In This Issue:
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AUDIT FINDS MISMANAGEMENT, ETHICAL BREACHES IN LAUSD FOOD SERVICES AND DEASY-FOUNDED L.A. FUND FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION (3 stories) |
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CAN TWO FEDERAL BILLS FINALLY FULFILL GOALS OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND? |
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MiSiS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING |
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From
the wonderful folks who brought you Vergara: GROUP SUES 13 CALIFORNIA
SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR NOT USING TEST SCORES IN TEACHER EVALUATIONS |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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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.
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 hurdlefaulty 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
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!
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