and an actual knowledge-of-and-familiarity-with the school,
staff and students?
NEW REGULATIONS FROM THE US DEPARTMENT OF ED re: the spectacularly
underfunded but federally mandated IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act or Special Ed) says that all kids must receive access to
athletics programs. The complications and consequences of this remain to
be seen – but the speculation is rampant. The SAT word is
“encroachment” …and you normally only apply it to offside in football
and Special Ed. Again, don’t touch that dial.
CONGRATS TO THE FOUR CYBERPATRIOT TEAMS FROM LAUSD SCHOOLS. Twelve teams were chosen nationally - four are from LAUSD!
FROM GOVERNOR BROWN’S STATE-OF-THE-STATE ADDRESS:
“In the right order of things, education—the early fashioning of
character and the formation of conscience—comes before legislation.
Nothing is more determinative of our future than how we teach our
children. If we fail at this, we will sow growing social chaos and
inequality that no law can rectify.
“In California’s public schools, there are six million students, 300,000
teachers—all subject to tens of thousands of laws and regulations. In
addition to the teacher in the classroom, we have a principal in every
school, a superintendent and governing board for each school district.
Then we have the State Superintendent and the State Board of Education,
which makes rules and approves endless waivers—often of laws which you
just passed. Then there is the Congress which passes laws like “No Child
Left Behind,” and finally the Federal Department of Education, whose
rules, audits and fines reach into every classroom in America, where
sixty million children study, not six million.
“Add to this the fact that three million California school age children
speak a language at home other than English and more than two million
children live in poverty. And we have a funding system that is overly
complex, bureaucratically driven and deeply inequitable. That is the
state of affairs today.
“The laws that are in fashion demand tightly constrained curricula and
reams of accountability data. All the better if it requires quiz-bits of
information, regurgitated at regular intervals and stored in vast
computers. Performance metrics, of course, are invoked like talismans.
Distant authorities crack the whip, demanding quantitative measures and a
stark, single number to encapsulate the precise achievement level of
every child.
“We seem to think that education is a thing—like a vaccine—that can be
designed from afar and simply injected into our children. But as the
Irish poet, William Butler Yeats said, ‘Education is not the filling of a
pail but the lighting of a fire.’”
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
OK: Yeats wasn't the first to have said that ...if he said it at all.
It was first said by Plutarch, in Greek, in the first century AD.
BROWN LASHES OUT AT REGULATORS AND TESTERS, MAKES CASE FOR HIS REFORMS
By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/X0E2cO
January 24th, 2013 :: With a caustic critique of excessive testing
and overregulation and a fervent call for respecting the “dignity and
freedom of teachers and students,” Gov. Jerry Brown laid out the case
for returning primary control of education to local hands and
distributing state money equitably in his State of the State address.
Brown used the 20-minute speech on Thursday to call on the Legislature
to adopt his Local Control Funding Formula, which would phase in
substantially more money for low-income students and those struggling to
speak English proficiently. This is needed, he said, in order to help
districts “based on the real world problems they face.”
Upbeat overall, Brown dwelt on education in his address, in which he
praised the Legislature for courage in making overall spending cuts and
voters for passing taxes in Proposition 30. The governor vowed to
continue to enforce a fiscal discipline to protect against “great risks
and uncertainties” that lie ahead. The implication is that he would
discourage more funding for social programs – not encouraging for those
calling for restoring cuts to preschool and child care. He also pledged
to fight any tuition increases for higher education – a line that drew
the loudest applause and a bipartisan standing ovation.
Brown has yet to flesh out the details of his school finance proposal,
which he outlined in the State Budget plan last week; instead, with a
touch of righteousness, he explained the underlying principles for it.
One is non-interference with those officials closest to working with
students, what Brown calls the principle of “subsidiarity.” It is one
way to unshackle districts and teachers from layers of authority, the
most remote of which are Congress and the federal Department of
Education, “whose rules, audits and fines reach into every classroom in
America.”
● SUBSIDIARITY: say what? In the context of Brown’s push for
decentralized control, subsidiarity can be translated as “the locals
know best so don’t tread on them.” But it sounds more persuasive in
Latin.
Brown has lashed out before at the education dictates and minutiae
demanded by Washington, particularly in the Race to the Top
requirements, the No Child Left Behind law and Secretary of Education
Duncan’s refusal to grant California a waiver from it. He picked up that
theme again with relish.
“The laws that are in fashion demand tightly constrained curricula and
reams of accountability data. All the better if it requires quiz-bits of
information, regurgitated at regular intervals and stored in vast
computers,” he said and added, to applause, “We seem to think that
education is a thing — like a vaccine — that can be designed from afar
and simply injected into our children.”
Brown alone cannot undo state or federal accountability laws, but he is
promising school districts more flexibility over how they spend dollars
to meet them. That’s the pragmatic piece of his plan, and tapping into
resentment of Washington has broad appeal. But he’s also calling for
legislators to redistribute money to high-needs children, because, he
said, “Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not
justice.” Appealing to the altruism of legislators representing
districts that won’t get supplemental money will be a challenge.
REACTIONS TO THE STATE OF THE STATE
Education advocates and legislators generally responded favorably to
Brown’s call for local control and regulation, though some added
caveats.
Dean Vogel, president of the California Teachers Association, said in an
interview that educators will feel “encouraged and inspired by the
governor’s address” because it shows that he “values the opinions of
educators.”
“He threw down the gauntlet in terms of micromanaging education and said
that to fix education, you’ve got to trust teachers,” Vogel said. “The
governor’s criticism of state and federal micro-managing of our schools
is refreshing.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson praised Brown in a
statement “for putting California on the path toward restoring the
financial health of our schools” and focusing on students with greater
needs. Implying that he hasn’t given up on increased funding in other
areas, Torlakson said, “Both early childhood and adult education
programs, which have been cut severely in recent years, have a
tremendous role to play in strengthening our economy, and I will be
working to see they receive a fair share of state resources.”
“There’s much to be said for his mistrust of overreliance on
standardized testing and how it has sapped the vitality of the system,”
said John Affeldt, managing attorney at Public Advocates Inc., a
nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization. Brown is a lone voice in
the nation saying that. Teachers are leaving the profession because it’s
not interesting to them anymore.”
But on the issue of “subsidiarity,” Affeldt said, “there needs to be
more of a balance. His rhetoric tips too far toward letting the locals
do it. Under the state Constitution, the state retains the ultimate
responsibility for assuring basic equality of education opportunity. The
state has to assure that districts exercise flexibility in a way that
serves neediest kids.”
Crystal Brown, board president of the parents advocacy group Educate Our
State, said she too appreciated that the governor raised the issue of
testing. “It needs to be a big part of the conversation,” she said. “He
is clear on the problems education is facing and why education needs to
be a priority. The elephant in the room is that we’re not funding our
schools adequately. Everyone knows that, but no one is discussing it.”
That’s also the view of Assemblymember Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, who
chairs the Assembly Education Committee. She says she shares Brown’s
view of No Child Left Behind and his belief that education must be a
“richer experience, more than test scores.” And she also agrees with
Brown that children in poverty and English learners need more support
and classroom time to catch up. But the state is 49th in per capita
spending, when regional costs of living are factored in, and she would
not support a new system that would potentially leave those districts
without high-needs students with flat funding for a decade or more.
Buchanan would normally play a pivotal role in deciding the fate of a
financing reform, but Brown has indicated he wants to bypass hearings
before legislative policy committees and attach his funding plan to the
budget “trailer bill” at the end of the session. Buchanan reiterated her
view, which Assembly Speaker John Perez supports, that any plan to
rewrite the state’s school finance system must face “a robust review”
before legislative committees, with all of the impacts known. There
should be no surprises, she said.
Opportunity Lost: 20,000 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE
LEARNERS NOT GETTING SUPPORT, 4,150 IN LAUSD
►STUDENTS STRUGGLING WITH ENGLISH NOT GETTING HELP,
REPORT SAYS: More than 20,000 California students struggling with
English are not receiving legally required services to help them,
setting them up for academic failure, says a report by two civil rights
groups.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/W96Rqj
January 26, 2013, 8:20 p.m. :: More than 20,000 California students
struggling with English are not receiving any legally required services
to help them, setting them up for academic failure, according to a
recent report by two civil rights organizations.
The study compiled 2010-2011 state data showing that students of all
ages in 261 state school districts were receiving no specialized support
to help them acquire English, as required under both state and federal
law.
The districts with the largest number of students receiving no aid
included Los Angeles Unified with 4,150, Compton Unified with 1,697 and
Salinas Union High with 1,618, according to the report by the American
Civil Liberties Union of California and the Asian Pacific American Legal
Center.
Students who have been designated "English learners" make up one-quarter
of all California public school students; 85% are U.S.-born. Continued
failure to teach them English — they are among the lowest-performing
groups of students — will leave them further behind and jeopardize
California's future, the report said.
"State educational officials are creating a caste system whereby tens of
thousands of children — nearly all of whom are U.S. citizens — are
denied access to the bond of English language that unites us as
Californians," said Mark Rosenbaum, chief counsel of the ACLU of
Southern California.
The two organizations, along with the Los Angeles law firm Latham &
Watkins, warned of possible litigation unless the state responds in 30
days with a plan for action. The legal advocates are demanding stronger
state monitoring, including investigations of districts that report they
provide no services, requirements to create a plan to do so and
sanctions if they fail to comply.
But state education officials said that 98% of the state's 1.4 million
English learners were receiving services and that recent court decisions
had found that the California Department of Education was fulfilling
its legal obligations to monitor help for them.
"Despite the enormous financial strains of recent years, California has
made dramatic progress in seeing that all English learners receive
appropriate instruction and services," state education official Karen
Cadiero-Kaplan said in a statement. She added that any parents with
concerns should contact their school district.
Jessica Price, an ACLU attorney, said some parents opt out of
specialized programs for their children but that the law still requires
districts to provide aid until the students are no longer classified as
English learners. She said some districts simply don't know how to help
the students, while others willfully ignore them — state compliance
monitors found that one Northern California district had used state and
federal funds for English learners to buy computer monitors and cameras,
she said.
One parent, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by
school officials, said she only learned at a district meeting four
months ago that her children were entitled to special classes designed
for English learners.
She began investigating and learned that her children had never been
placed in any of the specialized classes. Neither she nor her children
knew they existed, she said.
L.A. Unified's unserved students represented just 2% of its 194,904
English learners. Six of the 15 districts with the highest percentage of
students without services were in the northern counties of Yuba,
Siskiyou, Shasta, Butte, Sutter and El Dorado.
William S. Hart Union High School District in Los Angeles County
reported it provided no services to 1,142 students, representing 54% of
all English learners.
- Times staff writer Dalina Castellanos contributed to this report.
_____________
►DISTRICTS DENY THAT THEIR LANGUAGE AID LAGS
By Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/14o892m
Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 :: Wheatland High School sits along a country
road bordered by fields, a pumpkin farm and a cemetery. Its 710 ninth-
through 12th-grade students are a mix of local teenagers and military
kids from nearby Beale Air Force Base.
There isn't usually much news coming out of the Yuba County school.
That changed Wednesday when a report was released that listed the
Wheatland Union High School District as the California district with the
highest percentage of English learners – 85 percent – not receiving
required language classes.
The district is made up of the high school and a community day school on the high school campus.
The report, issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of California
and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, lists 251 state school
districts that failed to offer English learner classes to all students
needing them in the 2010-11 school year, the most recent year that data
is available.
School district submit annual reports to the California Department of Education.
Two other local districts – Twin Rivers Unified School District in
Sacramento and Rescue Union Elementary School District in El Dorado
County – joined Wheatland on the list.
Officials from all three districts seemed to be caught off-guard by the news.
Wheatland Principal/Superintendent Vic Ramos said he didn't know why
school officials reported they had only served four of 27 of their
English learners in 2010-11. "We may have misreported it," he said.
He said that every student at the school speaks English and that only a
few – 15 this school year – are categorized as English language
learners.
"I'm very familiar with the challenges of having students who don't
speak English," said Ramos, who previously was the principal at Rosemont
High in Sacramento. "We don't have those challenges."
He said English learners are integrated into regular classes in which
teachers differentiate instruction. "We monitor their progress," he
said.
The principal acknowledges that the school had a number of problems when
he arrived in 2009-10, including teachers without the appropriate
credential to teach English learners. That has changed, he said. Now the
district's teachers either have the credential or are on their way to
earning it, he said.
He points to a 37-point increase in the district's Academic Performance
Index score last year, increasing it to 784. Latino students, who make
up a majority of the school's English learners, increased their
collective API by 48 points, he said.
Twin Rivers, which has 8,852 English learners among it 28,000 students,
did not offer services to 5 percent of that population – 407 students in
2010-11, according to state data.
District officials blame the high numbers on seven independent charter
schools within Twin Rivers Unified, saying 362 of the 407 unserved
students in their district attended those charters. One of the charter
schools has since closed.
"Because they are independent charters, the district has no control over
their instructional services," said a prepared statement from the
district.
School boards must approve each charter, however, and have the power to
decide whether to renew charters when they expire. Twin Rivers officials
said they will take this into consideration when they renew the
charters in June of 2017.
Rescue Union Elementary School District did not offer services to 30
percent – or 39 – of its English learners, according to the report.
Rescue Superintendent David Swart said the information is inaccurate and
that the district provides services to 100 percent of its English
language learners. He said Thursday that the information was put in the
system incorrectly by district staff.
The district, which serves 4,065 students at seven elementary and middle
schools, has a 907 API. Its English learners increased their score by
14 points to 764 in 2011-12.
"We are getting help to the kids who need it the most," he said.
The data reported by districts as part of an annual census shows that
20,318 English learners attending California schools in 2010-11 didn't
receive any of the instructional services required, according to the
California Department of Education's website.
The numbers for 2010-11 aren't unusual, said David Sapp, an attorney for the ACLU. "It's been an issue for decades."
The lack of services has a debilitating effect on English learners, said
the civil liberties group in a letter to state Superintendent Tom
Torlakson and State Board of Education President Michael Kirst sent
Wednesday. They said the students that aren't provided services are most
at risk of dropping out or struggling academically.
The ACLU and the legal center warned state education officials they
could face a lawsuit if they do not address the problem immediately.
"There are so many districts violating the law and the state isn't taking any action," Sapp told The Bee.
Education Department officials turned down a request for an interview for this story, issuing a news release instead.
"Despite the enormous financial strains of recent years, California has
made dramatic progress in seeing that all English learners receive
appropriate instruction and services," said Karen Cadiero- Kaplan,
director of the English Learner Support Division at the Education
Department in the prepared statement.
"School districts – which are responsible for providing instruction to
students and appropriate services to English learners – currently report
that 98 percent of the state's 1.4 million English learners are
receiving services."
The number is from the same 2010-11 data, according to state education officials.
Then some students "have not received services and that would be
illegal," Sapp said, when told of the state's response. "That number
should be zero."
CTA TARGETS CLASS-SIZE WAIVERS
By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/XKuDVU
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 :: The almost automatic approval that
school districts have received for class-size waivers from the
California State Board of Education during the past four years may be
facing serious opposition from the state’s powerful teachers lobby.
Since the onset of the recession, the state board – both under the
Schwarzenegger administration and Gov. Jerry Brown – has been
sympathetic to districts that have been forced by budget cuts to layoff
teachers and increase class sizes.
Sections of the Education Code governing class size were drafted in the
mid-1960s and generally limit teacher-student ratios to less than 30:1
from kindergarten through the eighth grade. The law imposes financial
penalties on districts when the average class size either exceeds that
district’s average class size in 1964 or the state’s average at that
time.
Although the California Teachers Union has routinely objected to the
class-size penalty waivers, the requests seemed to provoke new vigor
during a hearing last week where the board granted conditional approval
to more than a dozen class-size penalty waivers without dissent.
In arguing against the moves, CTA representatives referenced the passage
of Proposition 30 in the November election and the improving economy as
reasons for the board to reject the requests.
The issue of class size is likely to also become a key point in the negotiations over the state budget.
Separately since the 1990s, the Legislature has provided funding aimed
at limiting teacher-student ratios in kindergarten through the third
grade at 20:1. But because of the fiscal crisis, lawmakers have since
2009 allowed districts to receive much of that money even though class
sizes have often exceeded the limit.
As part of his restructured school funding program, Brown has proposed
supplemental funding for elementary schools to keep smaller classes in
kindergarten through third grade but allow larger classes otherwise – at
least for now. Expectations are that the governor would require
districts to transition back to a maximum ratio of 24:1 sometime in the
future.
CTA president Dean Vogel has pointed out that the 24:1 maximum is above current law.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
By Pia Escudero in the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Jan 28 Weekly Update | http://bit.ly/WWR4Ii
AALA thanks Pia Escudero, Director of School Mental Health (SMH), for
submitting the following letter in response to our recommended New
Year’s Resolutions for District leadership.
Jan 24, 2013 :: It was with great inspiration and hope that I read
about AALA’s call for identifying and allocating the resources necessary
to provide adequate mental health services and support for students and
their families. I write on behalf of over 300 SMH professionals who are
dedicated to promoting the mental health, well-being and academic
achievement of all LAUSD students. In light of recent national and local
events of school violence, we recognize the sense of urgency to promote
a unified and collaborative approach and response to ensuring the
safety of all our students and staff. LAUSD SMH continues to be
nationally recognized for its crisis intervention and mental health
programs.
Over the last two decades, SMH has paved the way in prevention and
intervention practices for preparation and response to school violence
and providing trauma-informed services. For example, since 2005, SMH has
been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency
(SAMHSA) to implement the Trauma Services Adaptation Center for
Resiliency, Hope and Wellness in Schools, in partnership with RAND, UCLA
and USC. Our administrators and staff, guided by nationally recognized
researchers and academicians, have developed evidence-based practices,
tools, and resources for LAUSD students, families, and staff. These
coveted tools and practices have been disseminated and adopted by other
states and school districts, such as New Orleans, Chicago and
Washington, D.C.
LAUSD SMH Crisis Counseling & Intervention Services has worked
collaboratively with multidisciplinary administrative teams to develop
and implement policies and protocols as they relate to risk assessment
and management, including threats, suicidal ideation and workplace
violence incidents. Furthermore, our internal and external partnerships
with School Operations, Los Angeles School Police, General Counsel, Los
Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Los Angeles Police
Department and other local law enforcement and community-based agencies
have paved the way to addressing and mitigating critical events and
violence in our school communities. Recently, we have launched several
updates to LAUSD policies that promote a safe learning and work
environment for all:
• BUL-5799.0 Threat Assessment and Management
• BUL-5798.0 Workplace Violence, Bullying and Threats Prevention
• BUL-2637.1 Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention
SMH is committed to ensuring the academic achievement of all students.
As a unit, we are devoted to improvements at both the policy level and
in the classroom. Recent research demonstrates that when students are
exposed to traumatic or stressful events, it impacts brain functioning,
which leads them to “fall behind in school or fail to develop healthy
relationships with peers or create problems with teachers and principals
because they are unable to trust adults.” 1 SMH professionals support
positive student connections with peers, family, school and community by
facilitating their ability to successfully deal with problems, crises
and traumatic experiences. We foster resiliency (the ability to bounce
back from challenges with confidence and coping capacity) by promoting
healthy relationships, self-reflection and problem-solving skills. We
are invested in creating trauma-informed schools across LAUSD.
Currently, the District leads the nation with the greatest number of
trained school mental health clinicians in nationally-recognized,
trauma-informed and evidence-based practices to improve clinical mental
health symptoms so students may engage in learning. Nevertheless, in
comparison to our student population and number of employees, SMH is
extremely small. Our ratio per student is approximately 1:2,200, in
comparison to the National standard, established by NASW, 1:250. The
reality is that the need for students and families to have access to
mental health services is significant. Last year alone, SMH lost funding
for over 40 FTE Psychiatric Social Workers (PSW) positions as a result
of reductions in school and program discretionary dollars. School and
program administrators have had to face the difficult decision of
selecting between mental health or other support services on their
campus. This year, one school in particular lost the PSW position they
had kept as part of
their staff for over 20
years.
Thank you for your appeal to increase our opportunity to better serve our students and school community.
Your acknowledgment is two-fold: (1) It helps to reduce the stigma
associated with accessing mental health services; (2) It highlights the
need to fund mental health services in our schools. As we move forward
as a District, ensuring the mental health and well-being of all students
will be a collective effort. With highly trained, skilled and adaptive
Psychiatric Social Workers, SMH is ready and available to provide
services to aid in recovery and healing so that students may return to
normalcy and continue to learn and grow.
_________
1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-ellen-stevens/trauma-sensitive-schools_b_1625924.html
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
If a picture is worth 1,000 words – this t-shirt is worth 1,009! Get yours today. http://bit.ly/THTyOm
CHARACTER EDUCATION - TEACHING KIDS TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND TO PERSEVERE - ISN'T ENOUGH TO BRING POOR STUDENTS OUT... http://bit.ly/VdBSY5
Discipline Policy: WHY PUNISHMENT DOESN’T WORK: EdWeeks’s Bridging Differences | http://bit.ly/10PCFyF
4 teams out of 12 nationally: FOUR LAUSD/BEYOND THE BELL CYBERPATRIOT TEAMS ADVANCE TO NATIONAL FINALS!!!: from ... http://bit.ly/10PrXZ3
LAUSD PLANS TO ADD 1,000 NEW CAMPUS AIDES FOR SECURITY AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLs+ smf’’s 2¢...: By Mariecar Mendoza, Daily News, http://bit.ly/10Niu4s + Huffington Post http://huff.to/1127zIR
Westside Forum - THE A v. Z DEBATE: CHARTERS, EVALUATION, DEASY+ smf’’s
2¢...: by Hillel Aron in LA School Report News | http:... http://bit.ly/10UOtEt
Los Angeles’ School Nightmare: ANOTHER SEX ABUSE SCANDAL: After years of complaints were apparently ignored, a f... http://bit.ly/14iLdlb
SADIES’S DREAM FOR THE WORLD: 11-Year-Old Transgender Girl Writes Essay In Response To Obama's Inauguration Spee... http://bit.ly/10KfuWn
LAUSD PRINCIPAL FAILED TO REPORT MOLESTATION BY TEACHER: The De la Torre Elementary principal first heard accusa... http://bit.ly/10JFX6s
ROOSEVELT’ HIGH SCHOOL’S FUTURE UNCERTAIN: School Scrambles to Meet LAUSD Deadline + smf’s 2¢: Superintendent De... http://bit.ly/W7ztz3
Today’s Civics Lesson IV: TONIGHT’S A v. Z DEBATE FOR LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT FOUR: see http://bit.ly/XzdkXc ... http://bit.ly/10D5oGJ
Our schools as a crime scene: 20 STUDENTS ABUSED AT DE LA TORRE ELEMENTARY: Former LAUSD teacher accused of mole... http://bit.ly/W1UpHD
FONTANA SCHOOL POLICE ACQUIRE AR-15s AND STORE THEM ON CAMPUSES WITHOUT CONSULTING SCHOOL BOARD. LA School Polic... http://bit.ly/W1HYMe
Today’s Civics Lesson III: THE FEDS’ POWER GRAB: It's time to have a conversation about the issue before we find... http://bit.ly/SGPA73
Today’s Civics Lesson II: [SCA 10] IT’S TIME TO BRING TRANSPARENCY TO BACK-ROOM LEGISLATING: It's time to bring ... http://bit.ly/14dlQBg
Today’s Civics Lesson I: GOVERNOR’S STATE-OF-THE-STATE ADDRESS - 9am on KPPC 89.3 /KABC-TV Channel 7 / CalChanne... http://bit.ly/Tr8AYS
NOT DEAD YET: Libraries still vital, Pew report finds + a elementary school librarian’s 2¢: By David L. Ulin, Lo... http://bit.ly/10vK3iA
ONE TODAY: the inaugural poem by Richard Blanco: the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain the e... http://bit.ly/10znWMM
LEGISLATIVE ANALYST CLAIMS BROWN BUDGET MISUSES PROP 39 FUNDS, MISAPPLYING THEM TO PROP 98 GUARANTEE + smf’’s 2¢... http://bit.ly/10znWMJ
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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