Sunday, July 26, 2015

A good IDEA and wasted time



4LAKids: Sunday 26•July•2015
In This Issue:
 •  Ravitch + Zimmer: THE NEXT SUPERINTENDENT
 •  “You have nothing to worry about”: TEACHER JAIL + THE SSIT + smf’s 2¢(x2)
 •  STATE SUPERINTENDENT TO FORM TASK FORCE FOR NEW ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN
 •  Rhymes with Bingo, Gringo!: THE SHOES CONTINUE TO DROP IN THE ¡VOTERIA! STORY + smf’s 2¢
 •  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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 •  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.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – the federally mandated program that requires schools to serve the educational needs exceptional students.

IDEA promises that the feds will finance 40% of the excess cost of providing special education and related services for students with disabilities and those with gifts and talents – and mandates that all public schools educate all children.

The promise of funding has never been kept.

IDEA is currently funded at about 16% and the underfunded mandate is questionably and unevenly followed; that requirement for eligibility being a bureaucratic and administrival minefield.

IDEA ensures students with disabilities have access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), just like all other children. Schools are required to provide special education in the least restrictive environment. Schools must teach students with disabilities in general education classroom whenever possible.

Under IDEA, parents have a say in the educational decisions the school makes about their child. At every point of the process, the law gives parents specific rights and protections called procedural safeguards.

Every child is special. The Individual Education Plan and those Parent’s Rights shouldn’t be a contested goal for special ed students; that plan and those rights should be a right of every child and their parent.

But the plan isn’t funded and God bless the child who has his own.

::

ALL LIVES MATTER. Going to a movie or changing lanes without signaling or being a military recruiter shouldn’t carry a death sentence.

::

IT SEEMS LIKE THE SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION must’ve have had something else better to do in the last month then begin the process of hiring the next superintendent.

There were, we are told, scheduling conflicts that needed to be accommodated.

“Scheduling conflicts” got on the way of every Man-Jack/Woman-Jill of them in addressing the one issue facing them for the month of July.

Superintendent Cortines said he would like to leave by December.

The Council of Great City Schools said the search+hiring process should take about eight months.

They had the opportunity to get started July 1. Did no one do the math?

Instead they took the month of July off and reluctantly agreed to start July 30.

“So you can get on with your search, baby,
and I can get on with mine.
And maybe someday we will find,
that it wasn't really wasted time.”


¡Onward/Adelante! – smf


• The view from 4:36 light hours away away, left over from last week: MORE FROM PLUTO



Ravitch + Zimmer: THE NEXT SUPERINTENDENT
►Ravitch: THE SURVIVAL OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IS AT RISK. HERE'S WHAT LAUSD NEEDS TO DO.
Op-Ed Commentary by Diane Ravitch | L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1OFog2r

July 23, 2015, 4:23 AM :: The Los Angeles Unified School District has at most a year to replace Ramon C. Cortines as superintendent. This is a crucial time for the district, which has weathered many controversies in the last decade. It is also a crucial time for American public education, which has been under assault for 30 years.

What should the next superintendent bring to the job? Start with the vision and skills to revive public confidence in Los Angeles' public schools. The ideal superintendent would have the courage, and the support of the board, to resist those who seek to undermine and privatize public schools.

I write as a historian who has studied American education for almost 50 years. There has never before been a time such as now, when the very survival of public education is at risk. A powerful coalition of billionaires, libertarians and religious zealots has converged to challenge the legitimacy of public education in Los Angeles and across the nation.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was California's governor, he appointed a majority of charter school advocates to the state school board, even though at the time only 5% of the state's children attended these privately managed schools. The Legislature and the state board strongly supported the creation of more charter schools, and the California Charter Schools Assn. became a major player in Sacramento, pushing pro-charter policies.
During the last school year, of LAUSD's nearly 644,000 students, 138,672 attended 264 charter schools, more than any other city in the nation. Some charters are good schools, but what is the value of having two publicly funded school systems? In general, charter schools operate with minimal oversight, receiving public funds but not necessarily acting like public schools.

Even in California, where charters by law are supposed to accept all comers, many find loopholes that allow them to shape their student bodies in a way true public schools cannot. They boast about their good test scores, but it is easier to get high scores when you're not necessarily educating all comers.

Charter schools have plenty of influential cheerleaders, including U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and businessmen/philanthropists Eli Broad and Bill Gates, and a host of high-profile conservative governors (and presidential candidates) such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

There needs to be a countervailing force in Los Angeles that bolsters the core American tradition of public education: schools that are controlled not by private, unaccountable boards but by the public, through elections. LAUSD needs a superintendent who will scrutinize charter schools for their use of public funds and subject them to regular public audits. It needs a superintendent willing to fight to impose a moratorium on new charters to stop the flow of funds and students from public schools.

The next superintendent must double down on LAUSD's classroom deficits. First, he or she should go to the mat for the funding to reduce class sizes, which is especially important for children who are struggling with their studies. The next superintendent must ensure that every school has a full and rich curriculum: history, geography, civics, the arts, science, foreign languages and physical education, as well as reading and math. Los Angeles has one of the most vibrant arts communities in the world, yet many of its public schools have lost their arts teachers. This is shameful.

The new superintendent must also work to reduce the importance of federally driven standardized testing. California administers new Common Core tests although it is not yet using the results to rate students and teachers. Several other states have rejected the new exams because they test students on material they were never taught and set the passing standard at an unrealistic level, sometimes two grade levels above where the children are.

But all children — especially poor children and English learners — aren't going to reach a standard that is arbitrarily rigorous. Nor does it encourage or motivate students to label them as failures beginning in third grade. After 13 years of No Child Left Behind, we've learned that more testing doesn't improve educational outcomes. The new LAUSD superintendent should advocate for minimal state standardized testing, for reasonable passing standards and for teacher-made tests instead.

Finally, the next LAUSD superintendent must create an atmosphere of respect for the district's teachers, who all too often are expected to work without adequate resources or support. Teachers should be treated as professionals, not harassed, bullied or threatened. To be sure, bad teachers should not be protected; they should be removed, with due process.

Contrary to the popular myth that traditional public schools are failing, students in affluent districts nationally do very well indeed. What works is schools that are well resourced, have strong family support and hold their teachers in high esteem. That is what Los Angeles should be trying to replicate in all of its schools, making sure the neediest students get the human and financial resources to succeed.

We cannot afford to write off the guarantee of a good public education for all. Countries that do the best job at educating their citizens — Finland, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Canada — do it with strong and equitable public school systems, not charter schools or private school vouchers. LAUSD needs a leader who believes in restoring and strengthening public education, which society counts on to develop citizens with the talent, skills and knowledge to sustain our democracy.

●Diane Ravitch is the author of, most recently, "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools."


▲ DIFFERENT VIEWS OF LAUSD NEEDS | letters to the Editor 7/25
Re “To lead LAUSD,” Opinion, July 23

Thanks to Stanford education historian Diane Ravitch for the unobstructed view of what Los Angeles Unified School District should be looking for in its next superintendent.

Ravitch believes the new superintendent should place a greater emphasis on public schools and should be suspicious of the claims for charter schools, which, according to her, “operate with minimal oversight, receiving public funds but not necessarily acting like public schools.” Ravitch maintains that countries who do the best job of educating its citizens — she names several — do it with strong and effective public schools, “not charter schools or private school vouchers.”

When we the citizens hear the claims and counter-claims of those supporting alternate school systems like charter schools, we should at least be aware of the possibilities that in some cases we are sadly watching resegregation at work, and charter schools are not always as inclusive as they might seem.

RALPH MITCHELL
Monterey Park

::

Ravitch’s view on what the next superintendent should bring to L.A. Unified is too rooted in the past to be meaningful. The standardized testing to which she objects was designed to determine whether students were acquiring the basic skills for even modest jobs. The tests have demonstrated that the type of leadership for which she yearns have failed to deliver at this most basic level.

The leadership we need will not come from looking at the last 50 years, as Ravitch has done, but by trying to look forward 50 years. If that vision leads us to charter schools and higher standards, then we need to accept that and stop trying to live in the past.

In L.A. Unified, about 20% of the students are attending charters, and most operate on a lottery system because there are so many parents opting out of the traditional and into charters. Our leaders on the district’s Board of Education and in administration need to be open to these changes and embrace them.

KEVIN MINIHAN
Los Angeles

::

DON’T PUT FREEZE ON CHARTERS

Re “To lead LAUSD,” Opinion, July 23 [Letter from 7/26 LA Times]

As the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education takes on the challenge of finding a new superintendent, I hope it solicits input from the wide spectrum of students and families it serves. While I agree with Stanford education historian Diane Ravitch that our next schools’ chief should go to the mat for small class sizes and arts education, a moratorium on new charter schools would be detrimental to learning.

The next LAUSD superintendent should embrace multiple learning environments — from charters to magnets to co-located schools — and hold all schools accountable for learning and spending outcomes. No matter where we find innovations that help our neediest students make gains, the new superintendent should focus on scaling those solutions across the system.

More than anything, the next superintendent should view students in all schools authorized by LAUSD as his or her students.

LIDA JENNINGS

Los AngelesThe writer is executive director of Teach for America in Los Angeles


▲ZIMMER SETS LAUSD BOARD MEETING TO BEGIN SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH

by Mike Szymanski | LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1MP1CDw

July 22, 2015 1:23 pm :: “The board will meet on July 30 to start just the technical part of the [search] process,” board president Steve Zimmer said in an interview with KPCC. (follows)

“I can’t say for sure what the calendar will be until the board meets and is able to discuss it together,” he said. “But I can, in broad strokes, outline that there will be a period of listening, there will be a period of search, there will be a period of winnowing down from that search.”

Just after Zimmer was elected board president last month, he tried to schedule a meeting with all the members for some time in August, well before the first regular meeting of the new school year, on Sept. 1, but there were scheduling conflicts that needed to be accommodated.

Zimmer has stressed that finding a new superintendent is the most important task facing the board for the upcoming school year. He insisted that there was no “shortlist” of candidates for the position.

“There will be the deliberation over the group of finalists, all of whom I hope will be consensus builders, collaborators, and will have the proper balance of urgency and periphery to understand that to move forward it has to be all of us together,” Zimmer said in the radio interview. “There’s no shortlist.”

He also said that he has not yet set a schedule for when the new superintendent will get chosen.

“I don’t have hard and fast deadlines,” he said. “What’s really important to me is that we kind of listen to the soul of the process, that we’re not thrust forward artificially but that we are exacting in our work, that we are professional and that we understand the urgency at hand.”

The district has no real blueprint for how to select a new superintendent. Since 1937, 15 men — and all have been men, by the way — have served in the position, including three separate terms for Cortines.

The replacement process has been done with large-scale community input, as the case with David Brewer, who was hired in 2006. His hiring culminated an eight-month process that the district said included “extensive outreach to thousands of parents, staff, and community leaders to identify the qualities they wanted to see in the next superintendent.”

A search committee of community and business leaders, elected officials and faith-based representatives interviewed candidates and winnowed the list to a group of five candidates that were presented to the Board of Education, from which Brewer was selected.

On the other hand, as Cortines was stepping down after his second period as superintendent in 2011, the board eschewed a national search in favor of elevating a Cortines lieutenant, John Deasy. It was a decision not universally appreciated.

“Our concern is that the school board did not go through a transparent process of doing a national search,” Judy Perez, then the president of Associated Administrators Los Angeles, told the LA Daily News at the time. “This was done behind closed doors.”

He said he would like to be at “a final stage” by early 2016, adding, “If we’re able to arrive there sooner, we’ll know it. If it feels that we need more time and we’re truly listening while moving, we’ll know it.”

Zimmer has not made public his preference for how the search should be conducted. But he told KPCC he favors transparency in the process.

“I expect that the type of transparency we’re hoping to have will lend a certain confidence to finding the right mix of velocity and care,” he said.
____________

5 QUESTIONS WITH LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT STEVE ZIMMER
By Mary Plummer | KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1KiB8wL

July 21 2015 :: Steve Zimmer won the backing of his colleagues on July 1 to step in as Los Angeles Unified's new school board president and his plate is already piled high.

Zimmer, who has held a seat on the school board since 2009 and served as a teacher and counselor at Marshall High School for 17 years, takes the helm of the seven-person board in the midst of ongoing troubles with the district's student data system, a burst of new state education funding, and questions about expansive, wasteful spending in the district's food services division.

Those are just a few of the items on a long to-do list for the school district, which is charged with educating over 540,00 students and is the country's second largest.

Education reporter Mary Plummer sat down to speak with Zimmer on Friday at KPCC's studios. The Q&A below has been edited for length and clarity.

1. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR AHEAD? WHAT DO YOU WANT THE SCHOOL BOARD TO TACKLE?

The most important task that the school board has in the coming school year is the search for the next superintendent of LAUSD. This search, both in process and outcome, is in many ways an assessment of the board and our ability to work together collaboratively, our ability to ensure that we have genuine public input into the process.

We are at a defining moment in public education. The definitional battles of the last five or six years about the role of public education, the role of democratically elected school boards, I think have largely been played out. I think that there is a collaborative sense of mission around public schools and particularly around our school district. We need to capture this moment. We can't transform outcomes fighting over different agendas. We can only transform outcomes by coming together and working collectively on behalf of kids. Our process has to really capture that.

The board will meet on July 30 to start just the technical part of the [search] process. I can't say for sure what the calendar will be until the board meets and is able to discuss it together. But I can, in broad strokes, outline that there will be a period of listening, there will be a period of search, there will be a period of winnowing down from that search.

And then there will be the deliberation over the group of finalists. All of whom I hope will be consensus builders, collaborators, and will have the proper balance of urgency and periphery to understand that to move forward it has to be all of us together. There's no shortlist.

I don't have hard and fast deadlines. What's really important to me is that we kind of listen to the soul of the process, that we're not thrust forward artificially but that we are exacting in our work, that we are professional and that we understand the urgency at hand.

We know roughly the first part of 2016 is when we need to be at a final stage. If we're able to arrive there sooner, we'll know it. If it feels that we need more time and we're truly listening while moving, we'll know it. I expect that the type of transparency we're hoping to have will lend a certain confidence to finding the right mix of velocity and care.

2. KPCC RECENTLY REPORTED A TEACHER UNION EXECUTIVE'S ESTIMATE THAT THERE COULD BE UP TO 7,500 STUDENTS WHO RECEIVED INCORRECT TRANSCRIPTS RECENTLY.

That number has gone way down, I don't have a precise number. There were problems. There has been some trouble producing transcripts where students took courses at institutions other than LAUSD institutions. There have been some cases where certain tabulations were off. We're trying to understand how that happened and rectify that.

The problems weren't only due to MiSiS [the district's student data system]. In this instance, it really allowed us to do a deeper dive into oversight around transcripts and diplomas and critical end-of-school-career documents that I think is going to help us a lot moving forward.

That's not to say that any mistake is forgivable. These are kids' lives, and we're doing everything we can. We really put a team in place this summer to rectify the situation. I'm confident that by the time school starts this part of the situation will be resolved to the point that we will be sure it won't happen again next year.

This is not a full blown catastrophe or crisis. This is a fixable situation and I'm confident that we've got a team in place and that team together, I think, has really done some great work to resolve this over the summer.

Do I wish this never happened? Of course. We're trying to understand exactly what happened, how much of this was purely system error, how much might have been for whatever reason human error, and how much of it is kind of a hybrid of the two.

Superintendent [Ramon] Cortines has assembled the right team to understand what we need to learn to move forward and make sure this doesn't happen again.

3. HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN MISIS'S ABILITY TO NAVIGATE THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR. DO YOU THINK THE ISSUES WE SAW LAST YEAR ARE RESOLVED?

I don't use words like resolved. I use words like progress. I use phrases like we are really working on this and are attentive to it. I don't think it's going to perfect. I still think there are going to be struggles. There is no way we will see what happened last year.

4. WHAT'S YOUR RESPONSE TO THE FOOD SERVICES DIVISION AUDIT RECENTLY RELEASED BY THE DISTRICT'S INSPECTOR GENERAL THAT CITED MISMANAGEMENT, ETHICAL VIOLATIONS AND WASTE?

I'm not going to comment publicly on the food audit until I have the chance to meet with the entire board, other than to say it is something that is very serious and we're taking [it] very seriously.

What I will say in general is that our oversight and accountability actually affects the credibility of this district. Whether it is food services, construction management, instructional technology, our processes for procurement and our outcomes under that procurement are not at all separated from instructional outcomes.

It's an important thing to clear the fog around procurement processes and raise the level of stakeholder understanding of what these processes are. Only positive things will happen for kids when we do that.

5. WHAT WILL YOUR APPROACH BE AS SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT? DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO RUN THINGS DIFFERENTLY?

I want to make sure that I continue [former school board president Richard] Vladovic's style of making sure that all voices are heard.

In terms of running things differently, I think that there's always a desire for kind of the nexus of greater efficiency, but also for the board to really perform the collaborative oversight role that we're charged with.

We are going to try and make committee work and the board meetings focused but also effective in terms of making sure that every minute that we spend is about children, about our schools and about the necessary roles that the board has to play to make sure that LAUSD is able to function.

That is a responsibility that's both awe-inspiring and awesome. I think each of us really has a sense of the weight of that and every indication that I've had so far is that there is a definitive collaborative spirit on this board and we understand that our work on the tasks at hand has to match the power of the dreams that every family in our school district has for their children.


BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Sarah Angel, the California Charter Schools Asso Managing Director, Regional Advocacy—L.A., offers a different view.



“You have nothing to worry about”: TEACHER JAIL + THE SSIT + smf’s 2¢(x2)
L.A. DISTRICT CONTINUES TO PERSECUTE ONE OF THE NATION’S BEST TEACHERS + smf’s 2¢
By Jay Mathews | The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/1TOCL75

July 19, 2015 :: Fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith’s worst nightmare began March 19, during a puzzling meeting in his principal’s office. Hobart Boulevard Elementary School’s principal indicated something had happened, but Esquith says that he was told he had nothing to worry about.

That was wrong. I consider Esquith to be America’s best classroom teacher. The Los Angeles educator’s annual Shakespeare productions, real-life economics lessons, advanced readings and imaginative field trips are phenomenal. Yet he has been removed from his classroom since April and told by his school district to say nothing about what is going on.

Fortunately, his attorneys have prepared a detailed account of the administrative incompetence and wrong-headedness that created this situation as Los Angeles Unified School District investigators continue to search for anything they can use against their most-celebrated teacher.

At that March meeting, according to their account, the principal told Esquith: “You have nothing to worry about. This is a bump in the road. I need to counsel you that you need to be careful what you say in front of students.” Esquith said fine, still not knowing was they were talking about. He went back to teaching and preparing for “The Winter’s Tale,” as acted, danced and musically accompanied by his students, mostly from ­low-income Hispanic and Korean families.

Three weeks later, Esquith learned that the district had forwarded a complaint to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, but the teacher still didn’t have details. Esquith said the principal told him he had nothing to worry about and that “this is about nothing.”

The next day, Esquith learned the truth: A school staffer had reported to administrators that Esquith made a joke about nudity that she thought might offend students and their parents. Esquith had read to his students a passage from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in which a character called the king comes “prancing out on all fours, naked.” Esquith reminded the students that the district did not fund the annual Shakespeare play, and if he could not raise enough money “we will all have to play the role of the king in Huckleberry Finn.”

Esquith was told that the district was pressuring him for an apology. Esquith wrote and signed one: “I am deeply and sincerely sorry that any comment someone heard, or thought they heard, has anyone uncomfortable.” Nonetheless, two days later, April 10, the district removed him from his classroom — giving no reason — and sent him to an office for disciplinary cases commonly known as the teacher jail. (He was later allowed to stay home, with pay.)

On May 27, the state credentialing commission rejected the district’s complaint. That same day, investigators met with Esquith and asked him bizarre questions, such as did he know any teachers who didn’t like him and which women he dated in college.

Investigators eventually said they found a man who said Esquith had abused him when he was 8 or 9, during a time when Esquith was a teenage counselor at a Jewish summer day camp. The alleged incidents happened 40 years ago. The man told the Los Angeles Times that he reported this to a Los Angeles school board member and the police in 2006, but nothing came of it. Esquith has denied wrongdoing.

Los Angeles Times reporter Howard Blume revealed recently that cases like Esquith’s had previously been left up to principals, but after a 2012 molestation scandal, the district began to suspend and investigate hundreds of teachers for even small alleged infractions.

Esquith is being treated like a Wall Street cheat. On July 8, the district’s investigators asked him for all of his tax returns, loan and bank records since 2000, giving no reason. Many other teachers being similarly targeted are asking Esquith’s lawyers for help.

This is an investigation gone rogue. If it continues, the Los Angeles school district — previously devoted to helping its students — is at risk of not only losing an exceptional teacher, but also its very soul.


●Jay Mathews is an education columnist and blogger for the Washington Post, his employer for 40 years.
_________

●●smf’s 2¢: WaPo columnist Mathews is not some Washington Beltway pundit opining on LAUSD from three thousand miles away. He knows of who+what+where+when+why he speaks. Mathews is the journalist who ‘discovered’ Jaime Escalante: JAIME ESCALANTE TURNS STUDENTS INTO CALCULUS WHIZZES (Dec. 12, 1982) http://wapo.st/1JeGmYX

From Mathews 2010 obit for Escalante: “From 1982 to 1987 I stalked Jaime Escalante, his students and his colleagues at Garfield High School, a block from the hamburger-burrito stands, body shops and bars of Atlantic Boulevard in East Los Angeles. I was the Los Angeles bureau chief for The Washington Post, allegedly covering the big political, social and business stories of the Western states, but I found it hard to stay away from that troubled high school.

“I would show up unannounced, watch Jaime teach calculus, chat with Principal Henry Gradillas, check in with other Advanced Placement classes and in the early afternoon call my editor in Washington to say I was chasing down the latest medfly outbreak story, or whatever seemed believable at the time.” | http://wapo.st/1DsWS13

Mathews’ 1988 book ESCALANTE: THE BEST TEACHER IN AMERICA traced Jaime Escalante’s career from his native Bolivia to Garfield High School in East Lost Angeles, where he taught advanced mathematics courses to disadvantaged high school students, mostly Latino. Escalante’s story was the subject of the film STAND AND DELIVER (1988), which starred Edward James Olmos.

__________

TO SPEED UP PROBES, LAUSD HAS DOUBLED INVESTIGATION TEAM: The staff that investigates allegations against inmates of LA Unified’s “teacher jail” has doubled since the team started last year, with the aim of clearing cases faster.

by Mike Szymanski | L.A. School Report | http://bit.ly/1MtYaBe

July 20, 2015 9:28 am :: The Student Safety Investigation Team (SSIT) now has 15 members, including six full-time investigators, four LA school police, two forensic specialists and one supervising investigator. The team is directed by Jose Cantu, who has worked at LAUSD for more than 30 years, including 14 years as a principal at Eastman Avenue Elementary School.

“This is unique for a team like this in any school district in the United States,” said district spokeswoman Shannon Haber.

The backgrounds of the staff working on the SSIT reflect expertise in police policies and investigative education.

One of the investigators is formerly from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department. Three investigators once worked for the Los Angeles Police Department.

One of the investigators has had FBI experience and one is from the Department of Social Services.

The SSIT investigates employee misconduct against students while the subject of the investigation, a teacher or staff member, is moved from the classroom to “jail.” The team responds to complaints from a variety of sources, such as students, a fellow teacher or a parent. If an investigation produces evidence of criminal misconduct, the SSIT will take it to the proper authorities.

As of July 1, SSIT members were investigating 174 district employees, most of them teachers. The total includes 65 accused of questionable sexual abuse or harassment while the rest face accusations on a variety of other issues, including 55, who have been cited for acts of violence.

The total reflects 151 certificated employees and 23 classified, such as teacher assistants, library aides, janitors and other support staff.


●●smf’s 2¢: It’s a cheap shot too easy and politically incorrect to pass up: The acronym starts with SS and the German translation is Schüler Sicherheitsuntersuchungsteam. If the irony of ‘Schüler’ is lost on you I apologize …the story is so last year.

I remain unclear as to what exactly the role of the SSIT is.

Are they law enforcement?
Are they private detectives, LAUSD’s own Pinkertons?
Do they report to the district attorney?
The LAUSD general counsel?
The superintendent?
The board of education?
The citizens+taxpayers?
Do they have the power of arrest? Subpoena?
Are they like the LAPD Internal Affairs Group, hidden away in plain sight the Bradbury Building? (Was that a secret?)
Or are they like the TV NCIS, off the base with quirky characters and trendy haircuts?
What does the word “extrajudicial” mean to you?


STATE SUPERINTENDENT TO FORM TASK FORCE FOR NEW ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN
By Sarah Tully | EdSource | http://bit.ly/1JmyWmB

Jul 24, 2015 :: The state’s superintendent announced today the formation of a new task force to help overhaul California’s accountability system, along with a new plan to guide public schools.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson unveiled the Blueprint for Great Schools 2.0, a 20-page document that outlines plans for everything from early education and English learners to funding and teacher preparation.

This is the second blueprint for second-term Torlakson, who released his original plan in 2011 shortly after his first election.

The task force comes at a time when the state’s accountability system is changing.

At the time of the last blueprint, students were still taking the paper-and-pencil California Standards Tests, the basis for the three-digit Academic Performance Index, or API, assigned to every school that is now suspended. This past spring, students took for the first time the Smarter Balanced Assessments, which measures their learning based on Common Core standards. The results are expected next month.

The task force is expected to come up with a recommendation for a new accountability system based on multiple measures, including the new assessments.

Torlakson said he expects to present a plan to the State Board of Education within the next 12 to 14 months. The new plan will be more like a dashboard with measures, such as dropout, graduation and absence rates.

“We’re going away from the era where two test scores were like the obsession of school districts and principals and teachers, just to concentrate on their math and language arts test scores,” Torlakson said. “We want a broader definition of success.”

The blueprint has five focus areas for the next four years: California standards; teaching and leading excellence; student success; continuous improvement and accountability systems; and “systems change and supports for strategic priorities.”

It addresses some of the major changes in education since 2011. At the time, schools were reeling from the budget cuts tied to the recession, when about 30,000 teachers were laid off.

This year’s budget, however, contains record money for education, yet schools are facing an emerging teacher shortage. The blueprint calls for addressing the impending teacher and principal shortage by figuring out the causes and building up the “pipeline” into the profession.

The first blueprint alluded to an idea of a funding system to address students’ needs, which now has turned into the Local Control Funding Formula. Schools now must develop Local Control and Accountability Plans to show how they are using money to improve achievement for students. The blueprint calls for more support and parent involvement as schools develop their plans.

Torlakson said he also wants to emphasize future standards in science and social studies, as well as career preparation.

The co-chairs of the task force are Eric Heins, president of the California Teachers Association, and Wes Smith, executive director of the Association of County School Administrators. The other members have yet to be named.

• Sarah Tully covers Common Core and early education in the Los Angeles area


• The Blueprint for Great Schools 2.0



Rhymes with Bingo, Gringo!: THE SHOES CONTINUE TO DROP IN THE ¡VOTERIA! STORY + smf’s 2¢

●●smf’s 2¢: Call me old fashioned, but I like to read my news on the news pages and get other peoples’ opinions on the Op-Ed pages. But the Times Editorial Board got the outcome they advocated-for (the election of ‘upstart Ref Rodriguez’) …even if they didn’t like the process. And there was a lot more process than the ‘gimmicky lottery of sorts’ not to like!

Here we find – for the first time – that Mr. Rojas was the first runner-up in the ¡Lotteria!

It's not just noteworthy, it’s newsworthy that the first winner threatened to call the FBI because she didn't believe the contest was legitimate. Eventually, she turned down the money when told that her name would be made public.

The questions of the contest’s legitimacy persist.

WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, BRIBING VOTERS IS A BAD IDEA
By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board |http://lat.ms/1OkQFdn

21July2015 :: Perhaps the leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles will learn a lesson from the May election defeat of school board incumbent Bennett Kayser, whom they backed, by upstart Ref Rodriguez. Unfortunately, that lesson may well be that they must back up their next candidate for office by offering voters a cash prize to entice them to come to the polls.

That's the problem with the Voteria, a gimmicky lottery of sorts run by the Southwest Voter Registration Project. The organization, which works to boost voter turnout, especially among Latino voters, dangled a $25,000 prize to anyone who voted in the Kayser-Rodriguez election. Late last week it was announced that the prize went to Ivan Rojas, a 35-year-old security guard.

Rojas was the second person selected for the prize. It's noteworthy that the first threatened to call the FBI because she didn't believe the contest was legitimate. Eventually, she turned down the money when told that her name would be made public.

That's an understandable reaction. The civic act of voting for elected representatives doesn't readily mix with cash prizes and lotteries. It's true that too few people vote, especially in local elections, and more should be done to help potential voters understand what they stand to win or lose at election time. But bribing them is a bad idea; and as pure as the contest organizers' motives may have been, there is too much about the Voteria that is redolent of bribery.

After all, when every voter is automatically entered, every voter has a shot at winning, and a monetary value can be assigned to that chance. The Voteria organizers weren't promoting any particular candidate, but the Southwest Voters Registration Education Project does have a constituency — Latino voters. The organization is adept at communicating with those voters, some of whom, presumably, were on the fence about bothering to cast their ballots but did so after they heard of the contest. In this election, the Latino candidate defeated his non-Latino opponent. Voters who were aware of the prize were more likely to vote for Rodriguez by 2 to 1, according to the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

Suppose that next time the organization offering cash payments to lucky voters is indeed pushing a particular candidate and does its outreach among voters likely to back that particular candidate. Suppose it's UTLA, for example. Or the police union, a real estate developer, a political party or anyone else. Or all of them at the same time.

Cash contests like the Voteria leave too much space for mischief and require careful examination and perhaps rule-making. That's something the Legislature should consider during the remainder of its term.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
CHARTER SCHOOLS TAP THE MUNI BOND MARKET: With enrollments rising, they find it easier to borrow to expand
http://bit.ly/1OtgAzx

MAN ON A MISSION: Carl Schafer works to get California to enforce its own arts education law
http://bit.ly/1gW2qMX

LAUSD FOOD SERVICE AUDIT ALLEGATIONS STILL UNDER INTERNAL REVIEW
http://bit.ly/1U0grHz

NCLB/ESEA REWRITE INCLUDES DEBATE OVER SEX ED, FUNDING
http://bit.ly/1gW248U

CA LOTTERY SALES TO HIT $6 BILLION: record contribution set for schools
http://bit.ly/1IvJssB

LA Times OpEd by Diane Ravitch: WHAT LAUSD NEEDS IN ITS NEXT SUPERINTENDENT :: http://fw.to/woCMwBQ

L.A. DISTRICT CONTINUES TO PERSECUTE ONE OF THE NATION’S BEST TEACHERS + smf’s 2¢
http://bit.ly/1ef9h28

5 QUESTIONS WITH LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT STEVE ZIMMER
http://bit.ly/1HHeCd0

THE SHOES CONTINUE TO DROP IN THE ¡VOTERIA! STORY –or– Whatever you call it, bribing voters is a bad idea + smf’s 2¢
http://bit.ly/1CTRBVk


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Thursday July 30, 2015 - 6:00 p.m. :: SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION - - Including Closed Session Items

*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:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Monica.Ratliff@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state legislator, 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 at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• 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 was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 12 years. He is Vice President for Health, Legislation Action Committee member and a member of the Board of Directors 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 "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors 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.
• FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
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Sunday, July 19, 2015



4LAKids: Sunday 19•July•2015
In This Issue:
 •  AUDIT FINDS MISMANAGEMENT, ETHICAL BREACHES IN LAUSD FOOD SERVICES AND DEASY-FOUNDED L.A. FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION (3 stories)
 •  CAN TWO FEDERAL BILLS FINALLY FULFILL GOALS OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?
 •  MiSiS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
 •  From the wonderful folks who brought you Vergara: GROUP SUES 13 CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR NOT USING TEST SCORES IN TEACHER EVALUATIONS
 •  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:
 •  Give the gift of a 4LAKids Subscription to a friend or colleague!
 •  Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404
 •  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.
Train-of-thought from Southwest Flight 1863 from Sacramento to Burbank:
Gordie: Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?
Vern: If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy-Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it.
Teddy: Goofy's a dog. He's definitely a dog.
Gordie: I knew the $64,000 question was fixed. There's no way anybody could know that much about opera!
Chris: He can't be a dog. He drives a car and wears a hat.
Gordie: Wagon Train's a really cool show, but did you notice they never get anywhere? They just keep wagon training.
Vern: Oh, God. That's weird. What the hell is Goofy?”
― Stephen King, “The Body” (1981) – also the movie “Stand By Me” (1986)


In the Great Scheme of Things the historically significant event of the past week will by the flyby of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft – not the shootings in Chattanooga, Bill Cosby’s depredations, Donald Trump’s standing in the polls, Students Matter’s latest lawsuit or the food service scandal in LAUSD.

Pluto, Wikipedia tells us, is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt - the first Kuiper belt object to be discovered. It is the largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object directly orbiting the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume but is less massive than Eris, a dwarf planet in the scattered disc. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock and is relatively small—about one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third its volume.

In ancient mythology Pluto is the Roman god of the Underworld; in modern mythology he is the dog of a mouse. He is the cat in a Poe story. HMS Pluto is a number of ships of the Royal Navy, a U.S. nuclear powered cruise missile, any number of rock bands and rock songs.

Pluto is the ruling planet of the astrological sign Scorpio (Katy Perry, Caitlin Jenner, Bill Gates, Leon Trotsky – and Hillary Clinton, John Boehner, Scott Walker and Joe Biden.)

Pluto, whether a planet or not, is part of a binary system with its largest moon Charon – the only one in the solar system. Pluto’s other moons orbit the pair. http://lat.ms/1Kexdy4

In Greek mythology Charon is ferryman of Hades:
"Whatever you do
Don't pay the ferryman
Don't even fix a price
Don't pay the ferryman
Until he gets you to the other side"
- Chris De Burgh

It’s all very kozmik with a “K”.

I spent much of the week in Sacramento, at the mercy of airport, lobby and hotel room television – subject to CNN, Fox and MSNBC and their “one-story/all-the-time” coverage of the Chattanooga shootings: The same video clips repeated ad-infinitum, the same stills, the same breathless “What does it all mean?” speculation pretending at coverage; talking head pundits masquerading as commentary, repetition portending to be depth. The shooter was a Muslim, it was Eid al-Fitr, he either had or didn’t have Facebook or Twitter accounts: Those Facts (if they are facts) Must Prove Some Premise.

The good news is all this kept Donald Trump off the airwaves for a couple of news cycles; the bad news is that it kept the Pluto news out of the spin cycle …but the connection is slow and it takes five-and-a-half-hours to get here. And The Donald is back.


4LAKIDS NOTES THAT THE SOUTHWEST VOTER REGISTRATION EDUCATION PROJECT announced the winner of their $25,000 ¡Voteria! prize immediately after we noted they hadn’t. http://t.co/KcmqOm7Gj8. The announcement came complete with a convenient “lost in the voicemail” excuse about why it took so long.


AT ONE LEVEL LAUSD’S BREAKFAST IN THE CLASSROOM/FOOD SERVICE SCANDAL [http://t.co/QDSijN60rv] isn’t quite so easy to figure out. There are a lot of moving parts, school district food service finance is complicated - and there certainly were mistakes, honest+dishonest, made. And at another level the wrongdoing is easy to see – and can be appropriately ascribed to the urgency+hubris of the previous superintendent: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Indicted.

He wanted Breakfast in the Classroom. He knew rich Hollywood types who fronted the money through the non-profit he ran, patterned after the appropriately/ironically named Robin Hood Fund in New York City: The Fund for L.A. Education. BIC is a program 100% reimbursed after-the-fact by the federal government. Once the federal dollars came in the food services account paid the Fund back.

In Hollywood this is called leveraging other people’s money and is accepted standard business practice.
In Federal Contracting+Procurement this is called fraud and misuse of public funds.

Picky picky picky.

The schools, the ®eformers tell us, should be run more like Business. But 501(c)(3) non-profits are not piggy-banks, cash-cows, slush-funds or petty-cash boxes for anyone to do anything they want with …no matter how good the idea seems at the time.

Irving Berlin tells us there is no business like show business:
“There's no people like show people,
they smile when they are low.
Angels come from everywhere with lots of jack,
and when you lose it, there's no attack.
Where could you get money that you don't give back?
Let's go on with the show!”

Donald Trump tells us he will build a wall to keep the Mexicans out – and make the Mexican government pay for it.

And Chapo Guzmán?

Townes Van Zandt tells us:
“A few grey Federales say
They could’ve had him any day.
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness, I suppose.”

(By the way Donald, ‘El Chapo’ is an American citizen – he was born in La Luna, Texas.)

Seat backs and tray tables up, wheels down.

And so it was/Y así fue

¡Onward/Adelante! - smf


AUDIT FINDS MISMANAGEMENT, ETHICAL BREACHES IN LAUSD FOOD SERVICES AND DEASY-FOUNDED L.A. FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION (3 stories)
AUDIT FINDS MISMANAGEMENT, ETHICAL BREACHES IN LAUSD FOOD SERVICES
By Teresa Watanabe | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1HAQ2L5

15July2105 :: The Los Angeles school district’s massive food services program is riddled with mismanagement, inappropriate spending and ethical breaches, according to an internal audit released Wednesday.

The 33-page audit by the district’s Office of the Inspector General reviewed L.A. Unified’s revamped food procurement system, which was introduced five years ago to supply the nation's second-largest school food operation. Eight major vendors were awarded $750 million in food contracts spread over five years.

Under the new system, auditors found increased food prices, bloated inventories, incompatible computer systems to order food, a “haphazard” menu development process and insufficient controls over spending. The audit also found increased meal participation and greater innovation and flexibility.

L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon Cortines said district officials have already moved to tighten fiscal controls and spending oversight.

“The district takes these findings very seriously,” he said in a statement with Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, head of the educational services office.

Cortines said he was particularly concerned about the lax oversight of a school meal marketing program funded by food vendors. The program was created in 2010 by Dennis Barrett, the former food services director who now works for the New York City Department of Education.

To win the contracts under the new system, vendors agreed to contribute more than $1.5 million to promote the district’s healthful food initiatives and educate students about nutrition.

The marketing efforts helped draw national attention to the district’s cutting-edge efforts to shift to healthier school food with lower fat, sodium and sugar — including praise from First Lady Michelle Obama.

But the audit raised questions about some of the vendor payments: $117,500 to philanthropist Meg Chernin’s Los Angeles Fund for Public Education, $65,000 to place Los Angeles Dodgers photos on school milk cartons, $6,800 for employee travel and conferences, and $581,000 to two Los Angeles public relations firms, RL Public Relations and Tatum Wan Co., among others.

The district axed the marketing program this year. Officials have also strengthened its supervision of food services staff members, improved oversight of purchasing and new menu additions and returned to competitive bidding, among other changes, the Cortines statement said.

Board of Education President Steve Zimmer said he would withhold comment until the board could meet to review the findings.

Fallout over the program has ensnared David Binkle, the district’s nationally known food services director, who has been removed from his post and ordered to stay home. Auditors found potential ethical breaches involving a private consulting firm he runs and a failure to report vendor-paid travel to food conferences.

Binkle has denied any wrongdoing and said all travel and marketing activities were legal, specified in the vendor contract proposals and approved by his superiors.

He declined to comment Tuesday until he could review the audit.

Binkle, a professional chef who joined the district in January 2008, helped adopt cutting-edge menus lower in sodium and fat, introduced breakfast and supper programs, increased meals served by 76,000 daily and promoted directives from the federal government and L.A. Unified Board of Education for healthier food.

In an earlier interview, George Silva, L.A. Unified’s procurement chief, said the district would no longer ask vendors to directly contribute money to promote school food. Instead, they would be asked to provide opportunities for student class projects on the food industry, field trips, workplace tours, online exchanges and other activities combining academic study with occupational training through the district’s “work-based learning partnership” program.

The vendors included Tyson Foods Inc., Jennie-O Turkey Store Sales, Goldstar Foods, Five Star Gourmet Foods, Driftwood Dairy and Don Lee Farms. The district is reviewing bids for a new set of contracts to replace those that expired this year.

L.A. Unified's $354-million food program serves 716,000 meals daily to 615,000 students at 1,200 locations.

_________________________________
NONPROFIT SUPPORT GROUP CAUGHT UP IN SCANDAL AT LOS ANGELES UNIFIED
By Larry Kaplan | Nonprofit Quarterly | http://bit.ly/1Mc5Vuv

July 15, 2015 :: A prestigious nonprofit support group affiliated with the nation’s second-largest school district, with a high-profile staff and blue-ribbon board of directors, found itself in the middle of a scandal over waste in Los Angeles Unified School District’s food program.

An audit of L.A. Unified’s food services program, released by the district’s inspector general, reveals “swanky hotel stays, cozy relationships with contractors and millions of dollars in waste,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Daily News.

The audit singles out the food services director, who has been collecting an annual salary of $152,000 while on paid leave for more than five months. David Binkle established a reputation as a promoter of healthy eating, appearing at the White House with first lady Michelle Obama.

According to the audit, the $341 million-a-year program had problems that can be traced back to the district’s decision to let food services forgo standard contracting practices in 2011, on the belief that administrative costs would be lowered. That gave Binkle almost complete control over millions of dollars in contracts, and the paper reports that he used that power to give preference to contractors who showered him with perks.

Those perks were not reported on forms mandated by state law. In addition, Binkle failed to disclose his food consulting company, which made more than $950,000 per year, according to the audit.

Money was spent from the district’s marketing fund to pay key executives at the nonprofit L.A. Fund for Public Education $117,500 to promote the district’s controversial breakfast program, which it features prominently on its website. The Fund is a blue-chip support group for L.A. Unified, whose board includes the mayor, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and a number of entertainment industry bigwigs. The group says on its website that it “builds innovative partnerships to create solutions that will improve the educational, health and wellness outcomes for students in Los Angeles.”

Binkle denied authorizing the payment, claiming that the nonprofit was authorized to spend tax dollars without his permission. The Fund denied that, and said it had no direct involvement with the program because the individual executives worked directly for the district.

The audit also revealed that the district overpaid for meals provided by one favored contractor, which paid for airfare and hotel costs for district employees to attend a food conference, a violation of the district’s ethics policy.

The Daily News reports that LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines says he has taken steps to prevent future ethical breaches and mismanagement. The audit also says that the food services department’s operating deficit more than tripled between 2010 and 2013, even though the district served 900,000 fewer meals, meaning that the cost of food increased 41 percent.

Some of that is due to buying the healthier food Binkle and the L.A. Fund promoted, but the inspector general said that the bulk of the increase was due to lax contracting practices, ordering too much food, duplicating orders and carrying excessive inventory. At the same time, the paper reports that about one-fifth of food served was wasted, even though food offered free by the USDA wasn’t ordered on time.—Larry Kaplan

_____________________


AUDIT FINDS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN WASTE IN LAUSD FOOD PROGRAM
By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1LtImg4

Posted: 07/15/15 :: Swanky hotel stays, cozy relationships with contractors and millions of dollars in waste were uncovered by an audit of Los Angeles Unified’s food services program, which was released by the district’s inspector general on Wednesday.

At the center of the audit is Los Angeles Unified Food Services Director David Binkle, who has been collecting an annual salary of $152,000 while on paid leave for more than five months.

A champion of health eating, Binkle has appeared at the White House alongside first lady Michelle Obama and starred in Tedx Talks.

But according to the audit, the $341 million a year program under his direction was anything but healthy. Problems can be traced back to the district’s 2011 decision to let food services forgo standard contracting practices with the expectation that administrative costs would be lowered.

The decisions to forgo standard practices left Binkle with near complete control over millions of dollars in contracts. He used that power to grant price increases, change orders and modify menus for contractors who paid for him to stay at a swanky hotel in Beverly Hills and, at his request, covered the cost of airfare and lodging for a conference, according to the audit.

Those costs went unreported by Binkle on forms that are mandated by state law. Binkle also failed to disclose his food consulting company, which he formed after starting work for the district in 2007. His company made more than $950,000 per year, according to the audit.

The audit said the company Gold Star Foods covered Binkle’s costs for a night at the Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills. The money was later reimbursed through the district’s marketing fund, a $1.6 million fund with little oversight or documentation to show why money was spent.

Gold Star Foods was given a 15.5 percent cut of every dinner served by the district for no apparent reason, according to the audit.

The district could have bought meals at a 15.5 percent savings directly from FiveStar Gourmet Food, but after a discussion between Binkle and Gold Star Foods representatives, it was decided the district would pay 23 cents more for each dinner, raising the price of every meal from $1.20 to $1.48.

The district spent $12.1 million on serving dinner in 2013, according to the audit.

FiveStar Gourmet, meanwhile, shelled out $8,831 in airfare and hotel costs for two employees to attend a food conference. The payment was made at Binkle’s request and in violation of the district’s ethic’s policy, according to the audit.

The inspector general couldn’t figure out why other money was spent from the marketing fund. For instance, staff members of the nonprofit, The LA Fund, collected $117,500 to promote the district’s controversial breakfast program.

Binkle denied authorizing the payment, claiming The LA Fund was able to sign off on the spending of tax dollars. The LA Fund denied the claim, saying it had no involvement with the program and thought individual employees were contracted by the district.

In another instance, a company volunteered to print Dodgers players on milk cartons free of charge but later collected $65,000 for it. Binkle said he thought it was free of charge and the audit doesn’t state who agreed to the payment.

In written statement, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said steps have already been taken to prevent future ethical breaches and mismanagement.

“The district takes these findings very seriously,” Cortines said. “We have alerted the Board of Education of these reforms, and will continue to provide updates.”

The audit also describes massive waste, as the food services department operating deficit more than tripled over three years leading up to the $78.6 million shortfall in 2013.

But even as the budget ballooned to $341 million, the district served nearly 900,000 fewer meals in 2013 compared with the 2010 fiscal year.

The increased budget reflects a 41 percent increase in the cost of food bought by the district. While the rising cost can partially be attributed to buying healthier food, the lax contracting practices led to a lack of competition and likely higher prices, according to the audit.

District officials also ordered too much food, duplicating identical orders and carrying inventories that were more than three times the recommended value of $3 million. Part of the problem was contracts that guaranteed a minimum purchase, according to the audit.

Meanwhile, up to 21 percent of food served went to waste, with an average of more than 9 percent over a three-week observation period, according to the audit.

While food the district was buying went to waste, vegetables, canned goods and other food offered free by the USDA weren’t ordered on time, compounding the cost of meals and waste, according to the audit.


Inspector General’s report on the review of the Food Services Division's Categorical Partnering Food Program



CAN TWO FEDERAL BILLS FINALLY FULFILL GOALS OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?

By Howard Blume | Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1JqX9nj

19July2015 :: The No Child Left Behind law had an ambitious goal to reform America's public schools 16 years ago: Every student, everywhere, would be academically successful by 2014.

That hasn't happened, and the vast majority of schools that receive federal funds are now labeled as failures under the law.

"The current federal system has basically become meaningless in drawing a distinction between schools that are performing well and schools that are not," said Keric Ashley, deputy superintendent for the California Department of Education.

That could change. Both houses of Congress have approved sweeping education bills, but the effort could fall short of becoming law because of political and policy hurdles.
The current federal system has basically become meaningless in drawing a distinction between schools that are performing well and schools that are not. - Keric Ashley, deputy superintendent for the California Department of Education

The Senate's Every Child Achieves Act, approved last week, as well as legislation passed by the House of Representatives, would return to the states broad authority over how to deal with low-performing schools.

At the same time, the bills maintain requirements for annual standardized testing in math and English in most grades, while also ordering states to report detailed data about student achievement.

But there are important distinctions between the House and Senate measures that ultimately could doom the effort.

The fundamental differences concern the amount of federal funding and the rules for using these dollars. The House bill, called the Student Success Act, caps education spending and allows states more freedom to reduce their own spending on schools without facing federal penalties. It also gives more freedom to states regarding which students will benefit from federal aid.
Just as crucially, the House bill would make it easier for federal money to follow low-income students who qualify for aid, regardless of what public school they attend. This approach has many supporters, but would fundamentally alter the purpose and distribution of federal funds, experts said.

That's because current federal policy concentrates this aid, called Title 1, in schools with the highest percentages of low-income students. In L.A., for example, a school in which 20% of students come from low-income families would not receive Title 1 funding under today's rules, leaving more funding available for a campus that is 80% low income. The House bill would eliminate that.

A GOP-driven federal education bill could cut $782 million for LAUSD low-income schools over the next six years.

The House bill would represent a "turning away from the historic commitment of federal dollars to poor kids," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The House passed its bill largely along party lines, with Republicans closing ranks to provide a narrow majority.

Like the House, the Senate is in the hands of Republicans, but the bill from that chamber attracted bipartisan support, as noted by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who chairs the education committee.
"The Senate's shown that not only is there broad consensus on the need to fix this law — remarkably, there's also broad consensus on how to fix it," Alexander said in a joint release with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). "This is the consensus: Continue the law's important measurements of students' academic progress but restore to states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about the results of those tests."

The legislation now goes to a conference committee, where lawmakers will work to reach common ground.

The Obama administration has signaled that the president could sign the Senate bill, but still wants revisions. Most importantly, the administration is calling for rules that compel states to act when low-performing schools fail to improve, said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

"This bill still falls short of truly giving every child a fair shot at success by failing to ensure that parents and children can count on local leaders to take action when students are struggling to learn," Duncan said in a statement. "We cannot tolerate continued indifference to the lowest performing schools."

Steps to please the administration would likely erode Senate support. At the same time, any revision of the House bill would mean having to exchange some Republican yes votes for Democratic ones.

In recent years, with Congress in partisan gridlock, Duncan has stepped in to promote favored policies with the lure of grants and exemptions from some rules and penalties.

Through this method, the administration has pushed states to adopt new learning goals, called the Common Core, and to adopt teacher evaluation systems that rely on student standardized test scores as one measure of effectiveness.

These efforts led to sweeping change across the country as well as backlash against the learning standards and against the amount and use of testing that was first required by the No Child Left Behind Act, a bipartisan bill signed by President George W. Bush.

Both current bills make it clear that states can establish their own learning goals. And there's no mandate for teacher evaluations — the challenge of developing fair performance reviews has sparked disputes across the political spectrum.

"It's helpful to put some of these issues behind us," said Mike Petrilli, a policy expert who has supported key Duncan policies.

"The aggressive federal role at this point is hurting more than helping the reform movement, causing a backlash from the left and the right," said Petrilli, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Fordham Institute.

Petrilli and Weingarten are among those with strong disagreements on education policy — and among those who are currently hopeful.

Said Weingarten: "This is the first time that we are close to getting it right."


MiSiS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
from the AALA Weekly Update for Week of July 20, 2015 | http://bit.ly/1HDjkXh

15July2015 :: Just when we thought there could possibly be a light at the end of the dark and winding MiSiS road, the LAUSD community now faces another hurdlefaulty transcripts. Superintendent Cortines confirmed that there have been reporting issues with graduation requirements for students in the Class of 2015 resulting in potential errors on as many as 7,500 transcripts. For some reason, several transcripts show that students had met graduation requirements when they didn’t and vice versa for other students. In other cases, summer school grades just disappeared from the system, affecting credits earned and matriculation to the next grade level. While it was announced that these most recent problems have been resolved, those in the field claim there are still inaccuracies. Several additional steps for school site and local district office staff have been put in place, most of them entailing checks and balances to ensure the accuracy of the information in MiSiS.

The issue with transcripts is not new.

The same problems were occurring last October as seniors were preparing their college admissions applications. The District at that time hired retired educators to come in and verify by hand that the transcripts were correct and students were asked to compare their new transcripts with their old report cards. Several more millions of dollars were allocated to fix the problem then, so it is unsettling to see that the same thing is reoccurring now.

Superintendent Cortines had hoped that the system would be operating correctly by now, but recently admitted that it may take all of 2015-16 to get it fully functional. Last week, the MiSiS log of unresolved problems still exceeded 350. School staff members report that as soon as one problem is resolved another pops up. And now as we are less than a month away from the start of the new school year, administrators, counselors and teachers are holding their breaths that students will have accurate class schedules, that attendance reporting will be correct and enrollment counts can be taken.


From the wonderful folks who brought you Vergara: GROUP SUES 13 CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR NOT USING TEST SCORES IN TEACHER EVALUATIONS
By Howard Blume | Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1HV4nPf

15 July 2015 :: An education advocacy group sued 13 California school districts Thursday, claiming that they have ignored a state law requiring teachers’ performance evaluations to include student standardized test scores.

The lawsuit targets the largest school systems in the state that have barred such use of test results through collective-bargaining agreements with teachers unions. These contract provisions are illegal under state law, according to the complaint, which was filed in Contra Costa County.

The litigation represents the latest effort by Students Matter, a Los Angeles-based group that has turned to California courts to make changes in education law that were otherwise blocked at the state and local levels. The organization was founded by tech entrepreneur David F. Welch to build on other attempts to limit teacher job protections and hold them more accountable for student achievement.

Many states and school systems are using scores in instructors’ performance reviews in part because the Obama administration has offered them incentives, including grants and exemptions from some federal rules and penalties. The practice is among those favored by such influential organizations as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and typically opposed by teacher unions.

Students Matter scored a victory last year when a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles ruled that several teacher job protections were unconstitutional. That case, Vergara vs. California, was watched nationally and spawned similar litigation in New York. The California ruling is on hold pending appeals.

If that decision is upheld, teachers would lose the right to earn tenure, and layoffs would no longer be based on seniority. The process for firing instructors also would be streamlined. The Legislature could pass laws restoring some of these job protections in another form, but they would have to survive court scrutiny.

The goal of the new litigation is to compel change across California. The 13 districts serve about 250,000 students of more than 6 million in the state.

“School districts are not going to get away with bargaining away their ability to use test scores to evaluate teachers,” said attorney Joshua S. Lipshutz, who is working on behalf of Students Matter. “That’s a direct violation of state law.”

The plaintiffs are six California residents, including some parents and teachers, three of whom are participating anonymously.

The suit doesn’t ask the courts to determine how much weight test scores should be given in a performance review, Lipshutz said. He cited research, however, suggesting that test scores should account for 30% to 40% of an evaluation.

A union leader called the effort misguided.

“There’s growing evidence, a ton of research, that shows the kind of evaluation system they would like to see happen is a disaster for public education,” said Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers.

Over-reliance on test scores creates negative incentives that he said contributed to the exam cheating scandal in Atlanta and to “narrowing the curriculum” to material appearing on tests.

“It distorts what happens in the classroom for students and educators,” he said.

The case, Doe vs. Antioch, follows earlier litigation involving the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2012, an L.A. Superior Court judge ruled that the school system had to include student test scores in teacher evaluations. But the judge also allowed wide latitude for negotiation between the union and the district.

That decision was based on the 1971 Stull Act, which set rules for teacher evaluations. Many districts had for decades failed to comply with it, experts say.

Advocates initially went after L.A. Unified because it is the largest school system in California. Under a court-imposed deadline, the union and district signed a pact that incorporated the use of test scores; but, later, disagreements arose. The two sides are currently in negotiations over a revised evaluation.

“All the evidence points to the fact that a majority are not” complying with the law, said Bill Lucia, president of Edvoice, the Sacramento-based organization behind the previous Stull Act lawsuit.

The districts being sued are: Antioch Unified, Chaffey Joint Union, Chino Valley Unified, El Monte City, Fairfield-Suisun Unified, Fremont Union, Inglewood Unified, Ontario-Montclair, Pittsburg Unified, Saddleback Valley Unified, San Ramon Valley Unified, Upland Unified and Victor Elementary.

Those districts approved labor deals that don’t allow the consideration of student achievement in evaluations, according to the complaint, which contains excerpts from collective-bargaining agreements.

The contract for the Fremont district, for example, states that standardized tests “shall not be used in the performance evaluation of a unit member, unless by agreement.”

Pechthalt defended these pacts.

“These are districts where management and teachers have developed an evaluation system that works for them,” he said. “The Stull Act doesn’t prescribe in detail how an evaluation system should happen. There is some leeway.”

The issue has percolated in the state Legislature, which considered four bills this year affecting teacher performance reviews. The most contentious ones have been pushed into next year.

The California Department of Education was not named in the suit, but could become involved because Inglewood Unified is currently under state control as a condition of a financial bailout.

A spokeswoman said the department had not reviewed the suit and could not comment.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
AUDIT: MISMANAGEMENT+ETHICAL BREACHES IN LAUSD FOOD SERVICES & DEASY-FOUNDED LA FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION (3 stories) http://bit.ly/1OdMtfA

L.A. Times: $25,000 VOTERIA! WINNER FINALLY ANNOUNCED | http://fw.to/6rDEpGN

Calif. lawsuit says schools are breaking law in teacher evaluations | Associated Press | http://bit.ly/1Lqm4Me

MiSiS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
http://bit.ly/1TGZC4n

From the folks who brought you Vergara: GROUP SUES 13 SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR NOT USING TEST SCORES TO EVALUATE TEACHERS | bit.ly/1gFciKQ

Chicago Public Schools' budgets spend $500 million district doesn't have | http://fw.to/8OG9rkk

IS THERE A KINDER, GENTLER WAY TO GET ANTI-VAXXERS TO SEE THE LIGHT? | http://bit.ly/1K7PL30

RECESS IS OVER, SCHOOL BOARD - Advice for LAUSD Board: less kumbaya, more work – starting now …not in September!
http://bit.ly/1JfqdOH


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Nothing scheduled.

*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:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Monica.Ratliff@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state legislator, 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 at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• 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 was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 12 years. He is Vice President for Health, Legislation Action Committee member and a member of the Board of Directors 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 "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors 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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