In This Issue:
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INCUBATOR SCHOOL IN L.A. SPARKS DISCORD OVER LOCATION, TEACHERS + more |
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INSTEAD
OF CLOSING (or reconstituting, charterizing, privatizing, magnetizing
or pilotizing) SCHOOLS - HOW ABOUT (…are you sitting down?) SAVING THEM? |
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IS HEALTH AND SAFETY REALLY A TOP PRIORITY? + MOURNING THE LOSS OF A STUDENT |
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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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‘Twas the week before Spring Break, and all through The District….
ON MONDAY AFTERNOON 14-year-old Nobel Middle School honor student Aria
Dougherty’s sister came home to find Aria dead from “huffing” – inhaling
computer cleaner. This is classic needless, senseless tragedy – a young
life ended from pure reckless adolescent behavior every bit as
dangerous as playing ‘chicken’ in Rebel Without a Cause, And the fatal
flaw, in Shakespearean fashion, lies in our adult selves and the failure
of our educational mission to educate Aria to the dangers – and her
family, friends, teachers and student colleagues to the warning signs of
inhalant abuse. Even though the teaching materials and student handouts
are in a warehouse somewhere; and the curriculum is in a binder. Seven
percent of middle schoolers abuse inhalants; one+ kid in every
classroom. There are 2430 students at Nobel, predictably 170 huffers.
There are about 84 middle schools in LAUSD. And elementary kids and high
school students huff too. Don’t do the math, do the Health Education.
[US Consumer Product Safety Commission - A Parent's Guide to Preventing
Inhalant Abuse | http://1.usa.gov/X0SLcK]
THE BOARD MEETING ON TUESDAY WAS INTERESTING – and couple of things that
came out of it couldn’t have delighted the powers that be.
• A NEW BOARD RULE forbids a boardmember from serving more than two
successive one year terms as president – a move opposed by
six-times-in-succession board president Monica Garcia. The rule does not
apply to this board and it cannot be binding on the board that will be
installed next July – but the four-to-three vote shows waning confidence
in Ms.Garcia’s leadership. The quote o’ th’ week goes to outgoing
boardmember Nury Martinez – who said: “I think this is about something
else.”
• Similarly the superintendent’s mission to install a PILOT SCHOOL AT
VENICE HIGH SCHOOL (whether they want one or not) met with determined
community resistance - and a vote by the board to approve the pilot …but
not at Venice! [Incubator School in L.A. Sparks Discord Over Location,
Teachers] Thursday the superintendent was back at Venice –Tearing down
signs and proclaiming “This is not a crisis!”...while pleading, cajoling
or bullying the community to reconsider. Maybe he was sweetening the
deal – but some voices say he was threatening to impose a Prop 39
charter school co-location on the campus if they didn’t accept the
pilot. This one gets the 4LA Kids understatement-of-the-obvious o’ th’
week, from the LA Times article cited above: “District officials
acknowledged their communication efforts fell short.”
I am beginning to suspect that the superintendent sees schools that
don’t agree with his vision of their future as nails in need of pounding
down – and all the tools in his Public School Choice/NCLB/®eform
toolbox - whether reconstitution, charterization, privatization,
magnetization or pilotization - as a hammer. There are a couple of
articles and a report referencing “Community Schools”
following.(“Instead of Closing…”) They need to be read.
WEDNESDAY THE BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MET, discussed+approved the list
of potential Prop 39 charter co-locations (Venice is not on the list) as
well as safety upgrades at early childhood centers and to talk about
the final settlement with the insurance company over the settlement of
the Garfield Fire and the building of the new admin building and
auditorium.
THURSDAY The Chicago mayor’s office and Chicago Public Schools (which
are running a near one billion dollar deficit) announced that they are
closing 55 schools, potentially saving $43 million a year – cutting the
deficit less than-one-half-of-one-percent per year.- - if you don’t
factor in the $230 million one-time-cost of the shut down. (The
CEO/superintendent and the CPS board are appointed by the mayor,
essentially making the entire system completely accountable to Mayor
Emanuel - who is on a skiing vacation.). Thursday morning there was an
impromptu press conference on the sidewalk in front of Beaudry as more
allegations of cover-up of wrongdoing at De La Torre Elementary School
came to light. Is it all true? There are so many shades of truth; they
change depending on where you stand – but the questions are coming
around to: “What did the superintendent know?…and when did he know it?”
UP IN SACRAMENTO on Thursday Senator Padilla’s “Bad Teacher” Bill (SB10)
– hand crafted by LAUSD – died a early death and was replaced by
Assembly Ed Chair Buchanan’s “Not so Bad Teacher” Bill (AB375) which may
be more acceptable to teachers even though it still limits right of
appeal – but is accompanied by AB1338 – which 4LAKids supports with a
happy dance – because it requires school districts to teach and inform
school staff of the rules about mandatory reporting of child abuse.
(Last month the Brentwood USD superintendent in Contra Costa County was
fired in because his staff failed to report child abuse| http://bit.ly/14doYQ0)
Also Thursday the State Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education
Finance shot down Governor Brown’s proposal to realign Adult Ed from
K-12 to the Community Colleges. While that vote isn’t final – it doesn’t
portend well for the Governor’s plan.
And as we are in a happy dancing mood: Thursday afternoon was the
ribbon cutting for New Central Elementary School #21- one of the last
of the new schools – with boring speeches by adults and fabulous student
performances and the best space shuttle ever made from pizza boxes!. A
grand time was had by all. The superintendent should really come to
these things – there is joy when the community receives the gift it has
made to future generations of its own children. And no one is more
joyful than the young recipients themselves!
AND FRIDAY? I’m starting to write this Friday afternoon – and so far so
good – though there should be something to report from the forced call*
of the Venice High School/School Based Management Committee meeting
soon.
UPDATE: The Venice High School School Based Management Committee – -
which ostensibly has the authority to approve/disapprove The Incubator
Charter siting agreement convened in an emergency meeting Friday – but
lacked a quorum. They tried to reschedule the vote for Tuesday but no
one is available (Next week is Spring Break, so the three components of
SBM: Teachers/Staff, Parents/Community, and Students are all off campus)
- so the same problem would arise. A teacher recommended not to
reconvene until April 2nd when school is back in session.
April 2nd is the day after the deadline that Deasy ordered (so to speak)
A SBM member declared a victory of sorts: -“We will not be bullied by
impossible-to-meet deadlines that were not outlined in the amendment at
the LAUSD Board of Ed meeting this past Tuesday.”.
And so it was and is and doesn’t always have to be.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
*A “Forced Call” is a show biz expression for when the production
manager makes you come back early from a late night overtime shoot –
essentially not giving the cast and crew enough time to sleep. You may
be dirty and sleepy and grumpy (you may be all the dwarfs) …and you’re
certainly not very productive – but you are making compound overtime!
INCUBATOR SCHOOL IN L.A. SPARKS DISCORD OVER LOCATION, TEACHERS + more
THE PILOT MIDDLE SCHOOL, WHICH IS SLATED TO OPEN NEXT
YEAR BUT LACKS A SITE, WILL TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO LAUNCH A BUSINESS IN
ADDITION TO ACADEMICS.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://bit.ly/11wdzdF
March 20, 2013 :: Sujata Bhatt uses online games to encourage her
students at Grand View Boulevard Elementary School to aim higher: "Don't
just play games, make them."
Now Bhatt will get the chance to teach middle school students how to
launch their own businesses at a new campus approved this week by the
Los Angeles school board. The Incubator School marks the latest effort
in L.A. Unified to spark innovation through "pilot" schools, where
district educators are given autonomy over their curriculum, budget,
staffing, training and other elements.
Despite enthusiasm for the school's concept, however, the plan became
entangled in disputes over its location, union concerns over job
placement rules and political tensions.
The board backed off from locating the new campus at Venice High School
after parents and students complained they were not informed about it
until last week. Sara Roos, a Venice High parent, told the board she
wanted more details about the plan, although she sharply criticized it
in online comments as an "experiment indoctrinating children in the
tricks of an unregulated, free capitalistic market."
Lisa Sobajian, 10th-grade class president, submitted a petition signed
by 1,000 students opposed to sharing their campus with the new school.
Bhatt said that she met with Venice High's principal and teachers union
representative last October, but that requests to present the idea to
the faculty drew no response. District officials acknowledged their
communication efforts fell short.
In any case, under an amendment by board member Steve Zimmer, the board
approved the school but directed the district and Venice community to
work together to seek a location.
That did not disappoint Bhatt, who said she felt "relief and joy" over the board's approval.
"I want students to be excited about learning," Bhatt said. "It's about creating quality schools for kids."
United Teachers Los Angeles, however, has not weighed in on the new
school. The union has looked carefully at the 49 pilot schools approved
in L.A. Unified because they require one-year teaching contracts that do
not place seniority as the top factor in job placement, giving
administrators greater power to transfer teachers.
To control the quality of the new school, union President Warren
Fletcher said those proposing it should operate it for a year to "get
the kinks out" before seeking pilot status and a faculty vote on the
shorter contract.
But Mohammed Choudhury, policy manager of Future is Now Schools, a
not-for-profit group supporting pilot campuses, disagreed that schools
should be required to operate for a year before becoming a pilot.
Choudhury said that delaying pilot status would give the union a chance
to lobby teachers against signing the shorter contract.
"It's an attempt to protect mediocrity," he said.
The not-for-profit, started by former Green Dot Public Schools chief
Steve Barr, contributed $150,000 in stipends for Incubator School's
design team. Barr said it was better to place a pilot school on campuses
with extra space, such as Venice High; otherwise, the district would be
legally required to offer it to a charter school, which is publicly
financed but independently run.
Bhatt, a teacher for 11 years who has been credited with boosting
student achievement in English and math, said she came up with the idea
for the school while working as an advisor for a New York start-up
aiming to develop a science application for the iPad. The young
entrepreneurs — many of them in their 20s who already had started their
own firms — inspired her to think about how to refashion teaching to
better prepare students for the accelerated advances in the digital
world, she said.
"There's a disconnect between a textbook-based world, the excitement of
problem solving and the energy and innovation of the digital economy,"
she said. "The reason students disconnect from school is that it's not
connected to the real world."
The school is scheduled to open next year with an initial class of 225
sixth- and seventh-graders drawn from diverse ethnic and economic
backgrounds. The students will learn such real-life skills as financial
literacy and time management and they will combine academic learning
with hands-on tinkering. They also will work with entrepreneurial
mentors in the Westside's growing Silicon Beach and be guided to produce
their own start-up business by 8th grade. The school will eventually
expand through 12th grade under current plans.
Aside from the Incubator School, the board also approved two other pilot
schools, Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley and WISH
Secondary Media Arts School in Los Angeles.
ALSO SEE:
• The Incubator Pilot @ Venice High: A PARENT WRITES TO SUPERINTENDENT DEASY: by Mary Smith, reprinted with perm... http://bit.ly/11zIx4O
• Hear Venice HS PTA President Kristen Duerr on KPFK’s “Politics or Pedagogy” from March 21: KPFK 90.7 FM Archive http://bit.ly/10BxeGu
• INSTEAD OF CLOSING (or reconstituting, charterizing, privatizing,
magnetizing or pilotizing) SCHOOLS - HOW ABO... (next article - keep
reading!)
INSTEAD OF CLOSING (or reconstituting, charterizing,
privatizing, magnetizing or pilotizing) SCHOOLS - HOW ABOUT (…are you
sitting down?) SAVING THEM?
GIVEN THAT SCHOOL REFORMERS ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT
THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING PARENTS “SCHOOL CHOICE,” YOU’D THINK THEY’D
LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO WANT THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS SAVED.
. . . YOU’D THINK.
By Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post/Answer Sheet | http://wapo.st/WTfWoo
Updated: March 22, 2013 :: When Michelle Rhee told D.C. school
residents that she, as chancellor of public schools in the nation’s
capital, was closing 23 under-enrolled schools, she promised that a lot
of money would be saved that could be plowed back into academic programs
in remaining schools. It didn’t happen; an audit years later found that
the closings actually cost the city $40 million.
It remains to be seen how the most recent round of announced closings
will shake out: Chicago just said it was closing 54 public schools this
year in what seems to be the largest mass closing of schools in U.S.
history; Philadelphia said it was closing more than 20 schools, and
Washington D.C., 15 schools. School closings have become a tool of
school reformers who say the action is needed either because the
targeted schools have too few students or are failing academically —
even while they support the opening of charter schools in the same
neighborhoods. In Chicago’s case, both arguments for closing schools
were made in recent years.
Yet promises made by school reformers who close schools — either because
they are under-enrolled or labeled academically failing — are rarely
kept, studies have shown. The money savings are most frequently less
than promised or non-existent, and most students don’t do any better
academically in their new schools, researchers who have looked at
closings in cities around the country say.
This is not an argument that no schools should ever be closed.
Communities change and school systems have to change, too. But in many,
perhaps most cases, there are better alternatives than closing schools,
ones that school reformers have so far been reluctant to do because they
go well beyond the myopic view of teaching and learning as being driven
by standardized tests.
There is a reason that a new study by Public Agenda and the Kettering
Foundation (link follows) shows that there is a divide “between leaders
and parents on whether it is more important to preserve neighborhood
public schools, even those that are struggling, or whether it is more
important to give parents more choice.” Parents, it says, largely want
their neighborhood schools improved rather than be closed, it says.
Given that school reformers are always talking about the importance of
giving parents “school choice,” you’d think they’d listen to the people
who want their neighborhood schools saved. One way is to actually start
to address the real reasons that many kids don’t perform well in school:
Their lives. Living in poverty has consequences. Living in an unstable
family has consequences.
Why not turn under-enrolled schools into community schools? Such a
school would offer students the physical, mental and emotional support
they need, meals, and extracurricular activities. Parents could take
classes, too, and the facility would be open during the weekend too,
offering activities and classes that can keep young people engaged. Why
not better integrate health services and education services in a way
that can actually help students be better prepared to learn? That would
not only help individual schools and families but preserve neighborhoods
too. Is this the only answer? No. Is it part of the answer? Absolutely.
Decades of standardized-test based school reform hasn’t worked. It has
made an unsatisfactory situation in urban public schools far worse. It’s
time for a more humane approach. And given that school closings don’t
usually save the promised amount
To those who insist there are bad teachers and bad principals who get in
the way of students who want to learn, yes, there are bad teachers and
bad principals, and no, they shouldn’t be allowed to keep their jobs.
But to focus school reform on that issue, when the bigger problems are
elsewhere and largely being ignored, is, frankly, shameful.
►ACCOUNTABILITY DILEMMAS: SCHOOLS PLAY MANY ROLES IN COMMUNITIES,
AND THE PROSPECT OF CLOSING ONE UNDERMINES MOST OF THOSE.
By Chester E. Finn, Jr. / The Thomas B. Fordham Institute | http://bit.ly/Yu5umr
March 21, 2013 :: A useful new report from Public Agenda and the
Kettering Foundation (link follows) underscores the painful divide
between parents and education reformers on the crucial topic of what to
do about bad schools.
In a nutshell, if the neighborhood school is crummy, parents want it
fixed. So do community leaders. Ed reformers are far more apt to want to
close it and give families alternatives such as charter schools.
As Andy Smarick has perceptively written, schools play multiple roles in
communities, and the prospect of closing one undermines most of those.
Hence, shuttering a school affects more than the convenience of keeping
one’s own kids in a familiar (and generally close-at-hand) facility,
maybe even with that nice Ms. Greensleeves who teaches fourth grade
there. As Jean Johnson writes on behalf of Public Agenda, based on a
recent series of focus groups (as well as much other research), “Most
parents see local public schools as important community institutions and
viscerally reject the idea that closing schools—even those that are
persistently low-performing—is a good way to improve accountability in
education.”
On the reform side, however, Johnson writes, “In many communities,
school leaders are closing or drastically reorganizing low-performing
schools. Many districts are turning to charter schools to replace
traditional public schools. Charters are often viewed as more
accountable, because if the school does not meet its academic goals, its
charter can be revoked. From a leadership perspective, these reforms
propel the kind of change that will help more students succeed….”
Yes, she oversimplifies. A lot of school closures (as I’ve noted
previously) have more to do with enrollments, capacity, and finances
than with performance. And a lot of education leaders have, in fact,
done everything they can to avoid drastic interference in low-performing
schools—hence the widespread use of the “any other major restructuring”
loophole for Title I schools needing “corrective action” due to their
persistent failure to achieve “adequate yearly progress.”
The charter part of her reform model isn’t quite right, either. Yes,
there are a handful of situations in the charter world—e.g., Ohio’s
“sudden death” provision—where test scores alone might cause a charter
school to be shut down. But conscientious authorizers do look at other
information (e.g., signs of progress, graduation rates, student- and
staff-turnover rates, parent and student satisfaction indicators,
community circumstances, what sorts of schools would the kids go to
instead, and so on). And, of course, heedless or simply greedy
authorizers don’t close schools anyway—because they don’t much care,
can’t stand the heat, or depend on the school fees for their own
revenues.
At the same time, Johnson’s conversations with parents add some
important nuance to the school-accountability discussion. They fret that
overemphasis on testing fosters dull, drill-centric classrooms and
gives rise to incentives to cheat. And it’s clear to parents that
there’s more to school quality than test scores, which understandably
makes them wary of moves to close or radically restructure schools
solely on the basis of such scores. Yes, they favor testing as a useful
way of knowing how a school is doing academically, but they lament that
too much testing is underway and that test-based data reveal nothing
about other important school features and outcomes (examples include
character development, creativity, student engagement, and school
leadership). Indeed, there’s valuable overlap between the other factors
that matter to parents and those that conscientious authorizers (see
previous paragraph) apply to their charter schools.
So there is a divide, with merit—and blind spots—on both sides. Yes,
it’s ridiculous to judge a school (and take drastic action to intervene
in it, even to close it) exclusively on the basis of test scores. Ditto
for judgments about teachers. (“Value-added” scores—where feasible and
meaningful—are better than absolute test scores, but still are not the
full measure of an educational institution or classroom instructor.) On
the other hand, student learning is the bottom line, and for too long
American public education has paid far too little heed to it when
evaluating schools and teachers.
But have we swung too far in the opposite direction? As least as
perplexing, do we have—or can we create—additional metrics that tap into
these other features of schools and teachers in valid ways, avoiding
total subjectivity, favoritism, and caprice?
Such dilemmas deepen as states and schools prepare for new tests being
developed to accompany Common Core standards for English language arts
and math, as well as new tests that may follow for science. The
developers claim that the next generation of assessments will do more
than today’s tests to gauge a broader swath of educational attainment.
The PARCC consortium, for example, asserts that its “next-generation
assessment system will provide students, educators, policymakers and the
public with the tools needed to identify whether students—from grade 3
through high school—are on track for postsecondary success and,
critically, where gaps may exist and how they can be addressed well
before students enter college or the workforce.”
If all of that comes true—and at reasonable cost in dollars and time
commitments—we can fairly suppose that test-leery parents may be more
satisfied, and that test-weary teachers may find that the assessment
results are valuable, not just judgmental.
Today, however, there’s no way to know for sure how it will turn out. We
still have two years to wait before the new assessments are
administered for the first time. We have no idea where their “cut
scores” will be set. And we have no idea how—or when or even
whether—Congress will figure out how all of this factors into the next
generation of ESEA.
As if that weren’t complexity enough, some educators have asked whether
this period of change and uncertainty in standards and assessments
should be accompanied by some sort of accountability moratorium, even a
testing hiatus. Let the education system—and the teachers—gear up for
the new arrangement (and master the new standards and pedagogical
“shifts” that are built into them) without having to look over their
shoulders at the same time for fear they’ll lose their jobs—or their
schools—on the basis of scores on the old tests. Call it the education
version of “quantitative easing,” if you will.
It’s not a crazy suggestion. Neither is it a perfect proposal, because
“suspending” accountability (and testing) for two years, just as people
are getting accustomed to it, would smack of a return to the bad old
days and would likely provide cover for some dreadful schools and
instructors to continue unchanged, damaging kids for two more years.
I wonder, though, if there isn’t some way to turn down the heat a bit
during this transition period and encourage school systems and educators
to focus on what’s coming rather than on the academic expectations that
are going out of style.
I’m not clever enough to devise that interim arrangement. But it’s worth
smart people thinking through, maybe even before the spring 2013 test
scores come in.
IS HEALTH AND SAFETY REALLY A TOP PRIORITY? + MOURNING THE LOSS OF A STUDENT
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update | Week of April 1, 2013 | http://bit.ly/166dFHV
21 March 2013 :: The health and safety of our students and employees is a top priority for the District.
How often have you heard that statement in response to the crisis of the
moment? It’s a favorite reply whenever top leadership in any industry
is pressed about something detrimental that has occurred. In LAUSD, we
hear it all of the time. But, in reality, if health and safety were
really the District’s top priority, its schools would be appropriately
staffed, not operating with the skeleton crews of today. AALA has been
very vocal in citing the need for an assistant principal at every
school, regardless of the level or the enrollment. And we mean a generic
assistant principal who does not also have the myriad responsibilities
of the APSCS. Managing the master program, student scheduling and
counseling is more than enough for one person; we cannot expect them to
assume all other assistant principal activities.
The assistant principal is not only integral to the smooth and efficient
functioning of a school, he/she is critical for the health and safety
of students. APs are typically heavily involved in the day-to-day
operations of the school as they relate to students and faculty as a
whole. Their primary duty is to supervise students, before, during and
after school. In addition, they complete reports, enforce policy; assist
the principal in the supervision of instruction; observe classrooms;
participate in the selection and evaluation of teachers and other staff;
order materials; plan staff development; participate in budget
development; discipline and counsel students; handle attendance issues;
work with parents; liaison with community and civic organizations;
oversee paraprofessionals; make schedules and do a plethora of other
things. Assistant principals generally cannot plan their days; they must
deal with issues as they arise and most of those that do arise tend to
involve the
health and safety of students. They are the “fix it” people when an
emergency occurs, allowing the principal to deal with parents, teachers
and the public.
We must emphasize that health and safety of students is the paramount
reason why it is imperative that each and every school have an assistant
principal. The principal cannot possibly do everything alone and
certainly cannot be everywhere. Currently, elementary schools must have
1,110 students before an AP is assigned, which means the great majority
of K-5 schools have only a principal. What happens at these single
administrator sites when the principal must leave for one of the myriad
“required” meetings? Who is in charge? The designee who is frequently a
classroom teacher? The SAA? What if there is an emergency—who makes the
critical decision to call for assistance? Who takes control? How does
the work get completed? It is virtually impossible for principals who
have no other administrative support to accomplish everything that must
be done when running a school. Even when they work evenings and
weekends, they never seem to catch up, leaving them in a consistent
state of
stress and exhaustion.
In these turbulent times, our students and staff deserve more support at
the school site. AALA demands that the District immediately provide
adequate administrative and support staff for all schools by improving
the norms at all levels.
MOURNING THE LOSS OF A STUDENT
AALA would like to thank Dr. Lori Vollandt, Coordinator, Health Education Programs, for writing this article.
21 March 2013 :: On Monday afternoon, Aria Doherty, an honor student
at Nobel Middle School, died from cardiac arrest due to inhalant abuse.
Nothing is more tragic than the death of a child; nothing more important
than a child’s health. Just ask any parent or a teacher who has lost a
student …or a principal who has received the call of a student passing.
When I was a teacher at Marshall HS, I lost students to shootings,
overdose, suicide and accidents. Each one, every single one, was
painful. The news, the sinking feeling that dropped me to my knees, the
idea that I had to keep it together while I wanted to just grieve. I
became even more determined to try and prevent preventable deaths.
When opening our school- based health clinic at Marshall, my then
colleague, Board Member Steve Zimmer, said, “I have attended more
funerals of students than the amount of times I have attended graduation
ceremonies. I hope with the opening of this clinic, we can change those
numbers.”
Fewer funerals and more graduations.” A simple but very powerful statement.
Many times, most times, death is preventable, especially for adolescents
and young adults. Often, I am asked to show the statistics when I
promote health education. Fair enough. The results of the California a
Healthy Kids Survey of LAUSD elementary and secondary students provides
some alarming facts regarding their self - admitted high risk behaviors.
• Elementary: Key Findings 2009/10 | http://bit.ly/YwPuNz
| Main Report 2009 /10 | http://bit.ly/16NXekN
• Middle School/High School: Key Findings 2009/10 | http://bit.ly/11tmPiK
Main Report 2009/10 | http://bit.ly/1666QWJ
• Supplemental Questions Findings (Secondary) | bit.ly/YwR95z
Prevention isn’t sexy. It doesn’t get the headlines.
It is the day-to-day work of all of us as parents and educators to
ensure children’s health. LAUSD has adopted health standards that can be
accessed at http://bit.ly/11qRny0
and those for the State of California are located at http://bit.ly/X0jPIZ.
T he following topics are included : • Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs
(inhalant prevention starts in grade 2) • Nutrition and Physical
Activity • Growth and Development • Mental, Emotional and Social Health
(including social - emotional skill building) • Personal and Community
Health • Injury prevention and safety (including sexual abuse
prevention)
Health standards are skills based and must be practiced. It is not
enough to just tell students what they are supposed to do and then send
them on without any practice or skill.
Good health habits have to be practiced. Math problems are practiced,
plays are practiced, test taking is practiced and avoiding high risk
behaviors has to be practiced.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
STOP READING ANYTIME YOUR DISBELIEF KICKS IN : (from LA Schools Report) A new report|http://bit.ly/13oaYUm
out from a Washington DC think tank closely associated with the
Democratic Party takes a look at the history of “mayoral control” of
big-city school systems in which City Hall runs a district rather than
an independently elected Board of Education.
According to the report, written by a pair of academics from Brown
University and the University of Minnesota (and funded by the Broad
Foundation), mayoral control doesn’t work everywhere but is associated
with rising test scores and “can be a catalyst for reform.”
••smf: “…can be?” – The Broad Foundation couldn’t even buy a “maybe should...?” What's become of 'Academia for hire'?
The Incubator Pilot @ Venice High: A PARENT WRITES TO SUPERINTENDENT DEASY: by Mary Smith, reprinted with perm... http://bit.ly/11zIx4O
LAUSD TEACHERS SET TO VOTE ON CONFIDENCE IN DISTRICT, UNION POLICIES: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer | LA Dail... http://bit.ly/11zIwxA
Carpenter Community Charter: THE DOWNSIDE OF SUPERSTAR SCHOOLS: It's no surprise that parents go to great leng... http://bit.ly/YpcxiZ
CALIFORNIA VOTERS SPLIT ON JERRY BROWN SCHOOL PLANS + smf’s 2¢: Good policy meets bad process: Fifty percent a... http://bit.ly/15HLNYu
INCUBATOR SCHOOL IN L.A. SPARKS DISCORD OVER LOCATION, TEACHERS: The pilot middle school, which is slated to o... http://bit.ly/11wdzdF
GOOD NEWS FOR ADULT EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA: from the AALA Update | http://bit.ly/166dFHV 21 March 2013 ... http://bit.ly/10u1YJz
INSTEAD OF CLOSING (or reconstituting, charterizing, privatizing, magnetizing or pilotizing) SCHOOLS - HOW ABO... http://bit.ly/Z8K1yT
SENATOR PADILLA DROPS HIS TEACHER DISMISSAL BILL, SB10 - IN FAVOR OF ASSEMBLY ED CHAIR BUCHANAN’S AB 375: By J... http://bit.ly/15AV9VX
ALLEGATIONS OF COVER-UP + FAILURE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE @ DE LA TORRE ELEMENTARY IMPLICATE SENIOR LAUSD OFFICI... http://bit.ly/11sdY0J
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smf deconstructs the LAUSD school board election, plus Ground Zero
reports from Venice High and more than you ever wanted to know about the
the Common Co®e on “Politics or Pedagogy” w/John Cromshow live
tonight 3/21 @ 8pm KPFK 90.7 - ARCHIVE: http://bit.ly/10BxeGu
ARIA DOHERTY, 14, DIES OF “HUFFING” COMPUTER CLEANER + smf’s 2¢: Aria Doherty, 14, died on Monday, March 18, ... http://bit.ly/Y8MYTl
THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION: Commentary By Arthur E. Wise & Michael D. Usdan/Education wee... http://bit.ly/10l1Z2n
MORE FROM TUESDAY’S BOARD MEETING: Magnets Redux + Security in Early Childhood Ed: LAUSD considers allowing s... http://bit.ly/15tnQnC
WHY ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA FELL SHORT AS LA’s EDUCATION MAYOR: Adolfo Guzman-Lopez| Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC | ht... http://bit.ly/ZvEzpz
US DEPT OF ED INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS INADEQUATE CHARTER SCHOOL OVERSIGHT AT FEDERAL & STATE LEVEL: by smf for... http://bit.ly/10hDROe
COMMITTEE WRESTLES WITH INCORPORATING GRAD RATES INTO API: By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today http://... http://bit.ly/11ijKC3
GRANADA HILLS & EL CAMINO HIGH SCHOOLS ADVANCE TO NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON: Two California teams advance to... http://bit.ly/11igGG8
TUESDAY LAUSD BOARD MEETING: 3 PILOT SCHOOLS APPROVED, GARCIA REPUDIATED: New school to teach entrepreneurship... http://bit.ly/15pYC9I
LAUSD CAN BALANCE BUDGET THIS YEAR, BUT POTENTIAL LOSSES LOOM + smf’s 2¢: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA D... http://bit.ly/YU9o7q
Thursday April 11: PUBLIC HEARINGS ON LAUSD’s COMPLIANCE WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION LAWS: from the Office of the I... http://bit.ly/15myTPn
FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL WINS ACA-DECA SUPER QUIZ, FALLS JUST SHORT OF NATIONAL FINALS + smf’s 2¢: FHS had the thi... http://bit.ly/YRzibT
Opinion: LET’S SHELVE THE CSTs SO THE REAL WORK CAN BEGIN: By Merrill Vargo / commentary in EdSource Today | ... http://bit.ly/114Yxro
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Scott Folsom Scott Folsom @4LAKids 18 Mar
CDE, TORLAKSON LEAD EFFORT TO FORGE AHEAD ON COMMON CORE DESPITE CHALLENGES: By Tom Chorneau. SI&A Cabinet Re... http://bit.ly/107EiKW
110SGn2
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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