In This Issue:
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2
NEW BOARD MEMBERS, A NEW PRESIDENT, SOON A NEW SUPERINTENDENT …BUT THE
SAME OLD CHALLENGES …the clock is ticking, yet they take July+August
off! |
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LCFF/LCAP: SUIT CLAIMS LA UNIFIED UNDERFUNDING LOW-INCOME KIDS, ENGLISH LEARNERS |
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EVIDENCE-BASED LESSONS FROM FERGUSON+BALTIMORE, and a study pegs futures to neighborhoods |
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Commentary: REFLECTIONS ON MY FINAL DAY OF COVERING LAUSD BY VANESSA ROMO |
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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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It happened last week: The New York Times published a
recipe for guacamole that included green peas as an ingredient http://nyti.ms/1UeEF22.
The ‘only-in-Texicans’ responded like some East coast effete snob was
trying to rip down The Lone Star Flag from the ramparts of the Alamo http://bit.ly/1Ufgoc3
…and even President Obama tweeted forth on the culinary outrage
[@POTUS: “respect the nyt, but not buying peas in guac. onions, garlic,
hot peppers. classic..” By Thursday the story was in the “after the news
headlines” teaser on the BBC.
POTUS has famously said; “There is nothing we can’t do.” Perhaps putting
English peas in the Mexican avocado dip is something we shouldn’t do?
Sure, Greece and Puerto Rico are in fiscal crisis and ISIS+Boko Haram is
running amok and the U.S. is about to have relations (¡Relations!) with
the Castro Brothers in Cuba. Ferries are sinking and trains are
derailing. As of last week the majority of under-five - set are
children-of-color. The Supreme Court is sanctifying activity the Lord
turned Lot’s Wife into salt for looking back upon mere millennia ago.
And while that was going on a charter school official was sworn-in as an
LAUSD boardmember and a guy whose first name and middle initial are
“Scott M.” became another boardmember …and Steve Zimmer became board
president.
It all pales compared with that extra-green guacamole. Nothing, gentle readers, is sacred.
Please keep your hands+arms inside the handbasket for the entire fiery descent.
“But we come on a ship they called Mayflower
We come on a ship that sailed the moon
We come in the ages' most uncertain hours and sing an American tune
And it's alright, oh it's alright, it's alright, you can be forever blessed
Still tomorrow's gonna be another working day and I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying, to get some rest.”
Happy 239th
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
2 NEW BOARD MEMBERS, A NEW PRESIDENT, SOON A NEW
SUPERINTENDENT …BUT THE SAME OLD CHALLENGES …the clock is ticking, yet
they take July+August off!
►LOS ANGELES UNIFIED: NEW BOARD MEMBERS, NEW PRESIDENT, SOON NEW SUPERINTENDENT
By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1LKM72c
7/01/15, 7:40 AM PDT | Updated: 9PM :: The Los Angeles Unified school
board seated two members, elected a president and discussed the upcoming
search for a superintendent Wednesday.
The superintendent replacement, newly installed board President Steven
Zimmer said, will be guided by current Supt. Ramon Cortines.
“If I was given the opportunity to have any one person in the country
guide a superintendent search, I would choose Ray Cortines,” said
Zimmer, who was elected president Wednesday in a 7-0 vote.
One of his first jobs will be coordinating the outreach for a successor
to Cortines, who has announced he would leave in six months.
The process takes about seven months from the time a recruiter begins
soliciting candidates. The school board, however, has yet to decide on
an employment recruiter to tackle the search.
Zimmer said he hopes to call a meeting between now and the board’s next
scheduled session on Sept. 1, but even if those plans fall through, he
still expects a transparent process with plenty of community input.
Earlier Wednesday, the school board welcomed two members, Scott
Schmerelson and Ref Rodriguez. Both won runoff elections in May, with
the teachers’ union backing Schmerelson and its adversary — charter
school advocates — supporting Rodriguez.
Schmerelson, a retired LAUSD principal who has worked at more than a
half dozen campuses across the city, handily beat incumbent Tamar
Galatzan for the District 3 seat, elected by voters in the western San
Fernando Valley.
“After working at all of these different places, I know that I am
responsible for all of our students, no matter what district they live
in,” Schmerelson said.
Rodriguez ousted incumbent Bennett Kayser for the District 5 seat with
the confidence of voters in areas including South Los Angeles and Echo
Park. “We are unified in one thing,” Rodriguez said. “We are here to
educate all kids — they come first.”
Two board members had their terms renewed Wednesday.
George McKenna ran unopposed this year after winning an election last
year to finish out the term of late board member Marguerite Lamotte, who
passed away in December while at a California School Boards Association
convention.
Board member Richard Vladovic won his May runoff to retain the District 7 seat, which represents the South Bay.
All four members elected this year will serve longer board terms — five
and a half years — because a ballot measure passed in May that
consolidates their re-election bids with statewide ballots in 2020.
____________________
►NEW L.A. SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS ARE SWORN IN, BUT OLD CHALLENGES REMAIN
By Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1R7J33H
2 July 2015 :: Before choosing Steve Zimmer as their new president,
L.A. school board members gave him a lecture: He would need to build
consensus, welcome those with differing politics and varying approaches
to education, and speak for them as a whole.
Their admonishments made it clear that the seven-member board remained
split by sharp differences on how to confront an array of challenges —
particularly as two new members were sworn in Wednesday.
The new board includes charter school co-founder Ref Rodriguez, who
replaces teachers union ally Bennett Kayser, the board's most
unrelenting critic of charter schools. And Scott Schmerelson, a teachers
union-backed retired principal, defeated incumbent Tamar Galatzan, an
opponent of the union on key issues.
The board faces pressing issues in the nation's second-largest school
system — chief among them, the selection of a new superintendent. But
first the board members acknowledged personal and policy disparities.
"I do believe the board president will have to do some healing and bringing together," Zimmer said.
The divides on the Board of Education reflect differences and doubts in
the wider community, said Charles Kerchner, a professor in the school of
educational studies at Claremont Graduate University.
The Los Angeles Unified School District "faces an existential problem
that people have lost confidence in the district's ability to solve its
problems and create a sense of excitement about the many good things
that are going on," Kerchner said. "If this continues, there will be
increasingly forceful calls to break up the district or radically alter
its governance."
In coming months, the board will deal with an improved but limited
budget, one that includes long-awaited pay raises but also layoffs.
Sweeping academic challenges also persist, including the need to revamp
the college prep program so that more students graduate. The district
also has yet to resolve two technology debacles: a faulty student
records system and an aborted plan to provide every student, teacher and
campus administrator with an iPad.
Some analysts say the two incumbents lost their seats in large measure
because opponents associated them with the costly iPad project, which
became the target of an FBI investigation. Galatzan was an early
supporter and Kayser, though a frequent critic, took a similar beating
in campaign materials. The iPad effort had been a major initiative of
former Supt. John Deasy, who resigned under pressure in October.
The new board represents an ideological shuffling, especially concerning
charter schools, which are independently operated and exempt from some
rules that govern traditional campuses. Most charters are nonunion, and
the teachers union has sought to limit their growth.
The effect and oversight of charters could be a point of conflict.
But Rodriguez indicated he would collaborate with his colleagues.
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that we are unified," he
said at the swearing-in ceremony at the Roybal Learning Center.
He implied that it was time to move beyond a vitriolic campaign that
left bitter feelings between his supporters and those of Kayser, who
included Zimmer.
George McKenna, who won his first full term in May after winning a
special election in August, and Richard Vladovic, who won a third term,
also took the oath of office.
The task of choosing a superintendent has become especially pressing
since Ramon Cortines, who came out of retirement after Deasy's
resignation, said he would prefer to leave by the end of the year. The
previous board, pleased with Cortines' work, had put off any moves until
the new members were seated.
The choice is about more than finding a capable administrator. By
choosing Deasy, for example, the board had, in effect, opted for a
particular direction in reforms, one that included the controversial use
of test scores as one element in a teacher's evaluation.
The selection of the next superintendent is as much about philosophy as
managerial competence. On that, the previous board — and five of seven
members are returning — often struggled to find common ground on policy.
The two new members are championed by vastly different constituencies,
even though they all said they shared the same priority — the best
interests of students.
Vladovic could not continue as board president because of a rule barring
more than two consecutive one-year terms. Some board members had tried
to change the rule — and thwart Zimmer — but failed.
So board members lectured Zimmer instead. Although the formal vote for
Zimmer was unanimous, insiders said his appointment was based on a 4-3
majority, which included his own vote.
Monica Ratliff said she wanted the president to speak for the entire
board but without getting ahead of it, while also acting transparently,
without making alliances behind the scenes.
Monica Garcia reminded him that the position was "an opportunity to say
out loud what we're trying to do," adding that "when we make comments
about our beliefs," the views of the board president "get picked up at
national and local levels in the way that individual voices do not."
Schmerelson talked about the need to be "open, sincere, even-tempered."
In an interview, Vladovic said he tried to bring the board together
around important issues, such as support for Cortines and the successful
resolution of contract negotiations with teachers.
Critics have questioned whether that deal is affordable, but Vladovic
insisted it is — provided that all sides commit to solving long-term
problems, such as how to keep paying for retiree health benefits.
"I tried to tone down the animus on the board even when there were strong feelings," he said. "I'm not an ideologue."
During his time in office, Zimmer has become more closely associated
with the teachers union, especially after he relied on union backing to
win reelection two years ago. One of his first moves Wednesday was to
appoint a liaison between the board and labor groups. He asked Vladovic
to serve in that role.
Schmerelson supporter Brent Smiley, who taught at a school where the new board member was principal, said he was hopeful.
"My sense was the school board members didn't like each other very much,
and bringing people together is Scott's strength," Smiley said.
______________
►ZIMMER WINS UNANIMOUS APPROVAL TO SERVE AS LAUSD BOARD LEADER
Posted on LA Schoool Report by Vanessa Romo | http://bit.ly/1UdwWBe
July 1, 2015 4:28 pm :: One week after it appeared Richard Vladovic
was destined to serve as president of the LA Unified board for a third
consecutive term, the members unanimously today elected Steve Zimmer as
its new leader, giving the district its most teacher union friendly
president in more than a decade.
Zimmer, who began his career with the district as a teacher, has been
serving as board vice president for the last two years. Even so, the
ease with which he ascended to the throne was a bit surprising.
Just last week, board members Mónica Ratliff and Mónica García had
suggested they might seek to waive newly-adopted term limits for the
presidency to re-elect Vladovic for a third term, but neither followed
through.
However, just before the members were about to entertain nominations for
president, Ratliff pressed Zimmer to identify his own successor as vice
president. Zimmer said he would appoint George McKenna, who had been
sworn in earlier in the day for a new term, along with newly-elected
Scott Schmerelson and Ref Rodgriguez and the reelected Vladovic.
McKenna gladly accepted the nomination after Zimmer was elected.
While all seven members were united in their votes for Zimmer, Ratliff
was the only one to qualify hers as each member made a choice orally. “I
would like nothing more than to vote for a ticket with McKenna on it,”
she chirped before voting yes.
Not exactly a resounding vote of confidence for Zimmer.
Still, Zimmer’s joy could not be stifled, and he wept in thanking
Vladovic for being “my friend, my mentor, my colleague.” Then Zimmer
presented Vladovic with a plaque.
“I’m going to make mistakes and letting people down and disappointing
people is the hardest thing about this job and we all experience it in a
very public way,” he said. That is why, he said, “I want to ask you
for your openness, honesty, input, partnership.”
In recent weeks Zimmer has repeatedly spoken about the new president’s
role in selecting a new superintendent for the country’s largest school
district run by a board and he wasted no time today. He said the process
will be undertaken in full collaboration with Superintendent Ramon
Cortines, 82, who signed a year-long extension several months ago but
then surprised the board last week saying he might leave by December.
“Now that the business of the budget, the elections, and today are
behind us, we can move on to the next big question facing LAUSD today,
who are we going to choose to lead,” Zimmer said. “Given the opportunity
to have one person in the county to help guide our search, I would
choose Cortines,” he added.
After Zimmer’s comments, the board gave Cortines a standing ovation.
Despite Cortines’s six-month warning — no formal notice has been
delivered to the board regarding a resignation date — Zimmer says he
doesn’t expect Cortines to leave before a new superintendent is hired.
But the clock is ticking, and today the board could not agree on a
meeting date for the month August. The next meeting is scheduled for
September 1, which means that the district can’t issue a Request for
Proposals (or any kind of help-wanted ad) until September 2, at the
earliest.
“I don’t know how it will work out but we will work it out,” Zimmer
said. “There might be some timeline consolidation but it will get done.”
Besides a personal triumph, Zimmer’s ascension symbolized a triumph for
the teachers union, UTLA, which has been among his strongest strong
supporters since he first won election to the board in 2009. He follows
Vladovic, who came to the board as a reformer with help from former LA
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, before drifting to the center as board
president.
Prior to Vladovic, Garcia, a staunch reformer, served as president for
six years. Before she could serve a seventh, the board passed the term
limit rule.
LCFF/LCAP: SUIT CLAIMS LA UNIFIED UNDERFUNDING LOW-INCOME KIDS, ENGLISH LEARNERS
By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/1RYClrW
Jul 1, 2015 :: The first lawsuit involving the state’s new education
funding formula is a big one, with potential statewide implications. In a
lawsuit filed Wednesday, civil rights attorneys charged the Los Angeles
Unified School District with shortchanging English learners, low-income
children and foster youth by hundreds of millions of dollars. The
district disputes the claim.
Public Advocates Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union argue that
the state’s largest district is counting past spending that the federal
government required for special education services to fulfill new
spending requirements under the Local Control Funding Formula for
English learners, low-income children and foster youth. L.A. Unified
receives 33 percent more in funding for these children, which the
funding law designates as “high-needs” students. The lawsuit says this
money must be used to increase and improve services and programs beyond
the special education funding that students are entitled to.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the Los Angeles County Office of Education
from approving the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan,
which lays out goals and spending plans for high-needs students, and to
order the district to redo its calculations for determining programs and
services for them. The county office has not yet reviewed the proposed
LCAP for the new fiscal year. Halting the LCAP would have the effect of
suspending the district’s $8 billion budget, which the L.A. Unified
school board passed last week. It took effect July 1 and must be
approved by the county office by Aug. 15.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, names L.A.
Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines and Los Angeles County
Superintendent of Schools Arturo Delgado, whose office reviewed and
approved last year’s LCAP and budget as the district proposed. Public
Advocates, the ACLU and attorneys from the law firm Covington &
Burling filed the lawsuit on behalf of Community Coalition, a
foundation-backed organization in south Los Angeles, and Reyna Frias, a
mother of two L.A. Unified students, including an English learner who
receives special education services.
In a statement Wednesday, the district said that the plaintiffs
misunderstood the funding law. The Legislature, it said, “clearly
granted school districts the highest degree of flexibility in
determining student program needs.” Predicting it would win the case,
the statement added, “we stand by our continuing commitment to serve our
most disadvantaged students.”
The county office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
FAILURE TO ‘INCREASE AND IMPROVE’ SERVICES
The issues involved are technical but critical in determining the extent
of efforts under the law to “increase and improve” services for
high-needs students. The conflict dates to 2013-14, the first year under
the formula, when districts were asked to calculate how much they
should be credited for previous spending for high-needs students.
L.A. Unified said that it spent $653 million in general funding for
special education programs that state and federal funding failed to
cover. Because 79 percent of special education students are English
learners, low-income students and foster youth, the district said it
should be credited with spending $450 million for them. That, in turn,
reduced the new money that the district would have to spend on these
students through supplemental and concentration dollars.
Based on annual calculations tied to increases in funding, Public
Advocates and the ACLU say that between last year and the proposed
2015-16 district budget, L.A. Unified will underspend a combined $414
million on high-needs students. That amount would increase annually as
the state adds money while transitioning to full funding under the
formula in 2020-21. At that point and every year subsequently, L.A.
Unified should be spending $450 million more annually than the district
claims is required, the lawsuit says.
“It is so obviously inappropriate that other districts have not had
the temerity to try. Los Angeles is so big they think they can do
anything,” said John Affeldt, managing partner for Public Advocates.
If ordered to do so, L.A. Unified would have difficulty reallocating
money in the budget. This spring, the district and United Teachers Los
Angeles negotiated a $1 billion health care package and a 10 percent
raise, phased in over two years, that will add $250 million in payroll
costs.
JOHN DEASY’S DEFENSE
The lawsuit was expected. Public Advocates and the ACLU first brought
the issue to the district’s attention in a letter a year ago, and the
county office of education in turn asked the district for an explanation
as well. In an August 2014 response to the county, then-Superintendent
John Deasy defended how the district apportioned its spending for
low-income students, English learners and foster children. He said it
met the county office’s “reasonableness standard” and the Legislature’s
intent, under the formula, of giving districts spending flexibility. The
county office approved L.A. Unified’s LCAP in September 2014 and has
until Oct. 8 to sign off on the LCAP for 2015-16.
John Affeldt, managing partner for Public Advocates, said that a handful
of the state’s 1,000 districts appear to be inappropriately counting
special education services for high-needs students as meeting their
obligations under the funding formula. However, he said the method and
magnitude used by L.A. Unified are “particularly egregious.”
“It is so obviously inappropriate that other districts have not had the
temerity to try,” he said. “Los Angeles is so big they think they can do
anything.” He said that only L.A. Unified inflated what it spent for
high-needs students in the base year by mixing in special education
spending – a tactic with a ripple effect as the deficit is carried over
in subsequent years.
The lawsuit says that L.A. Unified misread the funding law and the
regulations guiding districts that the State Board of Education adopted
last year. The law distinguishes between funding dedicated for
high-needs students and funding for all students. Special education
services are provided to all students who qualify for them, regardless
of whether they come from low-income families and are learning English,
and so these services shouldn’t be counted toward meeting the funding
law’s requirements, the lawsuit says. In addition, the state board did
not fold the state funding earmarked for special education into the
funding formula; in deliberately separating it, the lawsuit says, the
Legislature confirmed that money for special education services
shouldn’t be counted as funds to increase or improve services for
high-needs students.
The federal government picks up only about 20 percent of the costs of
special education in California. The remainder is split between a
state-funded “categorical” program and districts, through their general
funds. Special education funding has become a point of contention in
some districts, as it “encroaches” on base funding under the new finance
system.
Deasy, in his letter last year justifying the district’s allocation of
money, said that L.A. Unified has spent money to integrate special
education students into general classes, to improve language skills of
special education students who are English learners and to narrow the
achievement gap of underperforming subgroups of special education
students. And he added that “nowhere in the regulations” governing the
funding formula is the district “precluded from including unrestricted
General Fund expenditures” (the money spent on special education) as
part of the base year’s calculation. The county office accepted that
explanation when it issued a Sept. 5, 2014 letter approving the LCAP.
But Affeldt said that if L.A. Unified’s calculation is permitted, other
districts may be tempted to take the same approach. In the extreme, the
Local Control Funding Formula would be used to fund special education
costs. That is not what the Legislature and state board intended, he
said.
Brooks Allen, deputy policy director and assistant legal counselor for
the state board, said the state board has not been asked to weigh in on
the issue of applying special education spending to fulfill obligations
to high-needs students. He declined to comment on the Los Angeles
litigation or on unique “fact-specific questions” about a district’s
compliance with the funding law. However, he said, if there were
widespread occurrences that were inconsistent with the regulations, then
the state board would consider issuing guidance.
● John Fensterwald covers education policy for EdSource.
_____________
● LCFF & Special Ed: LAWSUIT ALLEGES LAUSD MISDIRECTED $126 MILLION LAST YEAR, $288 MILLION THIS YEAR http://bit.ly/1LKWq6q
● LCFF/LCAP: SCHOOL DISTRICTS HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD THEIR DREAM HOUSE http://bit.ly/1dAdFs7
EVIDENCE-BASED LESSONS FROM FERGUSON+BALTIMORE, and a study pegs futures to neighborhoods
CONTROVERSIAL SHOOTING OFFERS MULTIPLE WAYS TO SEE
‘THE TRUTH’ ● STUDY MAKES CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN WHERE KIDS LIVE AND
OUTCOMES ● VIOLENCE SEEN AS SYMPTOM OF DEEPER NEIGHBORHOOD PROBLEMS
By Nan Austin in the Modesto Bee | http://bit.ly/1TaSEnS
June 30, 2015 :: Stanford educators have created a series of lesson
plans for middle and high school students based on the Ferguson, Mo.,
shooting of Michael Brown. Free for download on Edutopia, the lessons
use source documents and discussion to delve into the complexities of
the controversy.
“If there was ever an opportunity to design learning conditions in
America’s classrooms that would allow for critical thinking about a
volatile, timely, and tragic event grounded in a close analysis of
documents (i.e., grand jury testimony), this was it,” they write in the
Edutopia blurb accompanying what they call a mini unit.
They explain their approach quoting Oscar Wilde’s insightful quip, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
The goals of the lessons are to explore how “the truth” is shaped by our
biases – be they from race, gender or culture – and specifically which
version of the truth the Ferguson grand jury believed, and why.
"THE DEEP, COMPLEX, AND CHALLENGING ISSUES AROUND RACE AND CLASS ...
CONTINUE TO PRESENT US WITH A TEACHABLE MOMENT" - Teachable Moments and
Academic Rigor, Edutopia
They lay out four lessons: The first talks about points of view, having
students look at eyewitness accounts of the shooting and study how the
versions change by who is telling the story.
The second zeroes in on conflicting accounts, having students evaluate
credibility and examine why they believe one over the other. Third, the
students compare the officer’s account and grand jury testimony to
evaluate eyewitness truthfulness.
The fourth and final lesson has students lay out a case for the
conclusions they drew from the evidence, structured as what sounds like a
formal student debate.
All told, the lessons lay out a blueprint for a civil discussion of civic unrest.
Though on the face of it, the recent riots appear to have been all about
race, a thoughtful blog about Baltimore’s violence by Pedro Noguera
blames deep cultural and economic divides.
The rioting over police shootings diverts attention from the root causes
of unrest, Noguera writes, listing “widespread poverty, chronic
interpersonal violence, and a nonfunctioning economy where work is
scarce and drug trafficking is pervasive.”
“What has passed for ‘normal’ in Baltimore and countless other
communities like it throughout America is unsustainable, and should be
seen as unacceptable,” Noguera writes.
"ADDRESSING THIS TREND GIVES OUR SOCIETY ONE MORE TOOL TO FURTHER
CHANGE, AND HELPS AMERICA’S CHILDREN LEARN WAYS TO BE ENGAGED AND
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS" - Teachable Moments and Academic Rigor, Edutopia
The work of two Harvard economists appears to support that premise,
linking where children grow up to their chances for a better life as
adults. In “The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility,”
Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren say they have documented a causal
relationship between where kids live and what they earn later.
Proving location causes the problem was a key point for them, because
conventional wisdom says existing differences simply put those with poor
prospects in the same place.
They based the study on tax records of more than 5 million children
whose families moved across counties from 1996 to 2012. Looking at where
they moved and when, and comparing it to later earnings, they found
every year matters in future earning potential, college attendance and
probability of having children as teens.
Their results held for kids moving to better areas, and in reverse to
children moving to lower-income areas. Comparing siblings showed the
same upward (or downward) trend tied to their age when the family moved.
"AREAS WITH HIGH CRIME RATES AND A LARGE FRACTION OF SINGLE PARENTS
GENERATE PARTICULARLY NEGATIVE OUTCOMES FOR BOYS RELATIVE TO GIRLS" -
“The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility” summary
Two California counties made their lists of 10 best and 10 worst
counties to which to move. Contra Costa in the Bay Area ranked fifth,
with a 0.61 percent improvement in earnings found for every year of
childhood spent there, compared with the later earnings of poor kids
nationwide. Moving to Fresno County, 95th in their study, cost kids 0.65
percent in future earnings for every year growing up there.
The New York Times’ The Upshot offers an interactive map [4LAKidsNews:
The Best+Worst Places to Grow Up/link follows] of all counties.
Stanislaus, despite its proximity to Fresno, is a plus for poor kids,
adding $1,360 to annual income for kids who move here as babies (about
$70 per year of childhood). Rich kids moving here will do worse, the
text notes, but the graphic focuses on what a move will change for poor
kids.
By that measuring stick, Stanislaus County looks better than neighboring
Santa Clara, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties, where a poor kid would do
only slightly better, $420, $620 and $840 a year in higher earnings
respectively.
Stanislaus is no Contra Costa, where baby newcomers can hope to make
$3,170 more per year, but it sure beats San Joaquin, where new arrivals
will make $1,020 less per year than poor kids make on average. Merced
County also has a negative effect, with infants moving in likely to earn
$770 less than average a year as adults.
All of which adds up to an imperative to raise educational levels here
and attract better-paying jobs, making it economically sensible for our
college and university graduates to stay put, improving civic life and
economic outlook for everyone.
Speakers announcing the Stanislaus Education Partnership in June alluded
to that generational spiral, and their hopes to get it moving decidedly
upward.
This study suggests every year counts in making that happen.
LINKS TO FOLLOW:
• Teachable moments and academic rigor: A mini-unit | Stanford Graduate School of Education | http://stanford.io/1NCF0Gt
• Teachable Moments and Academic Rigor: A mini-unit | Edutopia | http://bit.ly/1HC8rIy
• The Roots of Baltimore's Violence | Pedro Noguera | www.huffingtonpost.com | huff.to/1JDAKbI
• The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility,” Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren | http://bit.ly/1M0edmR
• The Best and Worst Places to Grow Up: How Your Area Compares - The New York Times | http://nyti.ms/1TaE4gf
Commentary: REFLECTIONS ON MY FINAL DAY OF COVERING LAUSD BY VANESSA ROMO
From LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1IySH9V
●●Note: After two years as LA School Report’s lead reporter, Vanessa
Romo is leaving LASR to pursue a fellowship at Columbia University in
New York. She is among three journalists who were selected as the
school’s Spencer Fellows in Education Reporting, for a program that
provides participants the time and resources to investigate critical
issues in education. Vanessa intends to examine new initiatives for
Standard English Learners.
Vanessa came to LASR from KPCC, where she won a first place award from
the Education Writers Association for a series of stories on the Los
Angeles school district’s school discipline policies. More: http://bit.ly/1C6oPAD
_________
July 2, 2015 3:27 pm :: On my last day with LA School Report I’d like
to take a minute (or ten) to do some navel gazing — reflect on the
things I’ve learned as an education reporter covering this behemoth
school district, a job for the most part I have truly enjoyed.
First, the things I won’t be missing about the daily beat: Without a
doubt, I will not miss the stuffy, windowless press room at LA Unified
headquarters, a room outfitted with a television set made sometime in
1982 and only two electrical outlets. The fact that reporters celebrated
when a district consultant (shout out to Sean Rossall) brought in a
power strip gives you an idea of how bleak it is in there. Not to
mention cockroaches so brazen that they actually crawled up a reporter’s
leg. Not this one, thank goodness, although rumor has it a colleague
has video of me screaming like a little girl as I squashed one under my
shoe.
The endless board meetings that go deep, deep into the night will be
also be easy to skip. Sometimes they went on because board members took
turns pontificating on the fundamental human right of a good education. A
worthwhile exercise, to be sure, but not always appropriate considering
the day’s agenda. Other times the board was simply confused over
process — is this a vote for the resolution or the amendment to the
resolution? And if so, does it change the timing of the original
resolution or can we come back to vote on the modified resolution next
month? Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Meanwhile, I’d curse myself for not packing a Cliff bar. “Why don’t I
just buy a box and put it in the trunk of my car?” I asked myself time
and time again. I never remembered.
Finally, the rigmarole involved in getting access to the 24th floor of
LA Unified headquarters. Are you on the list? Does so-and-so know you’re
coming? What time is your appointment? Are you sure it’s today? What’s
your credit score? Perhaps, I’m showing my own hand here, and maybe
other reporters had an easier time of it, but I wish it wasn’t
complicated to pop-in for quick conversations to catch up on ongoing
stories or simply avoid a six-email-exchange on what turned out to be
pretty straight forward set of questions.
Still, I will miss it.
Because I’m a softy, I’ll miss the small, simple stories most, which I
have to admit, I wish I’d written more often. The types of stories that
are about one teacher, one classroom, or one program that is changing
the life of students.
I went to public school. Not in LAUSD, but here in LA — Montebello
Unified— where the demographics mirror those of the district. Mostly
poor, mostly Latino, mostly behind the eight ball. And I remember loving
school and all of my teachers, with the exception of Ms. Rita. You know
what you did.
I didn’t know then what I know now: that virtually every student in the
schools I attended would today qualify for concentrated and supplemental
funds. We were all a combination of low-income, foster youth, English
learners or special education students. In other words, we were the very
“neediest students” I now write about.
Even through middle school I didn’t know that going to school year-round
and going to class in a trailer meant the district was over-crowded and
too poor to build new facilities. Or that kids in other districts used
actual books not just copied packets of Junior Great Books short
stories. (Remember the one about the gun that didn’t make a sound?
Spooooooky!)
I was blissfully unaware, and that was probably due to the efforts and
dedication of my teachers. School was just school, and I joined math
club, the history club, played the violin, acted in school plays, stayed
after-school for special GATE programs, and became a cheerleader
followed by school president. Each one of those activities was organized
and run by an adult who chose to devote extra hours to our growth as
future adults.
Students today deserve that, and their success, however small, should be recognized.
While covering the minutia of politics behind the policies is its own
sport, it’s only in the classroom that they are put to the test. Are
iPads the answer to improving learning? Let’s see what happens when a
group of fifth graders is asked to use them. Obvious, I know.
In covering this beat I’ve observed as one education dogma is swapped
out for another, a newer (sometimes older) set of tenets now in vogue.
It seems to happen every handful of years and each time, those in charge
are convinced this is the right solution. Meantime, problematic schools
remain problematic, and students are the victims of the revolving
policy door.
For evidence look no further than Jefferson High, Crenshaw High, or any
of the Reed schools, most of which have been reconstituted, broken up
into smaller schools, reunified as a single campus or re-structured into
magnet schools. Lots of change has resulted in little academic
improvement.
IMHO, the biggest challenge facing the district is due diligence and
follow-through, a dedication to stick with an issue and stay on top of
it. A collective amnesia seems to take over. Time and again, the
district adopts a new plan to solve a problem, board members call it a
priority, a rally is held, and the toasting begins. Then it’s filed away
until there’s a flare up or a new scandal arises.
It’s what happened with MISIS, which is about $70 million over budget.
Shortly after the first meltdown exposing MISIS as an utter failure,
former school board member Tamar Galatzan, complained, “We were never
told about this!” Why not? At some point the board approved the initial
$29 million expenditure. Didn’t anyone wonder how the money was being
spent?
It’s what has happened with the A through G, a policy adopted 10 years
ago. Every couple of years since 2005 a new analysis revealed that
middle school students were entering high school under-prepared, schools
were not offering the right courses, and many didn’t have the resources
to do so. Yet, it appears to have come as a big surprise this year that
only 37 percent of the class of 2017 is on track to graduate meeting
the “C” standard. Eventually, the board was forced to drop it.
Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy is another recent example. It is
a school embroiled in a legal battle for years because of the teacher
and administrator turnover rate, yet vital teaching positions remained
unfilled for more than a year. Seriously, no science teacher at a
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math school? Somebody pick up the
phone.
But I digress and I don’t want to go out as Debbie Downer on a negative
note. I’ve enjoyed exploring the district, problems and all, and getting
to know teachers, parents and students, even some of the board members.
Most of you were nice to me — you know who you are — and I’ll miss you.
I hope you miss me.
_____
●●smf’s 2¢: I think I first met Vanessa in the auditorium of Walter Reed
Middle School on her first assignment for KPCC, sent to cover some
eyewash meagerly-attended parent involvement outreach over an issue
best-and-thankfully forgotten My first impression of her with the usual
digital accoutrement of one-man-band radio reporters: Recorder,
microphone, headset and five-six coils of multicolored cable not quite
fitting into a blue canvas bag with the laptop and the Thomas Guide. –
was that she wasn’t KPCC regular Adolfo Guzman-Lopez …but she definitely
had all his stuff!
Her reporting that day was excellent; she noted the sparse attendance
and eye-wishy-washiness – but she also engaged the few who there – both
District and parents - to tease out and tell the story.
She has repeated that success in the years since, even as she went over
to the dark side of LA$®: The truth well-and-joyfully told. It’s Sunday
morning and I give you 2 Corinthians 13:8 “For we cannot oppose the
truth, but must always stand for the truth.”
Radio reporting has gotten easier in the time since – the mic, recorder,
headset, laptop and Thomas Guide have all been reduced to apps on an
iPhone …though I met a new KPCC reporter/intern last week with the blue
canvas bag and the wires – it must be a right-of-passage.
So Vanessa graduates LAUSD and goes on to her fellowship at the Columbia
School of Journalism and I ask what I ask of all who leave our schools:
That she learns what they have to teach her and comes back and teaches
us what we need to know. I’m looking forward to some good journalism
(not monographs, theses and dissertations) on Standard English Learners.
Please!
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
BONFIRES+ILLUMINATIONS: Some jingoistic patriotism ….and a little bit o’ news for the 4th! http://bit.ly/1NGSdyE
BEST+WORST PLACES TO GROW UP: Kids who grow up in some places go on to
earn much more than if they grew up elsewhere + B+W PLACES TO GROW UP:
How L.A. County compares
http://bit.ly/1M0gLS5
EVIDENCE-BASED LESSONS (+LESSON PLANS) FROM FERGUSON+BALTIMORE ...and a study pegs futures to neighborhoods
http://bit.ly/1KCd71X
Briefly: CALIFORNIA REVENUE+CREDIT RATING+PROPERTY VALUES UP, ANTI-VAXERS MOBILIZE USING PROTESTS+GRAFFITI+JIM CARREY http://bit.ly/1Cg16OK
AB329: BILL WOULD MAKE COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION MANDATORY FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS http://bit.ly/1RWrtL2
“You must pass the exam to graduate …and we’re cancelling the exam!”: 5000 CAN’T GRADUATE AFTER CAHSEE CANCELLED
http://bit.ly/1Ta2kPq
LAUSD Needs a New Chief. Pity the Poor Guy Who Gets the Job |
DANIEL PEARL MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL WINS TOP HONORS FOR STUDENT JOURNALISM
http://bit.ly/1R9yE7N
LCFF/LCAP: SCHOOL DISTRICTS HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD THEIR DREAM HOUSE http://bit.ly/1dAdFs7
WHAT SCHOOLS+PARENTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW VACCINATION LAW
http://bit.ly/1en6eoJ
LCFF & Special Ed: LAWSUIT ALLEGES LAUSD MISDIRECTED $126 MILLION LAST YEAR, $288 MILLION THIS YEAR
LAUSD BdOfEd: NEW FACES, NEW PRESIDENT, SOON A NEW SUPERINTENDENT ...SAME OLD CHALLENGES …and they take July+Aug off!
http://bit.ly/1Ce20LJ
¡Well begun!: YESTERDAY WAS 1st DAY OF SCHOOL (Tracks B,C & D) AT
BELL HIGH, LAUSD's ONLY YEAR 'ROUND CAMPUS. There was NO MiSiS Crisis!
LA Times Editorial: CALIFORNIA SETTLES THE VACCINATION QUESTION http://bit.ly/1NwN1fW
AB277: GOVERNOR BROWN SIGNS HISTORIC YET CONTROVERSIAL BILL BANNING
PERSONAL BELIEF EXEMPTIONS FOR SCHOOL + PRESCHOOL VACCINATIONS
CALIFORNIA SENATE SENDS MANDATORY VACCINE BILL TO GOVERNOR (5 stories)
http://bit.ly/1eY8CDo
A LEXICON FOR EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD ….and Preparing the Whole Adult
http://bit.ly/1C31Wyg
MEASLES CARRIES RISK OF A TERRIFYING, ALWAYS FATAL AND RARE COMPLICATION
http://bit.ly/1QZASWY
Amplify: MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP ABANDONING SCHOOL TABLET MARKET
http://bit.ly/1C20vjw
Prevent another tragedy, TEACH CPR IN HIGH SCHOOL http://bit.ly/1Hqi64Z
5000 STUDENTS IN LIMBO AFTER HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM CANCELLED, 400-500 in LAUSD
http://bit.ly/1NqbaFD
Only in Texas: SHOULD A HOMESCHOOLER BE HEAD OF THE TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION? | The Christian Science Monitor:
http://bit.ly/1fZkqFO
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
No upcoming events available
*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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