In This Issue:
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L.A. SCHOOLS FALLING APART, LITERALLY + smf’s 2¢ |
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IN•FRA•STRUC•TURE |
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LAUSD Board of Ed Election 2013: DIVIDED OVER L.A. UNIFIED |
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IMPROVING MORALE: A MORAL IMPERATIVE |
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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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LAUSD is beginning to settle some of the civil claims
in the Miramonte cases “outside of court”. Those quotes are there
because the court must approve the settlements – so while the
negotiations may have taken place outside the courtroom, the judge must
still approve them. And then they will almost certainly be sealed, with
everyone crossing their heart and hoping to die if the terms or details
are ever disclosed. There isn’t a Reality TV producer out there not
figuring how to break that seal!
►There are reasons why this is a good idea.
• There are criminal cases pending and the settlements might color the justice there.
• Children should be spared the public disclosure and perhaps humiliation of what happened to them.
►There are reasons why this is a bad idea:
• The public will never learn what happened or its true cost.
• How do we learn the lesson if we don’t know what happened?
• Along with protecting the Innocent – and the rights of the Accused – the Culpable will be allowed to escape.
• And while the actually abused – in the past tense – are protected,
those who might be abused – in the future tense – are left at risk.
And a whole lot of balderdash is being allowed to surface along with the
scatological effluvia. The concept that the financial damage to LAUSD
will be absorbed in its totality by insurance at no cost to the General
Fund leads this list.
I refer you to: L.A. Now Live: LAUSD's $30-MILLION MIRAMONTE SETTLEMENT | bit.ly/ZW7Jzh
• There were 23 criminal charges filed but there are more than 138 civil
actions, 58 of which have been settled – pending approval by the judge –
which is by no means guaranteed. I think I kinda/sorta know the answer –
but somebody needs to describe the difference between 23 charges and
158+ claims.
• And someone accountable needs to explain with a straight face why
these settlements are secret. “That’s the way we always do things”
won’t cut it!
Quoting The Times: “The district has a liability fund, that is used to
pay out settlements and will be used to pay these. The district expects
insurance to cover all of it. So there is no general fund dollars being
spent here.”
smf: Really? All is a lot. It’s more than some …or much …or most.
• With what level of confidence does the district expect insurance to
cover all of it? I am a taxpayer – and my credulity is being taxed 100%
here!
Having it both ways when really you’re being had twice:
• Are the settlements and cost of litigation being paid 100% from insurance?
• …or are they being paid from the liability fund – which is General Fund money.
• The premiums for the insurance are general funds too. How much will the premiums increase when the dust clears?
If TEACHING DOESN'T WORK OUT, THERE'S ALWAYS.... Both Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) and John Deasy were both high school
science teachers.
TWO ARTICLES ABOUT DISINTEGRATING SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE FOLLOW. Steve
Lopez’ L.A. Schools Falling Apart, Literally brings the issue to a
local focus, the UCLA IDEA In•fra•struc•ture story puts it in national
perspective. LAUSD must address and prioritize Deferred Maintenance,
emphasizing and planning for the maintenance rather than the deferral.
The superintendent has made an argument that his 1:1
Computing/”Tablets4All” initiative is an upgrade to technology
infrastructure – and I and the Bond Oversight Committee and I have
bought into this concept for a pilot program …but it’s going to take a
lot more convincing for me, The BOC and I suspect the Board of Ed to
support universal iPads or laptops or Amplify devices at the expense of
repairing physical schools – especially when student health and safety
is at stake! Boardmember Kayser is introducing a resolution calling for
a vote from the taxpayers to approve Tabets4All. It may take that.
THE ARTICLE BEGINS: “For five years, all UC students have been paying a
$60 annual fee to help the university finance massive refunds for past
illegal tuition practices. As a result of a UC regents vote Thursday,
that charge will continue for five more years.” | Los Angeles Times http://lat.ms/ZzwU8S also SF Chronicle http://bit.ly/101V0LH
One has a reasonable expectation that the Regents of University of
California would raise above the quick-fix politics-as-(un)usual and
transcend the expedience and ethical dilemma to not make students pay
for past illegal tuition practices. This is a ‘Victim Surcharge’: not
unlike forcing injured parties to pay for the cost of offenses committed
against them. As a matter of fact: that’s exactly what it is.
And thank you to the people who reached out to me in the past week even
though I asked you not to – it’s the kind of direction I generally
ignore. And thank you to the people who didn’t because I asked you not
to. We all do the best we do with what we know and with what we’ve got.
That’s why all of this: the morals and the ethics and the morale and
the murals - matters. And the test scores? …not so much.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
L.A. SCHOOLS FALLING APART, LITERALLY + smf’s 2¢
YEARS OF BUDGET CUTS HAVE MEANT MANY REPAIRS SIMPLY
AREN'T GETTING DONE. THERE ARE AT LEAST 35,442 UNRESOLVED CALLS FOR
SERVICE AND REPAIRS, WITH ABOUT 1,100 MORE COMING IN EACH DAY.
By Steve Lopez, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/10G4cUz
March 12, 2013, 7:21 p.m. :: The dilapidated bleachers at Marshall
High School in Silver Lake have been in such a sorry state for so long, I
stopped noticing until recently, when I saw a grandfather teeter as he
stepped over a sinkhole in the floorboards.
That made me really look around, as my daughter played in a city recreation league basketball game. It wasn't pretty.
I saw jutting metal stumps where seats used to be. Entire rows of seats
were missing, traffic cones and yellow caution tape were used to cordon
off particularly dangerous sections, and a folding chair was planted
over a hole to keep people from tumbling into it.
Why do deplorable conditions like this exist, in one of L.A. Unified's most highly regarded high schools, for years on end?
Part of the answer can be found in numbers. In the last five years, the
district has lost about 500 custodians and plant managers, along with
about 650 carpenters, electricians and plumbers, according to chief
facilities executive Mark Hovatter.
"What we used to do with $220 million a year, we are now trying to do with $86 million," said Hovatter.
So what does this mean? It means that many of the district's 763
schools, especially the oldest ones, are falling apart. It takes months
and sometimes years for the district to respond to calls for repairs,
and when I asked for specifics, I couldn't believe the numbers.
"We get a lot of work orders," said Hovatter. "About 1,100 a day."
Eleven hundred?
Yes, he said.
Many of those are quick fixes. But there's an enormous backlog of tougher cases. How enormous?
As of Monday, there were 35,442 unresolved calls for service and repairs, some of them going back several years.
Many calls are for relatively minor problems like peeling paint or
burned-out light bulbs that are too high for school staff to replace.
But far bigger projects await attention, as well.
It all keeps repair crews hustling across the district like triage
doctors, doing what they can to deal with leaky roofs and overflowing
toilets, with malfunctioning elevators and broken air conditioners and
heaters.
There's a rotten ceiling beam in a classroom at Twain Middle School,
where the heating and air conditioning are on the fritz in the main
office. Termites are munching on rafters in the lunch shelter at
Virginia Road Elementary School. Electrical wiring is exposed at 75th
Street Elementary School.
Reseda High School has 241 service requests pending, for broken desks
and chairs, missing ceiling tiles, damaged flooring, broken sprinklers,
damaged lunch tables and broken toilet paper dispensers, to name just a
few problems.
Mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel told me her son was complaining about how
hot it was at his L.A. Unified elementary school, and she thought he
was merely talking about the weather. It turned out the air conditioner
in his classroom was broken.
School board member Tamar Galatzan told me that she knows, based on what
school is hosting her kids' ballgames, whether to take her own chair
because of a bleacher problem or an extra wrap because the heater
doesn't work.
Is this the best time, then, for the district to consider spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on digital tablets for every one of the
600,000-plus students, as Supt. John Deasy has recommended? Galatzan,
who supported a $50-million pilot tablet program, said she'd like to see
the results and the reviews by students and teachers before buying any
additional devices.
Fair enough, but let's hope the kids aren't sitting under a leaky roof as they tap away on their new computers.
Marshall High — built in 1930 — has 136 service requests pending at the
moment, including one for the crumbling Gothic tower that rises above
the main entrance.
"The mortar between the bricks was not repaired at the time of the 1972
earthquake, so water has leaked in and rusted the rebar," said Principal
Daniel Harrison. "As the rusted rebar expands, you have bricks and you
have chunks coming off the tower."
When a chunk crashed onto the roof last year, Harrison demanded that
something be done to ensure student safety. Scaffolding was erected,
with a wooden platform to catch any falling bricks or concrete, and the
main entrance to the school was shut down. It remains that way today.
L.A. Unified is not alone in struggling with falling-apart schools. A
report Tuesday from the Center for Green Schools, with a forward from
former President Clinton, said it would take half a trillion dollars to
repair and modernize the nation's schools so they meet health and safety
standards.
In retrospect, with recent bond measures in Los Angeles, there may have
been too much focus on building new schools, and too little on fixing
existing ones. Hovatter told me he's hoping there's enough wiggle room
on existing bond money to make a bigger dent in the repair backlog this
year and next. But he said it would take billions of dollars and many
years to replace the district's failing roofs, sewage lines and heating
and air conditioning systems.
As for the purchase of tablets, Deasy told me that new technology was
specifically covered under the latest bond measure. Though many of his
budget decisions have been difficult, he said his first priority has
been clear all along.
"When we went through huge, catastrophic reductions in California, we
held on to the most critical thing, which was teachers," he said.
Schools aren't alone, he added, in dealing with declining infrastructure.
"Take a look at roads. Take a look at bridges. Take a look at national parks."
I'm looking, and from where I sit in the bleachers, I see us sabotaging
our own best interests, underinvesting in our children's futures, and
paying a price that is becoming ever more evident, everywhere you look.
••2 smfs 2¢: I share Steve Lopez’ outrage, I have expressed it myself
repeated in the past and only hope that this is some sort of tipping
point and something beyond handwringing is done.
• Safety is the first priority; not technology, not teachers, not any of
the alphabet noodles in the soup. The first bond measure ballot
language started out: “To improve health and safety conditions in 800
neighborhood schools….” All the rest had similar language.
• Lopez’s description of the bleachers at Marshall is a safety issue - and orange cones and yellow tape are not the solution!
• The falling masonry on the signature tower at Marshall is being
addressed. I spoke to an architect working on the repair project
yesterday.
• Deasy’s interpretation of the bond language and voter intent that “new
technology was specifically covered under the latest bond measure” is
subject to question –and even if he is right that the voters approved
this, safety trumps all! I don’t remember seeing Dr. Deasy at the
polling place when I voted for measures BB, K, R, Y and Q. Because,
gentle reader, he was in Santa Monica and Virginia and on the payroll of
the Gates Foundation when those bonds were approved by the voters and
the obligations assumed by the taxpayers of LAUSD. He wasn’t involved
in any way. And I was engaged in preparing the ballot language of all
but BB.
• Day-to-day maintenance is not and cannot-be paid for by bond funds,
Maintenance+Operations is funded by the general fund. But District
leadership from the Board to the supe has assigned greater priority to
other, shiny+sparkly things. Like testing. And AGT, AYP, API and Public
School Choice. At the expense of the day-to-day health and safety
conditions in neighborhood schools.
• I will leave to others the argument that teachers are a priority of Dr. Deasy.
IN•FRA•STRUC•TURE
Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA | Week of March 11-15, 2013 | http://bit.ly/XRsQTo
3-15-2013
In•fra•struc•ture n. 1. An underlying base or foundation especially for
an organization or system. 2. The basic facilities, services, and
installations ...
The “underlying base” and “basic facilities” of America’s schools are
crumbling. According to State of our Schools, released by the Center for
Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, the disrepair of
America’s schools will take $270 billion to return elementary and
secondary school buildings to their original conditions, and $542
billion to get them up to date.
The Green Schools report, the first in almost 20 years on the conditions
of school facilities, concluded that there’s a huge need to modernize
buildings for student and teacher health, safety and educational
performance (Contra Costa Times, American Public Media, Business
Insider). Even with this report, it’s hard to know the full extent of
the problem because there has not been a large, comprehensive survey of
school facilities since the first Clinton administration. However, when a
closer look is taken, serious problems quickly appear. It doesn’t take
much probing to turn up examples of students learning in classrooms with
leaky roofs, no air conditioning or heating, broken pavement,
infestations and more (Los Angeles Times, California Watch).
“Schools are the backbone of our communities, and it is unacceptable
that we would allow any of our children to show up in classrooms that
compromise their ability to learn. We must do more,” said Rick Fedrizzi
of the U.S. Green Building Council (PR Newswire).
So why do facilities matter? According to Maureen Berner, who has
studied student learning in buildings deemed to be in poor condition,
“Kids who study in a rotten environment where the toilets don’t function
and windows are broken and the paint is peeling on the walls are going
to do worse” (APM).
Just as important, the quality of school facilities communicates to
students how the state values different groups of people. Reflecting on
the dilapidated conditions in her school a few years ago, a California
student told researchers:
“ It make you feel less about yourself, you know, like you sitting here
in a class where you have to stand up because there’s not enough chairs
and you see rats in the buildings, the bathrooms is nasty, you got to
pay. … And that just makes me feel real less about myself because it’s
like the State don’t care about public schools. If I have to sit there
and stand in the class, they can’t care about me.”
The State of our Schools report recommends more information-gathering.
This is a good first step. California and other states need better data
to identify and publicize the most pressing facilities needs. “When we
talk about a quality education, we talk about the ‘who’ and the
‘what’—teachers and curriculum—but we don’t talk about the ‘where.’ That
needs to change,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green
Schools (Contra Costa Times).
Of course, school facilities are just one of the weak links in a chain
of public responsibilities. Schools are joined by other infrastructure
systems, including transportation, energy and healthcare. Taking a
broader perspective we can look beyond counting the amount of vulnerable
highway bridges, electricity blackouts, children lacking preventative
medicine, or vermin crawling and ceiling tiles falling in schools. These
are not competing interests, but each is a piece of an unconscionably
wasteful neglect of the nation’s general welfare. Infrastructure,
whether it’s highways or schools, must be made robust, sufficient, and,
as underscored by the new report, energy efficient.
►2013 STATE OF OUR SCHOOLS REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
• Expand the Common Core of Data collected annually by the National
Center for Education Statistics to include school level data on building
age, building size and site size.
• Improve the current fiscal reporting of school district facility
maintenance and operations data to the National Center for Education
Statistics so that utility expenditures and maintenance expenditures are
collected separately.
• Improve the collection of capital outlay data from school districts to
include identification of the source of capital outlay funding and
distinctions between capital outlay categories for new construction and
for existing facilities.
• Provide financial and technical assistance to states from the U.S.
Department of Education to incorporate facility data in their state
longitudinal education data systems.
• Mandate a GAO facility condition survey to take place every 10 years, with the next one beginning immediately
LAUSD Board of Ed Election 2013: DIVIDED OVER L.A. UNIFIED
UNITED TEACHERS LOS ANGELES REMAINS AT ODDS WITH THE DISTRICT OVER REFORM MEASURES.
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/WkjFtq
March 12, 2013 :: One nasty election later, there is no sign that the
divisiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District will abate. If
anything, it looks likely to increase, with activists in United Teachers
Los Angeles announcing that teachers will vote on a passel of
anti-reform positions. The resolution aims to fight the district's
policy of reconstituting some of its lowest-performing schools by
removing and replacing teachers, to minimize use of student test scores
in teacher evaluations and to spend more money in the classrooms.
According to a Times report, the resolution — the result of a petition
signed by more than 1,000 union members and scheduled to be voted on in
April — calls on union negotiators to demand "reduced class sizes, full
staffing of our schools … safe and clean schools, better pay for all
school employees" and more.
These are typical union positions, based on the premise that if the
schools just spent more money and raised salaries while minimizing
accountability for teachers, all would be well educationally. But as
vital as sufficient school funding is, there's more to improving student
achievement than bigger budgets — such as the willingness to make
drastic changes at schools that persistently fail to make progress.
At the same time, teachers can't be blamed for feeling under siege. UTLA
officials were blindsided when Supt. John Deasy announced in February
that he would make student test scores count for up to 30% of teachers'
evaluations; they thought he had backed off from that number. Teachers
are understandably nervous about the prospect of their job stability
depending to some degree on scores over which they have limited control.
We don't know what heft test scores should have in performance reviews —
no one does because the concept is too new and untested — but if the
scores will indeed prove helpful, Deasy would do better by starting with
a lower figure until the evaluation system proves its worth.
Strange to say, one of the district's best hopes for a more balanced
agenda might lie with a newly reelected school board member whom The
Times did not endorse: Steve Zimmer. He is the most independent-minded
of those on the board, the most likely to challenge Deasy while
supporting worthwhile reform. Unfortunately, in his first term, Zimmer
counterproductively sank some of his own good initiatives by including
UTLA-pleasing provisions that were indefensible. In his second term,
Zimmer could take a real leadership position by working for a more
balanced approach to school reform. It would help if Monica Ratliff, the
more knowledgeable and open-minded candidate for the one open seat,
prevails in the runoff election in May. Zimmer would then have an ally
in his effort to promote a more thoughtful vision for L.A. Unified.
IMPROVING MORALE: A MORAL IMPERATIVE
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Update/Week of March 18th. | http://bit.ly/YCMscQ
14 March, 2013 :: Employee morale can be defined as the employee's
outlook, optimism, self - concept and belief in themselves and their
organization, its mission, goals, defined path, daily decisions and
employee appreciation.
Employee morale describes the overall outlook, attitude and satisfaction
that employees feel at work. When employees are positive about their
work environment and believe that they can meet their most important
needs at work, employee morale is high. If employees are negative and
unhappy about their workplace, and feel unappreciated, employee morale
is low.
One goal at the top of any organization’s list should be to ensure high
employee morale, so say industry experts. Yet, w e would venture to say
that the morale of LAUSD administrators is at an all - time low. With
all of the directives, counter - directives, tests, reviews, models and
innovations being thrown at them, coupled with the ongoing unrealistic
workload and the disparaging treatment; is it any wonder that most of
the “feel good” has left the profession?
Much has been written about low teacher morale and the many ways that
administrators can improve it; but, conversely, little can be found on
the subject of improving the morale of school - site administrators.
Principals are charged in clear and distinct ways with establishing a
positive school climate that fosters good morale and evaluated on it,
but who looks after the morale in LAUSD, sadly, the answer is very
elusive, so, we, at AALA, decided to tackle it.
Granted, much of the low morale can be attributed to workload, which can
only be alleviated by additional resources or reducing demands;
however, there are other factors which impact morale, such as autonomy,
respect, professional growth opportunities, transparent and cohesive
evaluation systems and clear line - staff relationships
.
Almost anything that contributes to a positive work environment for employees helps to build employee morale.
We have listed some things below that can be done with existing
resources to improve the morale of administrators and at the same time,
no surprise , help improve their performance
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NO EXTRA FUNDING REQUIRED
•Treat employees with respect, empower them and recognize their work.
•Divert $50 million from proposed tablets for students to repairing the infrastructure at schools.
•Improve the system to input data for teacher
observations.
•Establish a budget timetable that allows for genuine communication with staff and parents.
•Provide District initiative training that includes Options principals.
•Implement District initiatives that have a timetable that serves the needs of principals, not PR.
•Display sensitivity to the demands on the time of principals.
•Conduct genuine, concerted fundraising that provides resources to
schools and is not used for politically engineered activities or
ambitions.
•Elect a mayor who runs the city, not the schools.
•Focus on only one or two initiatives each year.
•Offer administrators the opportunity to have input into the District’s strategic plan and goal setting.
•Stop efforts to privatize public education.
•Abbreviate the LAUSD Brief.
If the above items are implemented, we guarantee that employee morale
will soar! Building positive employee morale is not difficult, but it
takes desire, commitment and attention on the part of leadership
•• In the next AALA Update article [ “BUDGET WOES” - http://bit.ly/YCMscQ]
AALA President Judith Perez addresses some administrator complaints
about the budget procees+timeline with specific suggestions in “AALA
LETTER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE SENIOR DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT”.
4LAKids concurs with AALA: If LAUSD (and the governor) are going to
empower school site administrators with authority over their own
budgets, those administrators need to be given Support, Training and
Time to do the work in collaboration with school site councils and
school staff. The direction to do the work over Spring Break offers
none of the above!
Dr. Deasy replies: “I am sure we can find a way to resolve to help principals.”
smf: The floggings will continue until the morale improves
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
This just in: CALIFORNIA STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON
SUPER QUIZ RESULTS: Franklin High School from LAUSD wins the... http://bit.ly/YH4Ml2
SOME SEE ADULT-SCHOOL FUNDING SHIFT AS DISASTEROUS: The governor's plan would make it the responsibility of co... http://bit.ly/110SGn2
MOST STATE BOARD MEMBERS BACK DISTRICTS’ NCLB WAIVER
By John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today |
March 14th, 2013 | A majority of State Board of Education members
expressed strong support at their meeting Thursday for a consortium of
districts’ unconventional request for a waiver from constraints of the
federal No Child Left Behind law. “Congratulations,” Board member Carl
Cohn told two superintendents representing the nine districts in the
California Office to Reform Education, or CORE, seeking the waiver.
“This restores our state’s reputation for bold experimentation. It will
be interesting to see the extent to … http://bit.ly/WP0MBo
STATE BOARD ADDS SUPPORT FOR CORE’S NCLB WAIVER APPLICATION
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Friday, March 15, 2013)
Despite concerns about the role California could be asked to play, state
board of education members on Thursday elected to send a letter urging
federal support of an application by a coalition of school districts for
relief from the sanctions of the No Child Left Behind Act. .http://bit.ly/Z6NACn
DRAMATIC DIP IN ‘PINK SLIPS’ GIVEN TO TEACHERS
By Susan Frey and John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today |
March 14th, 2013 | Districts have issued dramatically fewer preliminary
layoff notices to teachers this year, signaling an end to five years of
high budgetary anxiety and providing one of the first concrete examples
of the immediate benefits of Proposition 30. Statewide, districts sent
at least 2,900 “pink slips” to teachers, according to the California
Teachers Association, which tracks the numbers. The Association expects
the count to rise and plans to issue a final tally sometime …http://bit.ly/XRxmkX
BILL RETURNS LOOKING TO PUSH BACK THE TEACHER “PINK SLIP” DATE
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Monday, March 11, 2013)
The March 15 deadline for preliminary teacher layoff notices would be
changed to June 1 in future years under a bill pending in the California
legislature. ...http://bit.ly/15cph9U
STATE BOARD ELIMINATES INCENTIVES TO OFFER ALGEBRA IN 8TH GRADE
By John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today |
March 13th, 2013 | The State Board of Education voted unanimously
Wednesday to remove state incentives encouraging schools to offer
Algebra I in 8th grade. The move was both a vote of confidence in the
new Common Core standards for 8th grade, which districts are now
beginning to implement, and a retreat from a decade-old policy of
pushing universal algebra in 8th grade. Proponents of the state’s
current policy are predicting that enrollment in Algebra by 8th grade,
which has …http://bit.ly/15TxySq
BROWN’S SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA LAUDED, THEN PICKED APART AT HEARING
By John Fensterwald, Ed Source Today |
March 13th, 2013 | To a person, every Assemblymember at a committee
hearing Tuesday and the six superintendents who testified at it praised
the principles behind Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed school finance
reforms: simplicity, clarity and equity ¬¬– more money for the state’s
neediest children. But there were also sharp disagreements over the
components of Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula that would determine
how much money districts would get were the new finance system phased
in over the next seven … http://bit.ly/Yjts0s
NEW LEGISLATIVE PANEL, SAME QUESTIONS OVER COMMON CORE: WHERE’S THE MONEY
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Thursday, March 14, 2013)
Just as some of their Assembly counterparts have, members of a key
Senate panel expressed skepticism Wednesday that California schools will
be ready in just two years to administer a new statewide student
testing system based on common core curriculum standards.... http://bit.ly/WrAAMc
BROWN’S TIIG FUNDING PROPOSAL CRITICIZED AT ASSEMBLY HEARING
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)
Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to protect two large pots of money that
benefit only a handful of districts came under fire Tuesday during a
Legislative review of his new school funding plan.... http://bit.ly/XRzqcr
DISTRICTS STRUGGLE WITH GOVERNOR’S ADULT EDUCATION PROPOSAL
By Susan Frey, Ed Source Today |
March 12th, 2013 | Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to give the
state’s community colleges $300 million to run adult education is
leaving K-12 districts in a quandary. Should they assume Brown’s idea
will become law, plan to close their adult schools and hope that their
local community college will be able to pick up those programs? Should
they plan to keep their adult school open for one more year to help make
a smooth transition? Or should they … http://bit.ly/XN87Cp
Q+A w/Scott Moore: NOT INVESTING IN PRESCHOOL IS ‘MORTGAGING OUR FUTURE’
By Lillian Mongeau, Ed Source Today |
March 11th, 2013 | Scott Moore has been an advocate of early childhood
education for California’s youngest children for years. He served as the
executive director of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Early Learning Advisory
Council from 2010 to 2011. As the senior policy adviser at Preschool
California, an advocacy organization, Moore has pushed for the creation
of transitional kindergarten and the consolidation of the state’s
various early education initiatives to create its current state
preschool program. As part of an occasional …http://bit.ly/101ZCRM
KEEP FOSTER YOUTH SERVICES OUT OF GOVERNOR’S FUNDING FORMULA
By Maya Cooper / commentary, Ed Source Today |
March 10th, 2013 | Governor Jerry Brown’s new funding formula for
education threatens to leave more than 40,000 school-age foster children
in California without the essential support they need to succeed in
school. The governor’s proposed budget eliminates 47 of 62 “categorical”
education programs, including California’s Foster Youth Services
program. Local Foster Youth Services programs operate primarily through
county offices of education to better coordinate with the other county
agencies serving foster children. These programs work with current and
former … http://bit.ly/Z6LYsj
ASPIRE SURRENDERS BENEFIT CHARTER STATUS UNDER SETTLEMENT TERMS
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Friday, March 15, 2013)
Aspire Charter Schools will surrender its statewide benefit charter
status under terms of a settlement agreement reached today between the
charter operator, the state board of education and the group of
education advocates that brought the lawsuit. ...http://bit.ly/10YvwxC.
SAVINGS FROM STAR SUSPENSION WOULD NET ABOUT $15 MILLION
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)
A plan to suspend some statewide testing in advance of transition to new
assessments based on the common core standards would save the state
about $15 million, according to an estimate released Monday by the
California Department of Education. ... http://bit.ly/XRzCbC
STATE LOOKING TO TERMINATE DECADES-LONG AGREEMENT WITH GED TEST VENDOR
SI&A Cabinet Report. (Monday, March 11, 2013)
For the first time in 40 years, students taking the general educational
development test as a pathway out of high school are likely to have a
new exam administrator by 2014. ... http://bit.ly/YFsY7k
IMPROVING MORALE: A MORAL IMPERATIVE: From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Update/Week of March 1... http://bit.ly/ZZmMs8
UC REGENTS VOTE TO KEEP $60 ANNUAL SURCHARGE FOR STUDENTS: The fee helps the university finance massive refund... http://bit.ly/10VixN1
®EFORMERS BY ANY OTHER NAME?: Commentary by Hillel Aron, LA Schools Report | http://bit.ly/YhEvY3 March 1... http://bit.ly/ZY3wey
PRESCHOOL TEACHERS NEED SCHOOLING IN HEALTH AND NUTRITION FACTS – AND PRACTICES: Deepa Fernandes | Pass / Fail... http://bit.ly/ZXLzNe
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEAMS COMPETE IN ACADEMIC DECATHLON IN SACRAMENTO: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Dail... http://bit.ly/XHVTe8
L.A. Now Live: LAUSD's $30-MILLION MIRAMONTE SETTLEMENT + smf’s 2¢: The district expects insurance to cover al... http://bit.ly/ZW7Jzh
140 CHARACTERS (OR LESS) GATHER IN SAN DIEGO: Tokofsky tweets from the California Charter Schools Conference: ... http://bit.ly/WfC7ES
SUSPENDING SOME STANDARDIZED TESTS WOULD SAVE STATE $15 MILLION: -- Teresa Watanabe | LA Times/LA Now | http:/... http://bit.ly/ZPBlyk
L.A. SCHOOLS FALLING APART, LITERALLY + smf’s 2¢: Years of budget cuts have meant many repairs simply aren't g... http://bit.ly/YnvXBe
LAUSD CHARTERS WOULD LOSE FUNDING UNDER GOVERNOR BROWN’S ‘LOCAL CONTROL FUNDING FORMULA’ + smf’s 2¢: By Barbar... http://bit.ly/ZKet3i
LAUSD ANNOUNCES MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR SETTLEMENT OF 58 OF 191 MIRAMONTE SEX ABUSE CLAIMS: BY Vanessa Romo With ... http://bit.ly/WagFRQ
1:1 Computing/"Tablets4All": MURDOCH GROUP UNVEILS AMPLIFY TABLET FOR U.S. SCHOOLS: from the wonderful folks w... http://bit.ly/10E83Sj
LAUSD Board of Ed Election 2013: DIVIDED OVER L.A. UNIFIED: United Teachers Los Angeles remains at odds with t... http://bit.ly/10L2Nju
Parent Trigger @ 24th St Elementary: LA PARENTS GET 4 OFFERS TO RUN FAILING SCHOOL: They wanted a new principa... http://bit.ly/XnwDdd
1:1 Computing/"Tablets 4 All" RFP: LAUSD INVITES PROPOSALS FOR MAJOR ED-TECH CONTRACT + RFP: By Sean Cavanagh,... http://bit.ly/14RPPNy
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
Meets Wed. March 20 at Beaudry @ 10AM - The agenda has not yet been
posted online but will appear here: http://bit.ly/dd49YV
• Thursday Mar 21, 2013
Central Region Elementary School #21: Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location:
Central Region Elementary School #21
1041 E. 46th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90011
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Meets Wed. March 20 at
Beaudry @ 10AM - The agenda has not yet been posted online but will
appear here: http://bit.ly/dd49YV
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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