Sunday, April 28, 2013

@Risky business


Onward! 4LAKids
4LAKids: Sunday 28•April•2013
In This Issue:
 •  BILLS PROMOTED BY LAUSD TO IMPOSE NEW TEACHER EVALUATIONS, LAYOFF RULES DIE IN COMMITTEE
 •  iPADS IN SCHOOL: A TOOL OR A TOY?
 •  LINKED LEARNING: A GUIDE TO MAKING HIGH SCHOOL WORK
 •  GRANADA HILLS, EL CAMINO REAL 1st + 2nd IN NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON
 •  HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
 •  EVENTS: Coming up next week...
 •  What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
 •  OUR CHILDREN, OUR FUTURE: What will California schoolchildren, your school district and YOUR School get when the initiative passes?
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 •  4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!
 •  4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc.
Thirty years ago this week The National Commission on Excellence in Education published “A Nation at Risk”, with its famous, damning statement: "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."

So was fired the first salvo in the war against the bad teachers.

Also thirty years ago this week the German Magazine Stern (and some British tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch) published excerpts from The Hitler Diaries – which were revealed to be one of the great literary hoaxes of all time. These two events are connected by date, the fact that they are both publications …and ever so slightly by Murdoch’s capitalism.

A NATION AT RISK: THE IMPERATIVE FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM was a call to arms. It stated in flaming rhetoric "the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people”. One can hear the echoes of jingoistic nationalism and The Threat to the Homeland – and the snap of banners in The Winds of Change – as the commissioners laid the blame at the feet of the teaching profession.

Before AN@R classroom teachers+educators were the solution of the problem of ignorance; after AN@R teachers were the principal cause of the problem of mediocrity.

The national commission was not presidentially appointed – from the beginning AN@R was at odds with President Reagan's Ed agenda – which was vouchers, prayers in schools and elimination of the Department of Ed. The commissioners was appointed by the Secretary of Education – and a great part of the solution proposed came from thinking within the Department of Ed – as well as from the corporate/private sector, government, and academic interests – from the upper and middle class - who made up the commission.

Good grief, none of this mediocrity was their fault!

AN@R was the product of a Republican administration reacting to what they saw as the permissive liberalism of the sixties – a period mislabeled by its progressive champions as the Golden Age of Public Education. Look how that turned out: The workforce taking to the streets, all SexDrugs&Rock+Roll - protesting war and eventually hounding a duly reelected Republican president from office!

The report was undeniably right in finding a dearth of excellence and an absence of international competiveness in American Primary and Secondary Education – but finding and identifying that was in their mission. They were charged to respond to Secretary of Education T. H. Bell's observation that the United States' educational system was failing to meet the national need for a competitive workforce.

What the report saw coming was the emerging global economy – posed in the report as a direct foreign threat.

What the commissioners failed to note was the gathering socioeconomic storm: The decline of the white middle class and the emerging minority majority in America: The others, the significant subgroups. It was a trend first apparent in our schools …and they didn’t see it. Instead American students were compared unfavorably to students in counties where the middle class and a single race are predominant -- and found wanting. Why can’t our kids be like Singaporean kids? They must’ve believed that The New Deal and Great Society - Johnson’s War on Poverty and Title One Programs - had solved the problems of poverty of race. One can’t blame them. For the most part they were academics and educrats – and even the most economic+fiscal conservatives in academe are social progressives. We don’t have poverty …this here’s America!



What AN@R gave us was three things:
1. The growing sense that American schools are failing and/or in crisis - fed by data based on test scores, acronyms and algorithms. Before AN@R students were assessed by teacher’s grades and final exams - and teachers were evaluated by their principals. (Note: Some of AN@R’s data and conclusions were later challenged by The Sandia Report – which was quickly suppressed by the government. | http://bit.ly/125uheI)
2. The rhetoric of warfare and competition: “If an unfriendly foreign power….” the endless lists of bullet points, Race to the Top, The Parent Trigger, etc.
3. Mostly AN@R spawned a tsunami of local, state, and federal reform efforts. Some of them good: Smaller class size, Targeted categorical funding, Higher standards, Raised expectations, Increased fiscal support, A Public Focus on Education. And some not so good, a growing addiction to standardized testing and the growth of corporate-model for-profit Ed ®eform. Public education has gone from a right and obligation of local government to a market for corporate profiteers.

Mostly A Nation at Risk generated lists of reforms, some implemented, most not, few well –but all listed and bound and studied. All were-and-are subject to budget volatility as the cash flow and public interest and “This Weeks Flavor” of reform ebbed. Remember LEARN and LAAMP? NCLB, Clear Expectations, STAR tests and Small Learning Communities? Last year it was Per Pupil Funding, this year it is the Local Control Funding Formula. Why would Race to the Top or Common Core State Standards be any different?

Until we Do and Honor and Complete the Work in The Classroom – and then pick up the next assignment – it is all moot.

AND ANCIENT HISTORY BRINGS US TO LAST WEEK:

SEQUESTRATION AND FURLOUGHS: Why do airlines and business travelers and air traffic controllers get a break from sequestration and the effect of furloughs when kids in classrooms do not? Children up and down the nation lost instructional days as teachers were furloughed in the past few years. Head Start kids – the most vulnerable and also most educible will be hammered in the coming year. Where is the outrage from Congress about them? They are not being made to wait in a line or in a seat at the terminal or on the tarmac …they are being denied an education.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LAUSD SPONSORED ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAMS WHO SCORED FIRST AND SECOND IN THE NATIONAL COMPETITION! Granada Hills scored a three-peat as national champion; El Camino came in second nationally in the completion held in Minneapolis. All of the Academic Decathletes are champions - but the record of Los Angeles teams this year and over time demonstrates continuing excellence and dedication, not incremental mediocrity.

LAUSD rocks, has rocked, and will rock on.

IN OTHER NEWS AND/OR SHENANIGANS:

• New York City Mayor Bloomberg sent another check to the Coalition for School ®eform to support candidate Antonio Sanchez - $350,000 from the Mayor of NYC to elect a school board member in LAUSD! (In NYC Bloomberg gets to appoint all the school board members.)
• Superintendent Deasy flew up to Sacramento to support the Local Control Funding Formula (which now faces a challenge from Senate Democrats) and to lobby for a couple of bills he’s promoting to get help him get rid of Bad Teachers and Increase Teacher Effectiveness/Accountability/Evaluation. Both died in committee.
• Dr. Deasy and Board President Garcia are also doing a bit of house cleaning at Beaudry – and maybe trying to get even with a board member – by not renewing contracts of some senior staff and employees that board member has mentored.
• And now Dr. Deasy has failed to fund Breakfast in the Classroom – a popular program that feeds lots of youngsters who might not otherwise be fed and employs a couple of thousand food services employees. Deasy was the champion of Breakfast in the Classroom last year. Deasy blames this program elimination not on a budget shortfall but on lack of support from UTLA – when UTLA President Fletcher’s message re BIC is to “Mend it, don’t end it!” Ending BIC is purely the superintendent’s idea. It seems like Dr. D. is looking for a fight where there isn’t one – or a vote of confidence where there isn’t much. Although all of this may be part of a dance for power in the County Labor Federation.

This is reminiscent of the budget stratagems from last year when the superintendent and board president proposed to eliminate After School and Arts+Music and Adult Ed Programs – and then brought them back (in skeleton form) while claiming to “save” them.” Between the two of them they have one vote on the Board of Ed – and Ms. Garcia voting ‘No’ to feeding poor children breakfast and pink-slipping cafeteria staff seems very unlikely.

Is this “Stop me before I cut again?” …or “Pay the ransom …or I’ll shoot this cute dog!”

A few months back Dr. D.”gave up” on his own Common Core/Tablet for All Program when it didn’t get immediate approval from the Bond Oversight Committee – then brought it back “by popular demand”.

Is any (or all) of this brinksmanship? Boardsmanship? How many times does one go to the brink with the board? Is it merely political machinations?

Or is it Götterdämmerung?

¡Onward/Adelante/Vorwärts! - smf


BILLS PROMOTED BY LAUSD TO IMPOSE NEW TEACHER EVALUATIONS, LAYOFF RULES DIE IN COMMITTEE

By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report. http://bit.ly/11Hay6n

Thursday, April 25, 2013 :: Efforts to rewrite longstanding rules surrounding teacher evaluations and educator staffing laws fell badly short of success Wednesday before a key Senate panel.

First, lawmakers killed a bill that would have given school districts the ability to make teacher staffing decisions based on performance evaluations. Then, members of the Senate Education Committee became badly spilt over legislation that would have imposed new requirements of how and when teachers are evaluated – but in the end killed that bill too.

Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, called his SB 441 a ‘modest bill’ that would require districts to use multiple measurements in performing evaluations at least every three years for veteran personnel. But critics, which included most of the state’s teacher unions, put up strong arguments in opposition mostly around concerns that the measure would undermine collective bargaining rights.

Calderon’s bill, which comes a year after lawmakers killed another teacher evaluation bill by a Democrat, did not attract enough votes for passage out of the committee.

“California public school students – our children – were the losers today,” said Calderon in a statement. “Those defending the status quo won the day and while I am disappointed I am hopeful that at some point the Legislature will show the leadership necessary to guarantee our children have the best teachers possible.”

The day-long hearing, which included review of nearly two dozen other bills, was representative of the challenge lawmakers face in taking on complex, sometimes emotionally charged issues dealing with teachers and classrooms.

At one point during the discussion of SB 441, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara said that while she was “anxious to move this bill along,” she said the bill “isn’t cooked yet.” She worried about how teachers might be stigmatized by a negative evaluation and what plans the state had for offering support and training.

“On the other hand,” she said, “I do think we need to keep this debate going.”

To which Sen. Calderon responded: “We can’t sit here and say, ‘we’ve got to get something going and then say, ‘well, I’m not going to support this bill – how can we do that?”

Unlike legislation last summer that would have at one point required student test scores be among the performance indicators – Calderon’s bill would require governing board of school districts to regularly “evaluate and assess the performance of certificated staff using multiple measures, including a minimum of four rating levels.”

The bill would give the school board authority to define each rating level used.

Opponents, which include the California Teachers Association, have argued the bill could result in requiring districts to bargain aspects of the system, evaluation criteria – for instance – which could intrude on the school districts rights to exercise managerial prerogatives, according to staff analysis.

Meanwhile, SB 453 by state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, was rejected outright – the third time his proposal failed to win support of majority Democrats. His proposal would have would have allowed districts to make staffing decisions based on performance evaluations and factors other than a teacher’s simple date of hire.

“We have an education system that is depriving students of the education they deserve,” he said in a statement. “We spend over half our state budget on education and yet we throw money at it without adopting the reforms we need to make it effective. I’ve tried to negotiate with the school employee unions who oppose this bill, but we’re just not going to come to an agreement. They represent the adults in the system. I’m representing the best interests of California students.”


iPADS IN SCHOOL: A TOOL OR A TOY?
WHETHER EQUIPPING ALL STUDENTS WITH iPADS IS A GIMMICK OR A GREAT IDEA, ONE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SCHOOL THAT'S USING THEM IS SOLD.

By Steve Lopez, L.A. Times columnist | http://lat.ms/168wj4r

April 27, 2013, 5:15 p.m. :: At Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills, every student has an iPad.

That's 1,200 iPads, and if L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy can figure out how to pay for 660,000 more of them, every student in the district will have a tablet in the next few years.

A good idea?

"It's magical," declared a student at Valley Academy who loves his iPad.

Maybe. But I've got lots of questions.

Like many parents, my wife and I have tried to make sure our daughter reads real books and doesn't get addicted to everything digital. And now her school district, which has laid off teachers and staff and eliminated programs because of budget problems, wants to spend several hundred million dollars on the latest electronic fad.

And LAUSD is not the only district racing into the future while struggling to fix leaky roofs and broken toilets. As Deasy argues, students are supposed to begin taking standardized tests on electronic devices in the 2014-15 school year as part of a new curriculum. And he said it would be irresponsible not to prepare students for an increasingly digital economy.

But Stanford University education professor Larry Cuban has lots of reservations.

"There is still no evidence that iPads will increase student achievement at all. It's not the hardware, it's the software, and no studies have been done on the software apps in use, so no one knows," said Cuban, who suggested the money might be better spent on training and recruiting teachers. "I've seen students with iPads and the novelty is there and the engagement is there, but it's not clear that novelty and engagement will lead to increased academic achievement."

It should be noted, as well, that people with ties to tech companies were among the major donors to a political action committee that supports Deasy-friendly school board candidates. As reported by my colleague Howard Blume, $250,000 came from the parent corporation of a company that sells tablet computers designed for schools. Another $200,000 came from a group headed by the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

And Deasy appears in a promotional video for Apple in which he says tablets are "phenomenally going to change the landscape of education."

Deasy told me he received no money for being in the ad and that he has no role in choosing what companies the district does business with. Regardless, he'd be better off not serving as a pitchman for any product.

Given the advent of test-taking by computer, a teacher who's a friend of mine worried that this is "another sign of how tests are taking priority … over everything," and she wondered if this is part of a plan to facilitate teacher assessment. She added: "I think the paper and pencil version of tests works just fine," and she complained that teachers haven't been consulted on whether tablets are useful teaching aids or potential distractions.

Other skeptics have raised questions about maintenance costs and equipping schools with WiFi — not to mention the tendency of kids to drop things. And there have been disputes about whether voter-approved bond money could be used for tablets.

But having said all that, what I saw at Valley Academy — the first of about a dozen schools to get iPads in a $50-million pilot program — was impressive. And the principal, Debra McIntyre-Sciarrino, had glowing reviews and noted that the iPads are great equalizers, because many students come from homes where electronic tablets are beyond the family budget.

The impact "was immediate and dramatic," she said. The tablets helped create "a dynamic learning environment" in which students and teachers were prompting each other. And the distraction feared by some teachers can be mitigated with locks that prevent students from using anything other than the assigned program.

Let it be noted that the school's Internet service crashed on the day of my visit and tech help had to be summoned. Still, I saw some impressive work. In a geometry class, students Jose Cruz and Brandon Zulueta showed me a project they had just completed. Using old-fashioned paper, they made geometric origami figures, then used an iPad program to produce a stop-animation video in which a harpoon chased a whale. The animation was used to illustrate a story they'd written about a drama on the high seas.

Their teacher, James Emley, told me that in his physics class, students used iPads to design rockets and test them in a virtual wind tunnel.

English teacher Jenn Wolfe said grades improved when students were allowed to take the iPads home rather than lug textbooks. But district officials determined that restrictions on the bond money that purchased the iPads required that they stay at school.

One of her students, Meagan Toumayn, showed me a multimedia project she did on cruelty to animals. Sarah Gonzalez showed me a digital index of her assignments, notes and reports on the classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." When the honors class read "Romeo and Juliet," they were able to hear audio pronunciations of British words they were unfamiliar with.

"This is not a teacher and it's not a student, either. It's a tool," Wolfe said of the tablet.

"We can't go backwards," she said. "We're preparing kids for jobs we don't even know about yet."

If for some of us the jury is still out on iPads, that's not the case at Valley Academy. I asked Wolfe's 36 students if anyone want


LINKED LEARNING: A GUIDE TO MAKING HIGH SCHOOL WORK
by UCLA IDEA, Themes in the News Week of April 22-26, 2013 | http://bit.ly/10lJ1EB

04-24-2013 :: To stem the tide of high school dropouts and a lack of college and career preparedness among graduates, a growing number of schools and districts across the state are turning to the promising practices and opportunities of Linked Learning.

Linked Learning, delivered through widely varied “pathways,” blends rigorous academics, a challenging career-based core, an opportunity for students to apply learning in real-world contexts, and individual support services. The practice is not uniform—pathways may vary in their theme or career focus, how they organize coursework, the extent to how much time students spend on and off campus, etc.—yet it can be equally successful, in a wide range of settings, for all students.

Linked Learning is in the process of expanding statewide. The California Department of Education identified 63 districts and county offices of education that will pilot programs beginning this fall (EdSource Today). As such, it is a key moment to identify many of the shared and effective strategies employed by schools and districts implementing the approach.

Linked Learning: A Guide to Making High School Work, along with an accompanying DVD, highlights the experiences—both the struggles and successes—of sites that have committed to the hard work of transforming the high school experience for students by using the Linked Learning approach. Based on a UCLA IDEA study of 10 high school sites across California, this guidebook provides educators, policymakers and stakeholders interested in revamping their school communities a solid launching point. The guidebook does not offer hard-set rules or checklists for implementing Linked Learning; rather, it presents six conditions that are strongly associated with successful Linked Learning pathways. The following conditions provided the foundation that allowed Linked Learning to take root and transform high schools:

1. A Commitment to Equity: Each participating pathway was guided by a commitment to prepare all students for college and career. Before opening their doors, sites spent considerable amount of time establishing an equity-based purpose, and planning and designing a program around it. Pathways used desired student outcomes to serve as a school’s starting point and moved to shape the curriculum and structures to support this equity-based purpose.

2. Connecting Linked Learning Components: Linked Learning pathways work to integrate disparate pieces of the curriculum into a more coherent whole. A rigorous academic core, for example, that fails to connect to the pathway’s technical core or to real-world experiences re-creates the fragmentation seen at the traditional high school. Pathways often rely on overarching industry sector themes to integrate the curriculum.

3. A Culture of Care and Respect: Pathways use various strategies to establish caring and supporting relationships between students, teachers, and other adults that help teachers and school leadership identify students’ existing and developing needs. By personalizing relationships, the school communicates its high expectations and high value on a caring culture—emphasizing civic as well as academic and workplace preparedness.

4. Grounding in the Real World: Participating sites established relationships with individuals, businesses, institutions, and organizations situated in the world outside of school. Expanding the learning community to include a wide range of partners allows outside agencies to invest in students and the school community, and acknowledges the role of multiple stakeholders in the learning, growth, and development of young people.

5. An Environment that Works for Adults: Teacher enthusiasm is one of the most impressive features of Linked Learning. Linked Learning sites created environments that work well for adults as well as students by shifting the way schools operate and rethinking traditional adult relationships. Distributed leadership, collaboration, and support are common strategies employed by pathways to create professional and creative atmospheres.

6. Redefining Success: Participating Linked Learning sites use multiple means to measure their students’ success and to judge their own progress in meeting established goals. The sites studied did not define success solely on mandated standardized-test scores, but by students’ preparedness for the adult world. Understanding success in this way requires new and authentic assessment tools that go beyond test scores and course completion to capture college and career readiness, students’ civic orientations, and eagerness for life-long learning.

While Linked Learning: A Guide to Making High School Work is based on the research findings of 10 unique schools implementing the approach, the implications extend well beyond the school level. The successes highlighted are meant to serve as a springboard to effect system-wide change. Indeed, earnest efforts to expand Linked Learning must pay attention to the on-going classroom and school practices, principles, beliefs, and norms that undergird the approach—the six conditions described in this report.

It is a daunting task to reform high schools. Those hard efforts are reflected within the 10 participating sites. None of them emerged overnight as successful Linked Learning pathways. They have worked steadily over a number of years to develop an engaging curriculum, a culture of care, support and collaboration, and committed partnerships. But they have gained the growing support of their communities and districts, which recognize Linked Learning as a means to achieving systemic change.


GRANADA HILLS, EL CAMINO REAL 1st + 2nd IN NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON

GRANADA HILLS CHARTER WINS THIRD CONSECUTIVE NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON
By Will Ashenmacher, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/151G9pv

Posted: 04/27/2013 11:50:28 AM PDT/Updated: 04/27/2013 02:49:18 PM PDT :: Granada Hills Charter High School is bringing home the U.S. Academic Decathlon Nationals trophy for its third consecutive year.

The school was announced national champions at a banquet Saturday at the Hilton Minneapolis.

"They've had many emotions today," Granada Hills coach Matt Arnold said of his students. "They stayed up all night last night, celebrating the end of the decathlon season, but they're very excited to have won. They feel like their hard work has been validated."

Granada Hills Charter and El Camino Real Charter high schools were the two San Fernando Valley schools representing California at this year's national academic event, marking the first time the state has sent two schools.

The competition between the two valley schools - just 14 miles apart - has been fierce as there was just 496 points separating the rivals during the state competition in February.

El Camino Real Charter High School won a record six U.S. Titles before Granada Hills' winning streak..

"El Camino is a powerhouse school. They've won six times. We were very careful not to underestimate them," Arnold said. "During the award ceremony, it was very hard to tell who was staying ahead. Sometimes I thought we were ahead, sometimes I thought they were ahead, it was very hard to tell."

Now in its 31st year, the decathlon tests students in art, economics, literature, music, math, science and social science - all centered on this year's theme of Russia - along with essay-writing, speech and interview.

During the ceremony, 450 participants comprising 10 teams were praised by speakers for their dedication and commitment to a program that rewards teamwork over individual effort.

"In this competition, working together in a competitive yet collaborative environment, seems to be the right approach," said David Stead, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, which supervises high school arts and athletics tournaments.

The Granada Hills decathletes are Seung Woo Baek, Jae Kyung Chong, Beatrice Dimaunahan, Faria Ghori, Dayoung Kim, Kailin Li, Kimberly Ly, Kelley Ma and Hamidah Mahmud.

"I'm looking forward to each of you joining me in contributing to a brighter future," CEO of ERBUS, Inc. Deborah Yungner told the students during the event.

A California team has been national champion every year since 2003.

"We're really excited and happy about this," Arnold said. "The medals and trophies are great. I know that in the coming days the feeling of winning will go away, but the benefits they gained from participating over time will stay."

Daily News reporters Barbara Jones and Mariecar Mendoza contributed to this report.

------------------------------------------------------------

GRANADA HILLS WINS THIRD NATIONAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON COMPETITION
By Rick Rojas,L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/10lAFwX


Granada Hills Charter High School senior Hamidah Mahmud of Granada Hills Charter is comforted by her mother, Jahanara, after her team won the state competition last month. The students proceeded to nationals, where they won their third consecutive title. (Robert Durell / For The Times)


April 27, 2013, 2:25 p.m.

Granada Hills Charter High School won its third consecutive national title in Academic Decathlon on Saturday, beating out about 50 other teams — including its closest competitor, another team from Los Angeles Unified.

The team of nine students scored 54,652 points out of a possible 66,000, in the rigorous 10-subject battle of wits in which students are tested in such subjects as math, science, literature and art, as well as give speeches and are interviewed by judges, district officials said.

Another L.A. Unified team — El Camino Real Charter High School, a six-time national winner looking to reclaim the top prize — came in second. The school, which also placed second to Granada Hills in the state competition in Sacramento last month, was able to participate at the national level after a rule change allowing more than one team from each state.

"In having the top two teams in the county, LAUSD this year exceeded our own amazingly high standards in the Academic Decathlon," Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy said in a statement Saturday. He said Granada Hills' success has proved "once again that when it comes to the Academic Decathlon, our district is way ahead of the competition."

Granada Hills' win marks the 14th national win for the district in the three-decade existence of the competition.

The winning team members are Jae Kyung Chong, Seung Woo Baek, Hamidah Mahmud, Kelly Ma, Kimberly Ly, Kailin Li, Dayoung Kim, Faria Ghouri and Beatrice Dimaunahan. The team is coached by Granada Hills teachers Matt Arnold, Nicholas Weber and Spencer Wolf.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
LAUSD FIGHT FOCUSES ON BREAKFAST PROGRAM: Supt. John Deasy is leaving key funding decisions up to the board, t... http://bit.ly/ZIlzXR

LAUSD REASSIGNS VALLEY SUPERINTENDENT, 3 OTHER ADMINISTRATORS IN “PERSONNEL INVESTIGATION” + smf’s 2¢: By Barba... http://bit.ly/14Dy0qD

Commentary: A DANGEROUS GAME FOR UTLA: by Jamie Alter Lynton in LA School Report | http://bit.ly/Y6MFWD ... http://bit.ly/ZIhOSg

EFFORTS TO SPLIT SANTA MONICA-MALIBU SCHOOL DISTRICT GAINS NEW TRACTION AS SCHOOL BOARD ATTEMPTS TO REDISTRIBU... http://bit.ly/14Ds1lN

CROONER TAKES NOTE OF EAST L.A. HIGH SCHOOL: Tony Bennett and his wife, Susan Benedetto, check out Esteban E. ... http://bit.ly/12Fj0V2

SENATE SCHOOL FUNDING PLAN INCLUDES BOOST FOR LINKED LEARNING: By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report. http://bi... http://bit.ly/168D9XL

DEMOCRATS SPLIT ON TIMING, SPECIFICS OF BROWN’S FUNDING FORMULA: By John Fensterwald, EdSource Today | http://... http://bit.ly/14DnuzL
Expand

AALA explains it all for you: THE PARENT TRIGGER LAW, PARTS I & II: From the AALA Update, Weeks of April 22, 2... http://bit.ly/129eX0z

STUDY WARNS THAT GRAD RATES WILL DIP WITH A-thru-G COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS: By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Repo... http://bit.ly/12nGvly

BILLS PROMOTED BY LAUSD TO IMPOSE NEW TEACHER EVALUATIONS, LAYOFF RULES DIE IN COMMITTEE: By Tom Chorneau, SI&... http://bit.ly/14dlhuw

‘The Battle of Their Lives’ over LCFF: GOV. BROWN PROMISES FIGHT OVER EDUATION OVERHAUL: Jerry Brown says lawm... http://bit.ly/12nz3a4

U P D A T E: LAPD ARRESTS 3 IN CLEVELAND HIGH STABBING: By Eric Hartley Staff Writer, LA Daily News | - LA Da... http://bit.ly/14dcngS

Shenanigans in School Board Race: BLOOMBERG DONATES $350K TO ®EFORM CANDIDATE, RUMOR OF DEAL WITH ®EFORMER ROI... http://bit.ly/12nrtMt

TOM BARTMAN 1946- 2013, FORMER LAUSD BOARD PRESIDENT WHO HELPED END MANDATORY BUSING: Article by: Associated P... http://bit.ly/14cSer4

STUDENT AT CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL IN RESEDA FATALLY STABBED DURING ARGUMENT: City News Service from LA Daily Ne... http://bit.ly/17XaLUX

CALIFORNIA SUED ON BEHALF OF FAILING ENGLISH LEARNERS: ACLU Sues California On Behalf of 20,000 Students, Says... http://bit.ly/11UkR5F

TWO EXCELLENT STORIES ON THE PARENT TRIGGER: Who ‘they’ are …stuff they don’t want you to know …and how they ... http://bit.ly/ZtTovF

SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH BILL FALLS VICTIM TO GUN BILL DEFEAT: Capitol Connection Newsletter - ASCD Public Policy ... http://bit.ly/148z3i5

SB 69: DEMOCRATIC SENATORS OFFER ALTERNATIVE TO BROWN’S FUNDING FORMULA: By John Fensterwald, EdSource Today |... http://bit.ly/11RuK4a

The best LA school board the NYC mayor’s money can buy: NEW YORK MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG DONATES ANOTHER $350,... http://bit.ly/ZsLl2c

FORMER SUN VALLEY TEACHER ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF HAVING CHILD PORN: Douglas Randolph Collins taught at Ferna... http://bit.ly/13YztHP

CALIFORNIA RANKS LOW IN DIAGNOSIS RATES OF ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER: By Jane Meredith Adams, E... http://bit.ly/13VuBmI


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


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



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!.


Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?




Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Going the extra 385 yards


Going the extra 385 yards: Message Content
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Onward! 4LAKids

4LAKids: Sunday 21•April•2012
In This Issue:
 •  Headline of Story 1
 •  LAUSD SEX ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS TO BE BY PROFESSIONALS; Board renews contracts of 45 of 47 on Deasy’s senior staff,
 •  Michelle Rhee: TIGER MOM… OR PAPER TIGER MOM …with kids in private school?
 •  UNITED ADULT TEACHERS OPPOSES GOV. BROWN’S REALIGNMENT OF ADULT ED TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES
 •  SAL CASTRO: A Legacy of Fighting for Rights
 •  HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
 •  EVENTS: Coming up next week...
 •  What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
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 •  4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!
 •  4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc.

“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


"No more hurting people. Peace." - Martin Richards 2005 - 2013



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? 
following up on MICHELLE RHEE’S REIGN OF ERROR | http://bit.ly/15xits5

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

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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


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



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!.


Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?




Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
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