Sunday, June 02, 2013

Assignment: Compare+Contrast

Onward! 4LAKids
4LAKids: Sunday 2•June•2013
In This Issue:
 •  WATTS TEACHERS URGE PUBLIC NOTICE FOR PARENT TRIGGER CAMPAIGNS
 •  LACES: FUNDING TO L.A. MAGNET SCHOOL RESTORED
 •  LACES WINS $25,000 COLLEGE BOARD AWARD
 •  Miramonte: LAUSD’s INSURANCE CARRIER SAYS IT WON’T PAY CHILD ABUSE CLAIMS
 •  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?


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These pages oft rant, kvetch and complain about the misfeasance, malfeasance, incompetence – the occasional waste, fraud and abuse (of-power and children) – and the business-as-unusual /just-plain-bureaucratic-silliness of LAUSD …and then refuses to embrace this-week’s quick-fix/artificial flavor-of ®eform.

I maintain that Change is a continuous process - not an outcome; Data is a measurement tool - not an objective.

Additionally I stubbornly fail to recognize the wonderfulness of the good-old-days. They were neither wonderful nor good – now they just old. There have been moments of hope – there was LEARN and the Magnet Program and the building program and the votes to invest in the future through the BB, K, R , Y & Q bonds. We have built 113 new schools. We have ended mandatory busing and the multi-track year-round calendar; kids no longer have to get up before dawn and ride the bus to a school across town and then return home in the dark on yellow buses doing battle for freeway lanes during drive time. We now have Full Day Kindergarten. The first nine years of the decade-long Arts and Music Program were extraordinary, the undoing cataclysmic. LAUSD students dominate the Academic Decathlon. LAUSD has its bright shining Camelot moments and its winters of discontent. Made glorious summer by this son of Gates.

But gentle reader, things could be worse. The Los Angeles Unified School District could be The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services – where children die from official neglect and the layers of electoral and bureaucratic whitewash peel and scandal festers.

I was going to write “…’routinely’ die from official neglect…” but held back. But read this:

“At least 268 children who had passed through the L.A. county child welfare system died from January 2008 through early August 2009, according to internal county records obtained by The (L.A.) Times. They show that 213 were by unnatural or undetermined causes, including 76 homicides, 35 accidents and 16 suicides. Eighteen of the fatalities were deemed the direct result of abuse or neglect by a caregiver” | http://lat.ms/11cxCsC

Eighteen children in eighteen months? If that’s not ‘routine’, what is?

Read “White Oleander”. Google Dae'von Bailey and/or Lars Sanchez. This month’s tragedy’s name was Gabriel Fernandez. He was eight years old; he will never be nine. Read what’s going on now: BOY'S DEATH PROMPTS OUTRAGE, RED FLAGS OF CHILD ABUSE 'IGNORED' – LA Times: http://lat.ms/17bm7c7

Four years ago I sat though a fascinating presentation to the State PTA by the LADCFS where they described how they had turned the corner and changed. I’m ashamed to say it was believable. The cheap shot would be to say that none of this would have happened were the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors still alive. And I just took it. The buck doesn’t stop with the county supes …it starts there.

COMPARE+CONTRAST II: In the San Fernando Valley at Arleta High School (one of the new ones) the principal is retiring in glory having done everything right and having produced the desired results | http://bit.ly/16zFk85. At Weigand Avenue Elementary School in Watts a principal is booted out, apparently having done nothing wrong save losing a petition-drive popularity contest – courtesy of the Parent Trigger ["Watts teachers urge public notice for parent trigger campaigns"] – with the Board of Ed and Superintendent hiding behind “Our hands are tied, The Law’s the Law!”. As Parent Revolutionary-in-Chief Ben Austin wrote the Parent Trigger Law. As an appointed member of the State Board of Education Ben Austin promoted the Parent Trigger Law – and lobbied for it in the legislature. Now back at P-Rev Ben Austin applies the law …or maybe IS the law! Austin likes to say that the Parent Trigger Law empowers parents – but in reality it empowers Ben Austin – who has been intimately involved in every application of it – welcoming himself to LAUSD as our liberator.

COMPARE&CONTRAST III: First note how LAUSD recognized the achievement of The Los Angeles Center for Advanced Studies (LACES – one of the high achieving crown jewels of the Magnet Program) by attempting to take away their Title One Grant -- federal money specifically for disadvantaged students to supplement the school budget. No good deed goes unpunished. (Lucky for LACES some community members noted LAUSD did the math wrong and eventually they got their money restored). Now note how The College Board acknowledged LACES’ achievement by giving them a $25,000 grant to encourage more college attendance.

COMPARE+CONTRAST IV: If you get a chance to watch the replay of the Bad of Ed Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (CIA) Committee from last Tuesday on KICKS Channel 58 Sunday morning note the excellence of the turnaround at Burbank Middle School in their presentation. Now note how poorly the superintendent’s reconstitution at Crenshaw High School has turned out – with the superintendent about to forcibly reconstitute it again as a trio of Magnet Schools. Former Board President Caprice Young said that “Reconstitution never works; only fresh squeezed works.” The experience at Burbank MS just may be the exception that proves that rule.

“The floggings will continue until the morale improves, shipmates!”

¡Onward/Adelante! – smf


PS: ON SATURDAY AM AT THE CRACK OF EARLY, the Do The Write Thing Program [http://bit.ly/119C4as ] had its annual awards ceremony for the middle scholars who wrote award winning essays on the effect of violence on their young lives at the historic Cocoanut Grove at the RFK Schools.
The Do the Write Thing Challenge gives middle school students an opportunity to examine the impact of youth violence on their lives. Through classroom discussions and writings, students communicate what they think should be done to reduce youth violence. In addition, they make personal commitments to do something about this problem.
Two writers from each participating middle school were honored as DtWT “Ambassadors” – with two students from the District selected to represent DtWT as National Ambassadors this year in Washington DC …to tell their truth in the halls of power.

This year’s National Ambassadors are Katherine Wilmer from LACES and William Rodriguez from Gompers Middle School. Congratulations to them, their parents and teachers – and to all the Ambassadors …and all the program participants, their parents and teachers.

In presenting the awards, Boardmember Steve Zimmer reminded us all: Students, parents and teachers, that these young people have much to teach us adults – and we have much to learn from them.


WATTS TEACHERS URGE PUBLIC NOTICE FOR PARENT TRIGGER CAMPAIGNS
By Teresa Watanabe, LA Times | http://lat.ms/13bRZJu

7:45 PM PDT, May 31, 2013 :: Teachers at an embattled Watts campus where the principal was recently ousted under the state parent trigger law are pledging to join forces with other schools to defend themselves from privately led overhaul efforts.

Teachers at Weigand Avenue Elementary will push for public notifications and meetings to inform parents about trigger campaigns involving their schools, a staff member there said Friday.

Monica Platas, the school’s categorical programs coordinator, said Weigand staff was not allowed to respond to several parent questions about the trigger campaign, which succeeded in removing Principal Irma Cobian this month.

"The parents had a lot of questions about why they were doing this, but we couldn’t respond because it would be construed as impeding the process," Platas said, adding that legal counsel for both the district and teachers union told them to remain silent.

"We want to make the process more transparent so the school has an opportunity to defend itself," she said.

Parent Revolution, the Los Angeles nonprofit that lobbied for the trigger law and has assisted efforts to use it at Weigand and other campuses in Los Angeles, Compton and Adelanto, said it would welcome public meetings on neutral ground and consider the other proposals.

The call for changes to the trigger process came a day after parents supporting and opposing Cobian confronted each other in dueling rallies at Weigand. As Cobian opponents walked into the other side's rally, hoisting signs, they were met with whistles and chants against Parent Revolution by her supporters.

The 2010 parent trigger law allows parents at persistently low-peforming schools to petition for sweeping changes, including overhauling staff and curriculum, closing the campus or converting to a publicly funded, independent charter.

The campaign against Cobian, launched by parents dissatisfied with her leadership and failure to raise the school’s low test scores quickly enough, marked the first success in removing an administrator under the law.

Platas also said teachers would push for public notification that petitions were about to be submitted to give parents who want to withdraw their signatures the chance to do so. A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge ruled last year that the law does not allow recisions, but parents are allowed to remove their signatures before submission.

Ben Austin, Parent Revolution's executive director, said the organization calls back all who sign a petition before submission to give them an opportunity to withdraw. But he said he would consider sending out a notice of the intent to submit to give parents a final chance to change their minds. Notification should not be sent out so far in advance that it would give petition opponents time to "scare" people into rescinding, he added.

Austin also said the group would consider public notification of trigger campaigns if all sides agreed on the language, all parents were alerted and information on how to reach petition organizers was included.

Public meetings would be welcomed, Austin said, as long as all parents were invited and the meetings were conducted with "mutual respect and a willingness to listen to the different viewpoints."

"The emphasis needs to be on civil and respectful conversation," he said in an email.

Such changes could ease at least some of the division and conflict that trigger campaigns have provoked at campuses such as Weigand. There, 21 of 22 teachers are planning to leave the school in protest against Cobian’s treatment and to escape what they say has become a poisoned atmosphere.

At the rally, Platas urged parents to carefully read everything before signing and to stay particularly alert during the summer, when trigger campaigns may accelerate. She was scheduled to speak about the Weigand campaign at a California Teachers Assn. state council meeting Saturday and United Teachers Los Angeles gathering Sunday.

Cobian, meanwhile, issued her own statement calling for an end to attacks on her leadership and an open discussion about critical areas to address for Weigand pupils, including a focus on literacy, quality teaching, health and nutrition, strong relationships with students and a campus culture of hope.


LACES: FUNDING TO L.A. MAGNET SCHOOL RESTORED
L.A. UNIFIED REVERSES A DECISION THAT COST A TOP-PERFORMING CAMPUS ABOUT $300,000 IN ANTI-POVERTY FUNDING AFTER PARENTS FOUND EVIDENCE OF A BUREAUCRATIC ERROR.

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/17KwMeN

May 20, 2013 :: School district officials have reversed a decision that cost a top-performing Los Angeles campus about $300,000 in funding after parents uncovered evidence that a bureaucratic error led to the loss of funds. Five other schools also are likely to get more dollars as well.

L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy acknowledged Friday that internal confusion resulted in several schools failing to qualify for federal Title 1 money.

"Services that they had counted on will not be lost," Deasy told The Times.

The funding loss had engendered a campaign last week by parents at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, which is known by the acronym LACES. They'd learned that their Mid-City campus was being denied anti-poverty funds — even though they were convinced that the school should have qualified.

For weeks, senior officials were adamant that LACES was not entitled to the funding. But an internal communication surfaced late last week that seemed to verify the parents' version of events.

At that point, Deasy ordered a change in course. He also said Friday that five other schools also were affected.

LACES, a popular magnet school with high test scores, serves grades 6 through 12. It's "not too big and not too small," said parent Connie Sommer. "We have a wonderful principal who is so honest and caring and works so hard. And the academics are excellent."

Parents raise $130,000 to $150,000 annually for such items as a choir director and a leased copier. Last week alone, families collected 1,400 pounds of recycling to generate $540.

But that doesn't mean there aren't low-income families who deserve anti-poverty aid, parents said.

These Title 1 funds are intended to compensate for the challenges faced by students in low-income families.

A school's eligibility is based on the percentage of students who qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch. The federal goal is to concentrate spending on schools with a poverty rate of at least 75%.

In L.A. Unified, schools with as few as 40% low-income students had been receiving dollars, although at a lower funding level. Last year, with relatively little notice, L.A. Unified raised the minimum to 50%, which added to shortfalls at schools already enduring recession-related cuts. LACES was one such campus, with 46% low-income students last year.

Under pressure from schools, the district provided one year of "transition" money at reduced funding levels.

LACES received $150,000 instead of $300,000, and was able to preserve one day a week of popular after-school math study groups, some extra classroom aides and a full-time nurse. It still lost two teachers and a guidance counselor, said Susan Robinson, co-president of the parent fundraising group Friends of LACES.

This year, LACES was sure it had turned in enough valid forms to cross the 50% eligibility threshold. District officials claimed otherwise, saying the school had fallen just short: 813 forms out of 1,638 students — 49.6%.

But an internal communication reviewed by The Times indicated that 10 additional approved forms arrived by an Oct. 3 deadline. Deasy said Friday that the real cutoff had been announced as Sept. 28 — so LACES was too late. But he conceded that a separate bulletin, on a closely related subject, could have been interpreted as setting the date as Oct. 3.

Indeed, as late as Wednesday, district officials themselves referred to the deadline as Oct. 3. They also claimed to have no knowledge about the forms LACES turned in Oct. 3. And yet, several senior officials had, in fact, been alerted, according to the internal documentation reviewed by The Times.

Deasy announced the restoration in funding after The Times contacted the district about the document on Thursday.

Although LACES parents are pleased to obtain extra assistance, that money may come from somewhere else where it's also needed.


LACES WINS $25,000 COLLEGE BOARD AWARD
LAUSD MAGNET SCHOOL (LOS ANGELES CENTER FOR ENRICHED STUDIES) IS ONE OF THREE U.S. SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE AWARD TO ENCOURAGE LOW-INCOME STUDENTS TO SEEK HIGHER EDUCATION.

By Dalina Castellanos, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/11DrVZu
LACES
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / December 12, 2007)

May 29, 2013, 11:23 a.m. :: A top-performing Los Angeles school is one of three in the nation to receive a $25,000 award to encourage low-income students to seek higher education by expanding access to courses that will better prepare students to go to college.

The Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, more commonly known as LACES, was named a Gaston Caperton Inspiration Award school by the College Board on Wednesday.

The money will help add a class period to reduce the overall class size, resulting in more student-teacher time and preparing students to enroll in advanced placement courses, Principal Harold Boger said.

About 99% of the school's minority students go to college and $300,000 in federal Title 1 funding was recently reinstated to the Mid-City campus because 50% of its students are low-income.

“Though their students come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and represent 50 different ZIP codes across Los Angeles, last spring LACES educators celebrated as over 90% of their seniors both graduated and went on to attend college," said Peter Negroni, senior vice president of relationship development at the College Board about the magnet school.

"Their efforts demonstrate that with access to rigorous academic opportunities, every student can be successful."

The school attributes some of the success to its active parent community, which has formed various groups and gives parent workshops in different languages, plans college nights and invites guest speakers to involve families in the college-preparation and admission processes.

"LACES has achieved the great honor of being one of the top schools in Los Angeles, the state, and in the nation,” said Mary Jane London, assistant principal of LACES. “We are proud of our LACES family who have made education and preparing for college a goal for each child who walks through our doors."


Miramonte: LAUSD’s INSURANCE CARRIER SAYS IT WON’T PAY CHILD ABUSE CLAIMS
LAUSD INSURANCE CARRIER CHALLENGES LIABILITY IN MIRAMONTE SEX-ABUSE SETTLEMENTS

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/13tjqh1

5/31/2013 02:34:28 PM PDT/Updated: 5/31/2013 03:04:48 PM PDT :: An insurance carrier for Los Angeles Unified has filed suit against the school district, seeking to avoid paying millions of dollars to settle sex-abuse claims filed by Miramonte Elementary students.

The district had been counting on insurance companies to cover the $30 million it agreed to pay 58 alleged victims of former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt. Roughly 130 additional claims by students and parents have yet to be resolved.

The suit was filed Wednesday by attorneys for Everest National Insurance Co., which holds five $10 million policies for LAUSD dating back to 2007. The company disputes whether its policies cover the claims file by students and parents alleging abuse by teachers at Miramonte Elementary.

The lawsuit also names six other insurance companies that hold LAUSD policies, and asks a judge to determine their responsibility for defending the district and covering any legal settlements or judgments.

Steven Rice, an attorney for Everest, did not immediately return phone calls.

District spokesman Sean Rossall said there are concerns that the Everest lawsuit could jeopardize LAUSD's ability to resolve additional cases.

"The district has worked tirelessly on the resolution of these cases, looking out for the health and education of our students while being stewards of taxpayer resources," Rossall said.

"The lawsuit could limit the district's resources to work toward the resolution of additional cases. It's going to cost more to litigate this case, and we are now defending ourselves on two fronts."

The claims filed by students and parents accuse the district of not doing enough to protect them from veteran teacher Mark Berndt, 62.

Berndt was arrested in January 2012 on charges that he molested 23 students over a five-year period. Authorities say he put cockroaches on the faces of blindfolded students and also enticed them to participate in a "tasting game" in which he spoon-fed them his semen and gave them semen-tainted cookies.

Another Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, is awaiting trial on three counts of committing lewd acts with a child.

Both Berndt and Springer have pleaded not guilty.

Everest and the six other insurance carries held a total of 31 LAUSD policies, most of them running for one-year periods and many of them overlapping. From July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008, for instance, the district had separate $10 million policies from Everest and North American Specialty Insurance Co., and a $25 million policy from Lexington Insurance Co.

Other carriers named in the suit are AIU Insurance Co., Allied World National Assurance Co., The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania and Starr Indemnity & Liability Co.

The district has a $3 million deductible in each of the policies.

________________________________________


INSURANCE FIRM SUES TO AVOID MIRAMONTE ABUSE-CASE SETTLEMENT

IF THE COMPANY WINS, L.A. UNIFIED COULD BE ON THE HOOK FOR THE $30 MILLION IT AGREED TO PAY 58 ALLEGED VICTIMS OF FORMER TEACHER MARK BERNDT.

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/18GmiwE

9:55 PM PDT, May 31, 2013 :: An insurance company has sued the Los Angeles Unified School District seeking to avoid paying settlement costs related to alleged child abuse at Miramonte Elementary School.

The action, if successful, could leave the nation's second-largest school system on the hook for an estimated $30 million that it agreed to pay to 58 alleged victims of former teacher Mark Berndt. At least as many claims remain unresolved, with attorneys seeking higher compensation than the settlement provides.

The suit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by New Jersey-based Everest National Insurance Co.

The company "disputes that there is any coverage under the Everest policies" for the claims by L.A. Unified. "A judicial declaration is necessary and appropriate," according to the suit.

So far, other insurers also have refused to pay Miramonte-related claims. Were the companies to prevail, the consequences for L.A. Unified would be extreme. For one, $30 million is the equivalent of shutting the district down for two days. And besides Miramonte, costly settlements or judgments are anticipated in abuse-related cases at other schools.

In December, a jury awarded $6.9 million to a 14-year-old boy who was molested as a fifth-grader by Forrest Stobbe, who taught at Queen Anne Place Elementary School. L.A. Unified has yet to pay pending an appeal. Stobbe was fired and convicted in the case.

The key factor in establishing liability is whether district employees knew or should have known about the abuse — or even about lesser misconduct that suggested a problem. In the Stobbe litigation, the relevant clues included the teacher being observed alone with a girl in his car and falsely claiming he had parental permission to give the student a ride.

In a case involving former De La Torre Elementary teacher Robert Pimentel, the district already has acknowledged that a principal failed to act on complaints. He has pleaded not guilty to sexual misconduct charges involving 12 children under age 14 and remains in jail in lieu of $12 million bail.

At Miramonte, south of downtown, some critics have questioned whether all the costs were necessary. L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy, for example, elected to replace the entire Miramonte staff for the remainder of the school year after Berndt's arrest in January 2012. The district has filed a claim for compensation citing more than $5 million spent to carry out that decision.

Everest named six other insurers as defendants as well. All have provided policies to L.A. Unified, the suit says.

Because they provided general liability coverage, the companies should be responsible for Miramonte costs beyond a "self-insurance" amount, in the district's view. The district's share of the liability should be $3 million or $5 million, said Sean Andrade, an outside counsel representing L.A. Unified.

The likely outcome of the litigation would be a determination of who owes what, said Andrade.

Everest sued "before the district could sue them for breach of contract or bad faith," Andrade said.

"It's troubling that these insurance companies which were compensated to provide this coverage are now trying to escape responsibility," said district spokesman Sean Rossall. "We're going to do everything possible to ensure that the carriers honor our policies. We've been working diligently to resolve these cases in the best interests of the students while also honoring the district's obligation to preserve resources for all students."

Lawyers representing Everest did not respond to a request for comment.

Berndt, 62, awaits trial on accusations that he spoon-fed his semen to blindfolded students in his classroom as part of a tasting game, among other allegations. He has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody in lieu of $23 million bail.




See the lawsuit filing: Everest National Insurance Company v. LAUSD, et al Posted by Los Angeles Daily News



HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
SCHOOLS' EFFORT TO SHIFT TO COMMON CORE FACES A DIFFICULT TEST

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/17fpAXh
The move toward standards that teach students to be analytical encounters a bipartisan backlash.

EDUCATION IS MISSING KEY FOR SOME YOUNG IMMIGRANTS

By Cindy Chang, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/11MSonu
A high school diploma is a requirement for the federal 'deferred action' program. But for many farmworkers, earning wages trumped getting an education. Now they must make some tough decisisions.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEW CALIFORNIA STANDARDIZED TESTS
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC | http://bit.ly/15rT1SG
May 29th, 2013, 5:00pm :: California's STAR tests, the state's standardized tests for public school students, are being scrapped after 16 years.
A new slate of tests are slated to be fully implemented in the spring of 2015. The new tests, administered on computers, allow for more than multiple-choice bubbles. They include boxes where students will write out answers for reading comprehension and math problems in full sentences and paragraphs. The point is to measure critical thinking and writing skills.

POLL SHOWING STRONG VOTER SUPPORT FOR REVISED BUDGET
By John Fensterwald | Ed Source Today
May 31st, 2013 | Voter support is giving Gov. Jerry Brown a tailwind as he heads into negotiations over the state budget and school finance reform with the Legislature. A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Californians continue to overwhelmingly back Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, even though superintendents of suburban districts are very unhappy with the share they’d get, and Democrats in the Senate and Assembly want to change parts of it. The poll … Read entire article » http://bit.ly/1aQnHgM

BILL WOULD REQUIRE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO CLARIFY THE ROLE OF CAMPUS POLICE
By Susan Frey | EdSource Today
May 31st, 2013 :: Unlike most school safety legislation introduced after the Newtown shootings, which called for increased security measures and beefing up school police forces, a bill by one California assemblyman takes a different tack: It seeks to limit the police role on school campuses. Concerned about an overreaction to the shootings, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, introduced Assembly Bill 549, which would encourage school districts to clarify the roles of school police, limiting them to handling dangerous or physically … Read entire article » http://bit.ly/1aQnHgM

SENATE VERSION OF SCHOOL FUNDING RESTRUCTURING MOVES TO ASSEMBLY
SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources
Friday, May 31, 2013 :: The state Senate Thursday set the stage for a confrontation with Gov. Jerry Brown by moving an alternative to his school funding plan on a bipartisan vote of 30 to six. Read More... http://bit.ly/11wNy83

BOARD RESOLUTION TO ADDRESS ADMINISTRATIVE NORMS
From AALA Update of May 30 | http://bit.ly/10R24Zh

Board of Education members, Bennett Kayser, Dr. Richard Vladovic and Steve Zimmer , are co-sponsoring a resolution entitled CREATING EQUITABLE AND ENRICHING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR ALL LAUSD STUDENTS to be considered by the Board in June. The resolution directs the Superintendent to prepare a three - year strategy to restore administrative norms to 2007 - 2008 levels, improve counseling ratios, implement the return of classified positions and examine the feasibility of reducing class size by 2014 - 2015 and develop a long term, class-size reduction strategy, among other provisions. AALA looks forward to reviewing and speaking on the full resolution.

LAUSD BOARD OFFERS CONFLICTING OPTIONS FOR SPENDING NEW REVENUE: By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News... http://bit.ly/15oLTGp

MIRAMONTE: LAUSD’s insurance carrier says they won’t pay child abuse claims: LAUSD insurance carrier challenge... http://bit.ly/15oJgEB

IN CALIFORNIA, INCARCERATED STUDENTS FALL THROUGH GAPS IN SPECIAL INTEREST LAWS: Joanna Lin, Education Reporte... http://bit.ly/14fM044

L.A.C.E.S. WINS $25,000 COLLEGE BOARD AWARD: LAUSD magnet school (Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies) is ... http://bit.ly/17AhucG

The State Budget: WHAT TO DO WITH CALIFORNIA’S WINDFALL: State tax revenue may be higher than projected. But t... http://bit.ly/1598sPi

NINE DISTRICTS (including LAUSD) SUBMIT ‘STRONGER’ APPLICATION FOR NCLB WAIVER: smf: No Ed-Speak buzz word lef... http://bit.ly/17svdlD

HAWAII’S EXPERIMENT IN FIXING SCHOOLS MAY HOLD LESSONS FOR CALIFORNIA: Hawaii's experiment in fixing schools ma... http://bit.ly/156DZRZ


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Special Board of Education Meeting - Tuesday June 4, 2013
Start: 9:00 am
Superintendent's Report and Budget Update

*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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