In This Issue:
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Headline of Story 1 |
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LAUSD SEX ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS TO BE BY PROFESSIONALS; Board renews contracts of 45 of 47 on Deasy’s senior staff, |
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Michelle Rhee: TIGER MOM… OR PAPER TIGER MOM …with kids in private school? |
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UNITED ADULT TEACHERS OPPOSES GOV. BROWN’S REALIGNMENT OF ADULT ED TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES |
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SAL CASTRO: A Legacy of Fighting for Rights |
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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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“This brings out the best of ourselves, even as the
actions of these jerks bring out the worst in themselves.” - Historian
Doris Kearns Goodwin this morning on Meet the Press
The quote above refers as appropriately to the senseless terrorism at
the Boston Marathon on Monday as to the cluelessness in the US Senate on
Wednesday. The best of us were at our best, the least of us were
lessened further.
The Boston Marathon – like all marathons - is 26 miles 385 yards long –
the distance from The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC to the Athenian
agora – the distance run by Philippides, who died upon delivery of the
news of the victory over the invading Persians: “Joy to you, we’ve won.”
Boston’s marathon ran a bit short on Monday because of the
senselessness. Three died in the bomb blast at the finish line; an MIT
campus policeman was gunned down later in his squad car as the drama
played out.
Twenty-six lives were lost in the senselessness at Sandy Hook Elementary
School last December 14th. On Tuesday a minority in the US Senate
remembered those 26 by doing nothing but cover their American Rifle
Association grade-point-averages. The names of the senators need to be
forever enshrined as Profiles in Cowardice.
Mr. Scratch couldn’t buy Daniel Webster’s soul; but Wayne LaPierre and the gun lobby bought 46 senator’s souls on Wednesday.
The greatness of “world's greatest deliberative body” grated. And the
memory of Patriots Day - when the farmers and yeomen of Lexington and
Concord mustered and took on a world power seemed farther away than 14
miles or 238 years …celebrated, honored+practiced onn the streets of
Boston -- but sold short in the halls of power in DC.
The unpleasantness with the tea in Boston Harbor resulted in the passage
in Parliament of the Boston Port Bill on April 15, 1774, closing Boston
as a port. Siege and occupation followed. One year later the American
Revolution began on the village green at Lexington April 19, 1775 when
the Minutemen answered the call: “Stand your ground. Don't fire unless
fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."
And so it did.
The battle continues. Sometimes the Course of Human Events needs a course correction. Last week was such a time.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
LAUSD SEX ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS TO BE BY
PROFESSIONALS; Board renews contracts of 45 of 47 on Deasy’s senior
staff,
•ALL BUT ONE OF PREVIOUSLY OUTSIDE FUNDED POSITIONS NOW PAID BY GENERAL FUND
•OF FOUR CONTRACTS NOT RENEWED, ALL PREDATE DEASY’S TENURE
Los Angeles Daily News | By Barbara Jones | http://huff.to/XPANIl
4/17/2013 2:52 pm EDT :: With 278 Los Angeles Unified educators
sitting in "teacher jail," the school board voted Tuesday to streamline
and improve the investigations of those accused of serious physical
abuse or sexual misconduct.
Passed without discussion, the resolution by board member Tamar Galatzan
directs administrators to create a plan for hiring professional
investigators to look into abuse claims, and tightens the time line for
handling the cases. Teachers will also have to be told why they're being
pulled from their classroom -- which doesn't happen now -- unless doing
so would compromise a police investigation.
Under the system that many educators call "teacher jail," those accused
of misconduct are housed in district offices while administrators
investigate misconduct allegations and decide their fate. The process
typically drags on for months, with teachers collecting their full pay
-- an average of $6,000 a month, plus benefits -- until they're returned
to work or fired.
Last year's sex-abuse scandals at Miramonte and Telfair elementary
schools prompted a spike in complaints, and district offices were
crowded with hundreds of housed teachers. The district also enacted a
zero-tolerance policy for abuse, and dozens of teachers have been fired
as a result.
Officials said 278 educators and 44 classified employees were housed on
Tuesday, the "vast majority" of whom are under investigation for
misconduct.
The increase in complaints has raised complaints from teachers that the
system presumes their guilt and concerns that they have been targeted by
disgruntled students or vengeful bosses. Others have said the district
is trying to push out highly paid teachers as they near the end of their
career -- an accusation the district has steadfastly disputed.
David Lyell, secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles, called Galatzan's
resolution a good start, but he said the district needs to ensure that
policies are followed, such as returning housed teachers to the
classroom as soon as they've been cleared of wrongdoing.
"We need to embrace policies that put interests of children first, and that's not happening," Lyell said.
Lyell and Seymour Amster, an attorney who also chairs the School Site
Council at Northridge Academy High, both asked the board to make
investigators independent of the administration to help resolve concerns
about neutrality.
"Our students must be safe," Amster said. "We must find a way to balance safety and fairness."
The board also gave its backing to Assembly Bill 375, which would make
it easier to fire teachers for unprofessional conduct or unsatisfactory
performance. [AB375: http://bit.ly/17coh8J]
ALSO TUESDAY, DURING THE CLOSED-DOOR PORTION OF ITS MEETING, the board
voted 5-1, with Marguerite Poindexter Lamotte dissenting, to renew the
contracts for 45 members of Superintendent John Deasy's senior staff.
The salaries range from about $137,500 for Edgar Zazueta, LAUSD's chief
lobbyist, to $275,000 for Michelle King, the deputy superintendent for
school operations.
Six managers were promoted into vacant positions, and 11 got experience-based raises.
The board's vote included the promotion of Drew Furedi from head of the
Talent Management Division to the newly created position of executive
director of Human Capital Initiatives. According to a memo, Furedi will
be overseeing a $49 million federal grant designed to improve teacher
effectiveness and developing other programs related to data-based
performance evaluations.
His $148,000-a-year salary will be covered by the grant.
During its executive session, the board postponed action on contract
extensions for David Holmquist, the district's $255,000-a-year general
counsel, and Jefferson Crain, who earns about $133,000 annually as the
board's executive officer.
Deasy himself delayed two recommended extensions that had been before
the board -- Linda Del Cueto, the local superintendent for the San
Fernando Valley region, and Michael Romero, who oversees Adult Education
and after-school programs.
When Deasy was named schools chief two years ago, he brought aboard
about a half-dozen administrators whose six-figure salaries were paid by
philanthropist Casey Wasserman. Now, only Chief Strategy Officer Matt
Hill has his $196,000-a-year salary covered by the Wasserman Foundation.
The other salaries have been shifted to the general fund, officials
said.
A photo accompanied this article in the Huffington Post repost, with the
caption: “In this photo taken Thursday, June 14, 2012 Los Angeles
Unified School District LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy tours the
district in Los Angeles. Developing school leadership is a cornerstone
of Deasy's strategy to reform Los Angeles Unified School District and
sorting through principals underscores his philosophy that nothing in
the sprawling district is too minute to warrant his attention.”
••smf: And yet this is neither micromanagement nor centralized power?
Michelle Rhee: TIGER MOM… OR PAPER TIGER MOM …with kids in private school?
►EDUCATION ADVOCATE MICHELLE RHEE FENDS OFF ACCUSATIONS
•HEAD OF A GROUP THAT ADVOCATES USING STUDENT TEST SCORES TO EVALUATE
TEACHERS, FENDS OFF ACCUSATIONS THAT SHE FAILED TO PURSUE EVIDENCE OF
CHEATING WHEN SHE RAN THE D.C. SCHOOL SYSTEM.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1796S0y.
● TIMES READERS POLL: Should California listen to Michelle Rhee on schools?
•Yes - 17% (229 votes)
•No - 83% (1,096 votes)
April 17, 2013, 8:32 p.m. :: Michelle Rhee, head of an influential
education advocacy group that backs using student test scores to
evaluate teachers, this week fended off accusations that she failed to
pursue evidence of cheating when she ran the District of Columbia school
system.
In an internal memo, a district consultant warned that about 190
teachers at 70 schools — more than half the system's campuses — may have
cheated in 2008 by erasing wrong answers on student testing sheets and
filling in correct ones. The four-page document was made public last
week in a post by PBS journalist John Merrow, who had received the memo
anonymously.
In an interview with The Times editorial board, Rhee said that although
she "didn't see the memo" at the time, consultant Sandy Sanford "was
just writing a memo based on something that we already broadly knew."
She noted that the testing company had expressed reservations about the
erasure analysis the memo relied on, and she added that later
investigations found no widespread wrongdoing.
Rhee served as the D.C. schools chancellor for three years, leaving in
2010. She currently heads StudentsFirst, a national lobbying, policy and
campaign group based in Sacramento. The organization has donated to key
legislative races across the country and gave $250,000 to L.A. school
board candidates endorsed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the March
election.
Similar allegations about erasures that surfaced in Atlanta recently
resulted in a grand jury indictment against former schools Supt. Beverly
Hall and others. Authorities have alleged that Hall conspired to cheat
or conceal cheating. The result was fraudulent bonuses for employees and
a false read on student achievement, prosecutors said.
Some education activists and journalists have alleged serious flaws in
the investigations cited by Rhee. They noted that early probes in
Atlanta also turned up limited wrongdoing. At one point, Rhee hired a
firm to conduct a narrow review in D.C. — the same company whose
findings Atlanta officials cited in their defense.
There have been sharp drops in test scores at some D.C. schools that
were flagged in the past for high erasure rates, according to the
Washington Post. Such declines could indicate cheating, but are not
proof of it. To date, no in-depth erasure analysis of the 2008 answer
sheets has been conducted.
In the interview, Rhee also confirmed that one of her two daughters
attends a private school in Tennessee, where the girls live with their
father, that state's top education official. Rhee is now married to
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
She has previously described herself as a "public-school parent." An
aide repeated that phrase when The Times asked directly if Rhee's
children were in public or private school.
"I try to maintain some level of privacy for my kids by not divulging
too much information," Rhee said. "I say I'm a public-school parent when
my kid goes to private school.
"I believe in parental choice," she said. "I think I should be able to choose … and every parent should have that option too."
_______________
►@JOHN MERROW ASKS: “WHO CREATED MICHELLE RHEE?” – AND @DIANE RAVITCH ANSWERS:
•How did this woman with little experience and meager accomplishment and a penchant for braggadocio become a major media figure?
-
She did, by burnishing her resume.
-
The media did, by basking in her harshness.
-
Merrow did, by broadcasting 12 segments on national TV about her.
-
And unions did, by their intransigence.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Julius Caesar, Act 1, scene 2
_______________
►WHO CREATED “MICHELLE RHEE”?
by John Merrow | Taking Note http://bit.ly/ZD2K3u
18. Apr, 2013 :: We know that the flesh and blood Michelle A. Rhee
was born in Michigan 43 years ago, the second child of South Korean
immigrants Shang Rhee, a physician, and Inza Rhee, a clothing store
owner. She spent most of her childhood in Ohio, where she attended
public and private schools.
My question is about the public phenomenon known as “Michelle Rhee.” The
one that’s has become America’s most prominent education activist.
She’s loved by some, hated and/or feared by others. To her admirers,
she’s a shining symbol of all that’s right in school reform. Her
opponents see her as the representative of the forces of greed,
privatization and teacher-bashing in education.
Who created that character, that symbol? I can identify four possible
parents: She created herself. We created her. “They” did. U did.
Michelle Rhee created “Michelle Rhee.” There’s some evidence for this
line of thinking. Either accidentally or deliberately, she exaggerated
her success as a teacher in Baltimore. She inflated her resumé to
include an appearance on Good Morning America, which has no record of
her being on the program. Her early resumé claims that she had been
featured in the Wall Street Journal, but, again, we could find no
record. She said (and still says) that she ‘founded’ The New Teacher
Project, an assertion that is disputed by reliable sources familiar with
Teach for America. A more likely story is that she was asked by its
real founder, Wendy Kopp, to take it and run with it–and she did.
But lots of people puff up their resumés early in their career, without
attaining Rhee-level success. She may have started the ball rolling, but
she can’t claim most of the credit/blame for her own creation. We need
to search further to find her principal creators.
We, the mainstream media, created “Michelle Rhee.” Good argument there.
Rhee blew into Washington like a whirlwind, where she was a great story
and an overdo gust of fresh air. DC schools were pretty bad, and she was
candid, accessible, energetic, young, and attractive–everything
reporters love. While I don’t think my reporting for the NewsHour was
puffery, we did produce twelve (!) pieces about her efforts over the 40
months — about two hours of primetime coverage. That’s an awful lot of
attention.
Did anyone else get that much air time from us? Well, yes, we also
produced twelve reports about Paul Vallas in New Orleans. But Vallas
never received the positive treatment (or even the coverage) from the
Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Charlie
Rose, et alia, that Rhee did back in 2007-2009.
Were we skeptical enough about the ‘miracle’ gains in her first year?
Unfortunately not. So we certainly helped create the public phenomenon
that is “Michelle Rhee.”
“They” created her. “They,” according to conspiracy theorists, are the
Walton Foundation and other right-leaning organizations; ALEC; the Koch
brothers, Eli Broad and other wealthy individuals; and influential
power-brokers like Joel Klein. Without them, this explanation has it,
she would be nothing.
But we don’t know for certain where the money behind Michelle Rhee and
StudentsFirst comes from. Moreover, it’s an insult to her to assume that
she would fall in line and parrot whatever her wealthy backers want her
to say. Seems more likely they liked what she was saying and decided to
bankroll her efforts. So I guess one could say that “They” helped
create her, just as the mainstream media did.
And finally U created her. “U” is my shorthand for teacher unions. This
is simple physics: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction.” The “Michelle Rhee” phenomenon is the inevitable product of,
and reaction to, intransigent teacher union policies like the ones that
produced New York City’s famous “rubber room,” where teachers who
couldn’t be fired spent their days reading, napping, and doing crossword
puzzles–on full salary and with the full support of the United
Federation of Teachers, the local union. (See Steven Brill’s Class
Warfare.) She’s the inevitable reaction to union leaders who devote
their energy to preserving seniority at the expense of talented young
teachers, not to mention children. She’s the product of the California
Teachers Association, which I recall was willing to sacrifice
librarians’ jobs in order to preserve salary increases for teachers.
She’s a social reaction to union leaders like Vice President Jack
Steinberg of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. In an interview
that is burned into my memory, Steinberg asserted that teachers can
never be held accountable for student results. No teacher! Not ever!
Jack was muzzled when he said that on national television in 1996, but
he and his union have stayed on message.
But let’s remember that union intransigence didn’t just spring up all of
a sudden out of nowhere. It too was produced by that same law of
physics. Teacher union militancy was a long time coming and was the
reaction to administrative policies that infantilized and trivialized
teaching.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that U(nions) also created the social
phenomenon that is “Michelle Rhee”–and are now reaping that bitter
fruit.
So ‘They,’ we and U created the social phenomenon that is “Michelle Rhee.” What happens next?
Rhee’s critics now openly mock her after the revelations about her
failure to investigate widespread erasures while she was Chancellor in
Washington. “Erase to the Top” is the clever new meme, and her famous
Time Magazine cover has been altered. Will this mockery defeat her?
Perhaps.
Even if that strategy is successful, it won’t do much for kids, who are generally forgotten in these nasty political fights.
Is it asking too much to expect strong leadership from Arne Duncan and
President Obama on this? More words about ‘Race to the Top’ and ‘The
Common Core’ are not enough, not now.
I have said this before, but we need to be measuring what we value,
instead of valuing what we measure (usually cheaply). What do we value?
That’s a more important question than “Who created “Michelle Rhee”?”
UNITED ADULT TEACHERS OPPOSES GOV. BROWN’S REALIGNMENT OF ADULT ED TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES
www.unitedadultstudents.org reports:
"10,000+ petition signatures that adult students have collected in the
past two weeks rejects Governor Brown's plan to move Adult Education to
the Community College system. The petition also demands that a
"Dedicated Funding Stream" be established by lawmakers in Sacramento to
ensure Adult Education funding is actually used for adults and not
re-directed to other purposes under the guise of further 'budget cuts'."
from this week:
►STUDENTS RALLY TO SUPPORT ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS
By Carla Rivera, LA Times | http://lat.ms/108hSFb
April 17, 2013, 1:31 p.m. :: A group of adult education students held a
rally Wednesday to demand greater funding for adult education programs.
About 30 members of the group United Adult Students gathered at the
Evans Community Adult School in downtown Los Angeles to gather
signatures for petitions that will be presented to lawmakers in
Sacramento on Thursday.
With about 10,000 signatures already in hand, they are calling on Gov.
Jerry Brown to dedicate greater funding to adult education and to keep
programs located in local K-12 school districts. The group also wants to
be included in decisions about how to reform the program.
As part of his 2013-14 budget, Brown had proposed shifting
responsibility for all adult programs to community colleges, funded with
a new block grant of about $300 million.
The amount is about one-third of that provided for adult programs before the state’s fiscal crisis.
The proposal was rejected by the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on
Education Finance, but the fate of adult programs and funding levels is
still to be determined during budget negotiations between the
Legislature and the governor.
Many adult programs have cut back services or closed since 2008-09, when
the Legislature gave school districts temporary flexibility to shift
funds earmarked for adult programs to other uses.
Advocates argue that adult programs such as vocational education,
English as a second language, basic skills and citizenship are critical
needs in many communities.
“Many students who are parents need to learn English so that they can
help their children,” said Juan Noguera, an ESL teacher at Evans who is
an advisor to the student group. “We want a dedicated funding stream for
adult education and we want to be a part of the negotiations.”
LA OPINION:
►PIDEN FONDOS PARA EDUCACIÓN DE ADULTOS
Estudiantes y educadores recaudan más de 6,000 firmas
Por esmeralda fabián-romero | La Opinión / http://bit.ly/XZ0ubT
4/17/2013 :: Alrededor de 6,000 firmas fueron recaudadas hasta el día
de ayer por el grupo de estudiantes y educadores United Adult Students,
que planea entregar una petición con las firmas hoy a miembros de la
legislatura estatal, en Sacramento, durante la conferencia California
Council for Adult Education (CCAE).
Dicha petición pide a legisladores una reforma en la que se aprueben
nuevos fondos destinados exclusivamente para la educación para adultos.
"Queremos que el gobierno de California de fondos permanentes a la
educación para adultos", expresó Juan Noguera, maestro y consejero por
más de 13 años en la Evans Community Adult School, en Los Ángeles, y
quien liderea la iniciativa.
Noguera resaltó la intención de ganar el apoyo de los senadores Kevin de
León (D-22) y el presidente de la asamblea John Pérez (D-53). "Estas
escuelas están asentadas en sus distritos y tienen que apoyar la
educación de estudiantes adultos al aprobar cambios que garanticen sus
educación", dijo.
De acuerdo con el presidente de de CCAE, Chris Nelson, desde el año
2009, cuando los fondos para educación para adultos pasaron de ser
categóricos a flexibles, los distritos escolares han usado un 70 por
cientos de esos fondos para apoyar la educación K-12 , dejando así los
programas para adultos, incluyendo cursos vocacionales y clases de
Inglés como segundo idioma, con muy poco dinero para operar.
Antes de tal cambio, los programas para adultos en el estado obtenían
más de 850 millones de dólares en fondos, mientras que en el ciclo
escolar 2011 solo recibieron 400 millones, indica el reporte
Restructuring California's Adult Education System.
La falta de fondos, muy a pesar de las ganancias obtenidas por la medida
de impuestos Proposición 30, mantendrán la educación para adultos en
Los Ángeles "muy limitada" y eliminada para el verano, por segundo año
consecutivo, confirmó Michael Romero, director ejecutivo de la Division
of Adult and Career Education del LAUSD. El 7 de junio sería el ultimo
día de clases en este ciclo escolar.
A pesar de que el gobernador del estado, propone que 300 millones de
dólares parala educación de adultos quede en manos de los Colegios
Comunitarios, Romero afirmó que el LAUSD planea seguir manteniendo sus
programas con 100 millones de dólares de su fondo general el próximo
año.
"Necesitamos la aprobación de la junta directiva del distrito, pero el
[superintendente John] Deasy y yo hemos planeado continuar hasta el
próximo ciclo escolar manteniendo los mismos programas para adultos que
operamos actualmente", aseguró el funcionario del LAUSD a cargo de 61
escuelas de adultos, que ofrecen clases a más de 100,000 estudiantes.
UNIVISION 34:
UNIVISION 34 COVERS UNITED ADULT STUDENTS PETITION DRIVE
April 18, 2013 :: Univision covers successful petition drive by United
Adult Students on the day before trip to Sacramento to meet with
California legislators, about the importance of having Dedicated Funding
Streams for Adult Education, and the need to keep Adult Ed in LAUSD, in
the communities where it has been for 125+ years.
Video: http://bit.ly/11d9d6R
Addl info: UAT SACRAMENTO TRIP / CCAE & LEGISLATORS | http://bit.ly/XZ0YyF
●●smf: It is interesting to note that Superintendent Deasy – who doesn’t
seem to be a fan of either Adult Ed or after school programs - this
week delayed the recommended contract extension of Michael Romero, who
oversees Adult Education and after-school programs. | http://huff.to/XPANIl
SAL CASTRO: A Legacy of Fighting for Rights
by UCLA IDEA / Themes in the News Week of April 15-19, 2013 | http://bit.ly/11d74rF
4-19-2013 :: Sal Castro, a longtime Chicano activist and Los Angeles
Unified teacher, died Monday. He was 79 (Los Angeles Times, Huffington
Post, Fox News Latino).
Castro taught social studies at Lincoln High School in the late 1960s,
and was a pivotal figure in the 1968 “blowouts,” where thousands of
students from East Los Angeles marched in protest of over-crowded
classrooms, discrimination, and a lack of access to quality education.
The walkouts spread to 15 schools over several days. Castro was arrested
and charged with 15 counts of state and federal conspiracy—charges that
were dropped in 1972.
“Sal Castro held a mirror up to our district that showed the need for a
youths’ rights agenda more than 45 years ago,” said John Deasy, LAUSD
superintendent (LA Weekly). Of course, with hindsight it’s easy to
praise a movement’s social justice goals while, perhaps, slighting the
intelligence and personal risks shown by movement leaders in defying
entrenched systems and those who defend the status quo.
At the time, many Mexican-American students faced discrimination inside
their schools as well as in their communities. For example, they might
be punished for speaking Spanish in classrooms. Often, they were
funneled onto menial career tracks instead of college-preparatory
courses. In East Los Angeles schools, which had majority
Mexican-American student populations, dropout rates were about 60
percent. Before the “blowouts,” Castro encouraged students to draw up a
list of demands that were presented to the school board: “What emerged
was a list of thirty-six demands that highlighted material deficiencies
(dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classes, too few counselors) and the
students’ desire for a stronger community voice in shaping their
education.”1
As we remember Castro’s life and legacy, it’s important to reflect on
those particular 36 conditions—where we have seen progress and where we
haven’t. We should also keep in mind that “progress” in addressing the
multiple forms of school discrimination does not mean that inequality
and discrimination disappear. For example, as recently as 2004—36 years
after the “blowouts” and several generations of school children
later—the Williams v. California lawsuit was settled to address
persistent schooling inequalities that “shock the conscience.” And many
of those conditions remain. Neither the “blowouts” nor Williams
diminished the need for today’s continuing youth and community
organizing and activism, which are as much Castro’s real legacy as the
demands made decades ago. Those demands are still relevant though their
shape and expression might change.
“No student or teacher will be reprimanded or suspended for
participating in any efforts which are executed for the purpose of
improving or furthering the educational quality in our schools.”
Today, shutting down schools or “reconstituting” faculties can be an
effective strategy to discipline, remove, or isolate outspoken teachers
and activist parents and students who organize for social and
educational justice.
“Bilingual-Bi-cultural education will be compulsory for
Mexican-Americans in the Los Angeles City School System where there is a
majority of Mexican-American students. … In-service education programs
will be instituted immediately for all staff in order to teach them the
Spanish language and increase their understanding of the history,
traditions, and contributions of the Mexican culture.”
Today, underserved communities are still fighting for schools that
provide academically rigorous, culturally relevant courses. Educators
lack career-long professional-development opportunities to keep pace
with the school and societal demands placed on the state’s poorest
students, English learners, and other most at-risk populations.
Sal Castro’s legacy lives on in the tangible benefits wrought by his
activism, but it is also found in the organizing and civic engagement of
education activists who follow in his tradition.
1 Rogers, J., & Morrell, E. (2011). "A force to be reckoned with":
The campaign for college access in Los Angeles. In M. Orr and J. Rogers
(Eds.), Public engagement for public education: Joining forces to
revitalize democracy and equalize schools (pp. 227-249). Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
MARTIN RICHARDS, 2005-2013 – Killed at Boston
Marathon bombing: photo from Facebook via Huffington Post from ... http://bit.ly/11YswSY
Michelle Rhee: TIGER MOM… OR PAPER TIGER MOM …with kids in private school?: following up on MICHELLE RHEE’S RE... http://bit.ly/17ygnox
BALDWIN PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT WINS #1 SPOT IN CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: Deepa Fernandes | KPCC Pass/Fail | ... http://bit.ly/11NrMzY
SAL CASTRO: Legendary Los Angeles Chicano rights activist-teacher dies at 79: By City News Service, from the L... http://bit.ly/11tgtdv
ONE WEEK TO APPLY FOR COMMON CORE TECHNOLOGY JOBS IN LAUSD: referred in an email from LAUSD |Procurement | Fac... http://bit.ly/135WVTa
LAUSD CHIEF JOHN DEASY DRAWS FIRE AS HE PURSUES AGGRESSIVE ®EFORM PLAN: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Dai... http://bit.ly/YGJWEI
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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