In This Issue:
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L.A.
ARCHDIOCESE DROPS SUPPORT FOR LAUSD EFFORTS IN TEACHER SEX ABUSE CASE
OVER STRATEGY OF ALLOWING CHILD’S PAST SEXUAL HISTORY IN EVIDENCE |
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HIGH-POWERED SECRET PANEL EXAMINING LAUSD FINANCES + smf's 2¢ |
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L.A.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI SAYS LOS ANGELES UNIFIED'S NEXT SUPERINTENDENT
SHOULD HAVE THE QUALITIES OF FORMER SUPERINTENDENT ROY ROMER. |
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FIRST PUBLIC TEST OF EARTHQUAKE ALERT SYSTEM ROLLS OUT AT EAGLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL |
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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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Two darkly provacative developments continue to develop:
FIRST WE HAVE THE “SHE WAS A NAUGHTY GIRL BEFORE HER TEACHER MOLESTED
HER” LEGAL DEFENSE’ – and the District’s rehiring of the attorney who
presented it and continuation of that strategy after a thirteen-year-old
student was seduced and molested by her middle school teacher. This is
so maddening to me – it’s the immoral equivalent of “she was wearing
tight jeans and therefore was asking for it” ("Indossava jeans stretti e
l'è cercata") verdict briefly embraced and ultimately repudiated in
Italian law. [http://bit.ly/1PNNLkx]
Only worse. The Italian victim was an adult; our victim was a child.
I’m the father of a young woman who was for a brief shining moment an
emerging adolescent. I’m a fan of adolescents – they are
awkward+wonderful versions of ourselves evolving to discover+become
themselves.
We cannot+will not+must not tolerate this indefensible defense. No how. No way. What part of “NO!” is so hard to understand?
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, itself caught up in
abominable+monumental child abuse issues has distanced itself from
LAUSD’s unconscionable position – proving that it at least has made
progress. | LA ARCHDIOCESE DROPS SUPPORT FOR LAUSD IN TEACHER ABUSE CASE
OVER ALLOWING EVIDENCE OF CHILD’S PAST SEXUAL HISTORY http://bit.ly/1OYmjQp
To my friend David Holmquist, the LAUSD general counsel I say: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?
To the Board of Ed I ask “Have we no shame?”
AND THEN WE HAVE THE INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL REVIEW PANEL. Which LA School
Report – normally a fan of disruptive+®eformy thinking – calls a
“high-powered secret panel examining LAUSD finances”. HIGH-POWERED
SECRET PANEL EXAMINING LAUSD FINANCES + smf's 2¢ | http://bit.ly/1W9VgaD +
I’m not sure how “independent” the panel can be, seeing how it’s being
run out the office of the Chief Financial Officer. If the finances of
District management need to be independently reviewed the proper
mechanism would first be through the elected Board of Education and
after that the County Office of Education – the official overseer of all
school district’s finances.
The CFO under the superintendent’s direction and with the board’s
approval has filed its budgets and financial statements with LACOE. They
have been approved - sometimes with qualified certification, sometimes
with questions, never with negative certification.
Superintendent Cortines is rightly concerned about the next-year-out
budget and the long term financial challenges faced by the District. He
is aware that LAUSD has been living from budget-year-to-budget-year
because of the fiscal crisis engendered by the recession and resultant
state budget cuts, declining enrollment and encroachment by charter
schools complicated by former Superintendent Deasy’s misplaced spending
priorities and the unanticipated cost of abuse lawsuits+settlements,
etc. Much of LAUSD’s two-and-three-year-out budgeting and labor
contracting has been based on wishful thinking and rosy scenarios …and
Mr. Cortines is more of a fiscal realist than that.
El Niño is soon upon us - we have over 1000 schools and untold
buildings. Roofs will leak, drains will back up, pumps will fail and
basements will flood. Some schools may need temporarily to close down to
repurpose as emergency shelters. LAUSD’s critical repairs budget is
almost exhausted.
Right now the State of California’s financial projections are looking up
– but one person‘s boom can look like a bubble about to burst. The Prop
30 education funding mechanism that finances the Local Control Funding
Formula (LCFF) spending boom is about to expire. The District’s
obligation to fund retirement+health benefits do not present a happy
picture. The Local Control Accountability Plan (which governs the LAUSD
LCFF) has been questioned in the past over the funding of Special Ed –
and there is a move afoot to add teeth to LCFF oversight+accountability.
LCAP REVIEWS CONTINUE WITHOUT EVALUATION TOOL http://bit.ly/1LUjleP
And Special Ed encroachment still hammers LAUSD’s finances.
And Eli’s comin’. Hide your heart girl.
Just in: LAUSD INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL REVIEW PANEL: The Board Informative and Meeting Materials http://bit.ly/1k1ETeC
It would be easy for this Independent Financial Review Panel to declare
an emergency and proclaim potential insolvency, bankruptcy and that the
sky is falling. Which is going to make any potential new superintendent
feel all warm-and-fuzzy about the job prospects in LAUSD!
In the end the Board of Ed is ultimately accountable for the District’s
finances – and if Ms. Reilly the CFO and the General Counsel let the
previous superintendent pull the fiscal+legal wool over their eyes (“The
devil made me do it!”) the board has themselves, those folks and hubris
to blame.
Hubris. Leaders misleading by misleading their leaders with the
data+statistics+inadequate intelligence they choose to believe. Maybe
‘bamboozled’ is the word. Leonard Cohen is guided by the ‘Beauty of Our
Weapons’. Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and Pearson’s of math
instruction were here somewhere. It just might take Dick Cheney to find
them: Melting in the dark – the sweet green icing flowing down.
MAYOR GARCETTI HAS BEEN CAREFUL ABOUT GETTING INVOLVED IN DISTRICT
POLITICS but weighed in on the Superintendent search. | 2 from The
Times: WHO MIGHT HEAD L.A, UNIFIED, AND WHAT ARE OFFICIALS LOOKING FOR
IN A LEADER? http://bit.ly/1W9Kyf1| …and maybe an answer: MAYOR GARCETTI SAYS LAUSD'S NEXT SUPERINTENDENT SHOULD HAVE THE QUALITIES OF PAST SUPE ROMER. http://bit.ly/1KuPdBq
And hizzonner (in the most excellent company of Dr. Lucy Jones) showed
up at Eagle Rock High to champion a safety+technology initiative that
shows genuine promise. FIRST PUBLIC TEST OF EARTHQUAKE ALERT SYSTEM
ROLLS OUT AT EAGLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL http://bit.ly/1Wb81MX | MAYOR GARCETTI ANNOUNCES EAGLE ROCK HS TO GET EARTHQUAKE WARNING SYSTEM http://bit.ly/1Mb5AUN
(The mayor’s reticence to get into the political weeds shouldn’t be
mirrored – whether you are an educator, staff member, parent or student
you should come on out next week and be heard on the Supe Search:
●MONDAY, OCT. 26
9 a.m.
Local District-West Community Forum
Webster Middle School-Daniel's Den
11330 W. Graham Pl.
Los Angeles 90064
7 p.m.
Local District-West Community Forum
Webster Middle School -Daniel's Den
11330 W. Graham Pl.
Los Angeles 90064
●TUESDAY, OCT. 27
9 a.m.
Local District-West Community Forum
Crenshaw High School-Multipurpose Room
4120 11th Ave.
Los Angeles 90008
11 a.m.
Local District-Central Community Forum
Eagle Rock High School Auditorium
1750 Yosemite Dr.
Los Angeles 90041
6:30 p.m. (smf/4LAKids will attend this one!)
Local District-Central Community Forum
Eagle Rock High School Auditorium
1750 Yosemite Dr.
Los Angeles 90041
7 p.m.
Local District-West Community Forum
Crenshaw High School
4120 11th Ave.
Los Angeles 90008
●WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28
7 p.m.
Local District-Northeast Community Forum
Van Nuys High School
6535 Cedris Ave.
Van Nuys 91411
7 p.m.
Local District-South Community Forum
White Middle School-White Hall
22102 S. Figueroa St.
Carson 90745
…and if you come to Eagle Rock on Tuesday you’ll be safer than ever from
earthquakes! And the auditorium has a new roof …so the sky falling
danger is ameliorated.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
L.A. ARCHDIOCESE DROPS SUPPORT FOR LAUSD EFFORTS IN
TEACHER SEX ABUSE CASE OVER STRATEGY OF ALLOWING CHILD’S PAST SEXUAL
HISTORY IN EVIDENCE
“THEY’RE ARGUING FOR MORE PROTECTION FOR INSTITUTIONS
THAT ALLOW MOLESTATION INSTEAD OF MORE PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN.”
by Teresa Watanabe, LA Times |http://lat.ms/1S2yZFM
Oct. 24, 2015 :: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
abruptly dropped its support for efforts by the Los Angeles Unified
School District to make it more difficult to hold institutions liable
for employees who commit sexual abuse.
In a letter to the California Supreme Court this week, archdiocesan
attorneys had objected to an appellate court’s ruling that plaintiffs
only prove that an institution knew an employee had a “potential” for
sexual abuse instead of a “dangerous propensity,” as the trial court
judge had instructed jurors in the L.A. Unified case.
In that case, the district argued a 14-year-old girl was partly to blame
for sexual abuse by her then-math teacher at Edison Middle School
during 2010 and 2011. The teacher, Elkis Hermida, was convicted of lewd
conduct with a minor and sentenced to three years in state prison, but
the girl has filed a civil suit against L.A. Unified, claiming
negligence.
A jury found that L.A. Unified was not liable because the girl and the
teacher concealed their behavior from school officials. But the Court of
Appeal reversed that decision last month, saying that L.A. Superior
Court Judge Lawrence Cho erred in using the “dangerous propensity”
standard and in allowing evidence of the girl's past sexual history and
arguments that she was partly to blame for her abuse. The appellate
court ordered a new civil trial.
The Los Angeles Board of Education has authorized an appeal of the
ruling on the standard to the high court and attorneys are finalizing
documents to do so by Monday, said General Counsel David Holmquist.
But the district will no longer be supported by the archdiocese, whose
intervention in the case had drawn criticism from attorneys representing
sexual abuse victims.
“They’re arguing for more protection for institutions that allow
molestation instead of more protections for children,” said Frank Perez,
attorney for the girl in the L.A. Unified case. “It’s very offensive.”
The archdiocese had asked the high court to bar publication of the
appellate decision so it could not be cited or used as precedent. It
justified its intervention by saying it has been subjected to lawsuits
raising such issues and could face them again in the future.
The appellate court decision “appears to set up an unworkable,
indefinite standard that is based on no precedent and provides no
guidance for claims of negligent supervision in a sex abuse,” according
to the Oct. 19 letter signed by Lee W. Potts of the McKool Smith law
firm.
But Potts sent a new letter to the high court Friday, withdrawing the request.
"The Archdiocese initially expressed concern regarding publication when
it concluded that the now conflicting Court of Appeal decisions could be
used to confuse the standards for employers to protect children and
young people from abuse," the letter said. "Upon further reflection, the
Archdiocese is withdrawing its request.
"The Archdiocese supports justice for victims of abuse and a process
that assures that perpetrators and anyone complicit are held accountable
for abuse against a child or young person."
John Manly and Vince Finaldi, whose law firm has represented more than
150 victims of clergy sex abuse in California, had criticized Los
Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez for allowing the request to go forward.
They said the actions contradicted recent promises by Pope Francis to
hold bishops accountable for failing to protect children from
misconduct.
HIGH-POWERED SECRET PANEL EXAMINING LAUSD FINANCES + smf's 2¢
Posted on LA School Report by Mike Szymanski | http://bit.ly/1kAKZ6l
October 23, 2015 11:32 am :: A blue-ribbon panel of leading figures in
education, politics and finance has been working behind the scenes to
help LA Unified identify financial challenges and solutions as the
district faces budget deficits in the near future.
The panel includes people who have worked with the district in the past,
and many have won awards or honors for their involvement in education.
One member is now working for the search firm hired to find the
district’s next superintendent.
Known as the Independent Financial Review Panel, the group was formed in
March by Superintendent Ramon Cortines and is being supported by
$250,000, approved by the board. The panel’s findings and
recommendations are due before the end of the current academic year.
Cortines has expressed his desire to step down by the end of the
calendar year.
The money to support the examination was approved in June, but no one is
being paid, said a district spokesperson, adding, “We will be buying
them sandwiches.”
Despite the constant refrain by board members to bring transparency and
accountability to the business of the district, the work of the panel is
being conducted in private. The members of the panel were not
identified publicly (see below), and meetings are not open to the
public. The panel was mentioned almost as an afterthought in a report
earlier this week before the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee by
Chief Financial Office Megan Reilly, whose office is overseeing the
panel’s work.
In her presentation, Reilly said it is an “all-volunteer” panel that
will take “a comprehensive deep dive and look at the financial problems
facing the district.” She said they were “outside experts asked to join
us on behalf of Mr. Cortines.”
Reilly has projected a budget shortfall of $333 million in 2017-18, presumably one of the reason the group was impaneled.
During the public forum section of the committee meeting, led by board
member Mónica Ratliff, a former school board member, David Tokofsky,
pointed to the secrecy surrounding the panel and its work.
“This is the first time in a public meeting that this financial review panel has ever been mentioned,” he said.
The district did not immediately respond to a request for more detailed information about the panel and its progress.
According to Reilly, Cortines asked her in March to establish a group of
experts in California public finance and education. The panel convened
that month to “help review and make recommendations concerning the
long-term financial sustainability and health of the district,”
according to a slide she presented at the committee meeting. She added,
“Their work is intended to provide a foundation for our discussions
regarding the district’s long-term priorities and investments.”
This is the first time such a high-profile panel of outside experts have been asked to look at LAUSD’s budget.
According to another statement, the panel is “expected to review and
make recommendations concerning long-term financial matters, financial
priorities and the health of the district’s finances.” The report says
the panel “will not be involved in the development of current budget
plans or discussions with the district’s collective bargaining units.”
______________
►”This Official Statement, which includes the cover page through the
appendices hereto, is provided to furnish information in connection with
the sale of the $326,045,000 2015 General Obligation Refunding Bonds,
Series A (the "Bonds ") by the Los Angeles Unified School District (the
"District "). The Bonds are issued pursuant to certain provisions of the
California Government Code and other applicable law and a resolution
adopted by the Board of Education of the District (the "District Board
") on April 14, 2015 (collectively, the "Resolution ") authorizing the
issuance of not to exceed $2,500,000,000 of general obligation refunding
bonds.”
Independent Financial Review Panel:
In March 2015, the Superintendent announced the formation of an independent panel with
expertise in public finance and education in the State (the "Independent Financial Review Panel "). The
Independent Financial Review Panel is expected to review and make
recommendations concerning longterm financial matters, financial
priorities and the health of the District's finances. The Independent
Financial Review Panel will not be involved in the development of current budget plans or discussions
with the District's collective bargaining units. The Superintendent expects the Independent Financial
Review Panel to release a report with its recommendations during the 2015 -16 school year.
- “$326,045,000 Los Angeles Unified School District 2015 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series A” 6/15/2015 : pp A-3
These are the members of the panel:
• Maria Anguiano, an architect of the University of California-wide
fiscal improvements plan and a former senior advisor to the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation Post-Secondary Success Team.
• Delaine Eastin, the 25th California State Superintendent of Public
Instruction and the first woman to be elected to that position.
• Michael Fine, a deputy superintendent for the Riverside Unified School
District. Chief administrator for Fiscal Crisis and Management
Assistance Team.
• Bill Lockyer, former California Treasurer and veteran politician.
• Darline Robles, the former superintendent of Los Angeles County Office
of Education and the Salt Lake City School District who is now part of
the search firm seeking the next LAUSD superintendent. (●●smf: Dr.
Robles is a former board member of the now-defunct Pearson Charitable
Foundation)
• Miguel Santana, former city administrative officer for Los Angeles
Antonio Villaraigosa and deal with a time of severe belt-tightening for
the city.
• Darrell Steinberg, longtime state politician and president pro tem of
the Senate who authored more than 70 bills involving education, mental
health and foster care.
• Peter Taylor, president of ECMC Foundation, chaired the James Irvine
Foundation and is on the boards of the Kaiser Family Foundation and the
J. Paul Getty Trust.
• Kent Wong, the director of the UCLA Labor Center, and former staff attorney for the Service Employees International Union.
___________________
●●smf’s 2¢: Apparently John Walsh, listed variously as the Assistant
General Counsel at Los Angeles Unified School District and LAUSD
Financial Policy Director is facilitating the Independent Financial
Review Panel meetings and preparing its report. Earlier Walsh justified
LAUSD’s misbegotten iPad finance polices thus:
“Another issue was whether it's legal to buy tablets, with an
estimated life of three to five years, with bonds that taxpayers would
retire over 25 years. Early on, the district talked of using short-term
bonds that would match the life of the tablets.
“But officials have since decided that regular, long-term bonds can
be legally used, provided that some of the money goes to projects, such
as buildings, with a longer lifespan, said John Walsh, L.A. Unified's
director of finance policy.” [LA Times/Aug 27, 2013 | http://lat.ms/2041tEw ]
L.A. MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI SAYS LOS ANGELES UNIFIED'S
NEXT SUPERINTENDENT SHOULD HAVE THE QUALITIES OF FORMER SUPERINTENDENT
ROY ROMER.
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1LrWxSg
Oct 23, 2015 :: 5:10 AM :: Mayor Eric Garcetti suggested the Los
Angeles Unified School District look to the past as it searches for a
superintendent for the future.
Asked Thursday what he would like to see in the next leader of the
country's second largest school district, Garcetti said: “Somebody in
the Roy Romer mold, I think, who has the gravitas.”
Romer was a three-term governor of Colorado and the general chairman of
the Democratic National Committee before he arrived in Los Angeles to
serve as superintendent from 2000 to 2006. During his tenure, he
shepherded a massive school construction project and helped expand
charter schools.
With several camps currently battling over the direction of LAUSD,
Garcetti said the district’s next superintendent should have Romer’s
political skills.
“I do think you need somebody with enough gravitas to bring these
warring parties together, hit their heads together and say, ‘Look, the
kids have to come first,” he said, speaking after a press conference on
the Department of Water and Power.
Since taking office as mayor, Garcetti has rarely commented publicly on
the direction of the public schools. In sharp contrast to previous
mayors, Garcetti has generally refrained from voicing opinions on how
the 600,000-student LAUSD should operate or how it can be improved.
His immediate predecessor, Antonio Villaraigosa, made public education a
top priority of his campaign and administration. He actively sought
control of the LAUSD school board through state legislation that was
later ruled unconstitutional.
The teachers' union opposed his move to assert his authority over the board* as did then-Superintendent Romer.
[●●smf: This is more than a bit of selective memory. UTLA initially supported Mayor Tony’s (a former UTLA official) takeover]
Romer’s leadership was marked by urgency and statesmanship, said LAUSD school board president Steve Zimmer.
“More important than the profile of the name is this ability to truly
galvanize our disparate communities, our disparate perspectives, and
bring people together in a way that has not been done recently,” Zimmer
said.
But not everyone shares Zimmer's and Garcetti's positive assessment of the former superintendent.
United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl remembers Romer
as a top-down leader who didn’t collaborate with the labor group.
“We don’t need a superintendent who is going to try to bring the so-called warring parties together,” Caputo-Pearl said.
The effort by philanthropist Eli Broad to double the number of charter
schools in Los Angeles will destroy the school district as an
institution, he said.
“We need a superintendent who is going to push back against that effort,” the labor leader said.
On Monday, Caputo-Pearl shared his opinions on the next superintendent
with Hazard, Young, Attea & Assoicates, the search firm hired by
LAUSD to help run the hunt for its next superintendent. The firm is
scheduling more than 100 meetings with civic leaders and community
groups within the school district to gather views on the kind of
superintendent needed for the district.
Earlier on Thursday, Garcetti met with Hank Gmitro, the president of the search firm, to share his views on the topic.
Public forums continue to be held throughout the district to collect comments on the superintendent search.
FIRST PUBLIC TEST OF EARTHQUAKE ALERT SYSTEM ROLLS OUT AT EAGLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL
by Rosanna Xia | LA Times | http://lat.ms/204D3uy
Oct 23, 9:43 pm :: In a major sign that California's earthquake early
warning system is moving forward, officials announced Friday that Eagle
Rock High School will provide the first classrooms to test the program
developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and a team of scientists.
This marks the first time officials have tried the system with the
general public. Until recently, only academics, select government
agencies and a few private firms have received the alerts.
"This is really about helping us understand what works, what doesn't,"
USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said Friday to a classroom filled with
excited students, school board members and city officials. "By putting
it in with ordinary people — with not geeks, not Caltech — we can start
seeing … how people hear the information, how they process it, how they
make decisions."
Scientists now have enough ground sensors in the Los Angeles and San
Francisco areas to broaden their pilot programs. They emphasized that
the system, known as ShakeAlert, is far from perfected, but said
expanded access will help identify problems and fine-tune its usability.
Early warnings were successfully generated last year when several
moderate earthquakes hit Southern California. Scientists testing the
system in San Francisco got eight seconds of warning before shaking
arrived from the 6.0 Napa earthquake in August 2014. The system is
already being used by the BART commuter rail system in the Bay Area to
slow down trains before a quake hits, reducing the risk of derailment.
Now, 10 science classrooms at Eagle Rock High School have been hooked up
to the system. Alerts have been programmed to go off on a teacher's
computer even during small earthquakes, said Jill Barnes, emergency
services coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Students will be able to study the data and practice responding to the
alerts by taking cover under their desks.
Officials will learn from the way students and staff react to the
alerts. Different emergency procedures, such as knowing what to do if an
earthquake hits during recess or in the cafeteria, will be developed
and taught to students. Social scientists will help experiment with
various interfaces and sounds to see what works best with a general
audience.
The early warning system operates on a simple principle: The shaking
from an earthquake travels at about the speed of sound — slower than the
speed of light. That means it would take more than a minute for the
shaking from, say, a 7.8 earthquake that starts at the Salton Sea to
actually hit Los Angeles 150 miles away.
Seismic sensors stationed at the Salton Sea would detect the first
shaking waves in as little as 5 seconds, and blast a warning throughout
Southern California. In this scenario, Palm Springs would have 20
seconds of warning; San Bernardino, 45 seconds; and the Los Angeles
area, more than a minute.
In its fully envisioned form, the warning system could help
automatically shut off sensitive equipment at private companies and
alert workers at construction sites to move from dangerous locations
before the shaking begins. Even a few seconds' notice to duck under a
sturdy desk could be a matter of surviving a building's collapse,
officials said.
"In the future, it may mean you'll have enough time to pull over to the
side of the road, or step back from getting in an elevator, or stop
medical surgery that's underway.... The applications truly are endless,"
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. "No Angeleno should die in an
earthquake because of inaction."
One private firm, Seismic Warning Systems, has already begun selling its
own early warning tools to certain cities and businesses in California.
School districts in the Coachella Valley have been working with this
private system since 2009, said Scott Nebenzahl, a vice president of the
company.
The ShakeAlert system envisioned by the USGS would be free to the
public. The USGS, which developed the system with Caltech, UC Berkeley
and other state and local partners, has been sharing the prototype with
companies that have been inventing smartphone apps and machines that
trigger automatic safety options, such as opening a heavy fire station
door or prompting an elevator to open at the next possible floor.
In Northern California, school superintendents in the Redwood Empire
have been testing the system and mapping out how students and staff
would respond when the alerts go off. Once a procedure has been
established, schools will begin live-testing the system in classrooms,
said Jennifer Strauss of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.
At L.A. Unified, the goal is to roll out early warnings to the rest of
Eagle Rock High and other schools using the loudspeaker system.
"Once we have gotten some good feedback from Eagle Rock, and once we
look at funding options, and the options that are available to us in
terms of how we can roll something out in a larger way, then we can put
something in place in more schools and hopefully district-wide," Barnes
said.
For now, the alerts will be a useful, impromptu way of teaching students
about primary and secondary seismic waves, said Eagle Rock science
teacher Sara Ramos.
In Ramos' classroom Friday, Jones fielded questions from students. When will this system become permanent? one asked.
"You're going to always have it here at school," Jones explained. "We
hope to get it to everybody through a computer interface, through
broadcast on TV, through, eventually, a smartphone app as soon as we
have the funding in place to make sure we don't screw up."
Scientists need about $16.1 million a year to complete and maintain the
system. President Obama earlier this year proposed $5 million in the
federal budget, and officials have also been seeking state funding.
Once full funding is achieved, the system could be running within two years, Jones said.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
TEACHING TEACHERS TO TEACH. IT’S NOT SO ELEMENTARY
http://bit.ly/1XqWds9
OBAMA WANTS STUDENTS TO STOP TAKING UNNECESSARY TESTS
http://bit.ly/1i4Q7hb + OBAMA PROPOSES CAPPING STANDARDIZED TESTING AT 2% OF CLASSROOM TIME - LA Times http://lat.ms/1Wc9gRi + YOUR KIDS TAKE 112 TESTS BETWEEN PRE-K AND HIGH SCHOOL - LA Times http://lat.ms/1jIrhFA
- “If you live in a big city, your child probably took eight
standardized tests this year. On average, kids sit through 112.3 tests
between preschool and high school graduation, according to a new study.”
| http://tinyurl.com/ouc8pv7
LAUSD INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL REVIEW PANEL: The Board Informative and Meeting Materials
http://bit.ly/1k1ETeC
Prop 98 minimum school funding guarantee has jumped almost 32%: FINAL BUDGET REPORT NOTES BIG SCHOOL SPENDING UPTURN http://bit.ly/1NZBkTB
FIRST PUBLIC TEST OF EARTHQUAKE ALERT SYSTEM ROLLS OUT AT EAGLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL
http://bit.ly/1Wb81MX
LCAP REVIEWS CONTINUE WITHOUT EVALUATION TOOL
http://bit.ly/1LUjleP
LA ARCHDIOCESE DROPS SUPPORT FOR LAUSD IN TEACHER ABUSE CASE OVER ALLOWING EVIDENCE OF CHILD’S PAST SEXUAL HISTORY
http://bit.ly/1OYmjQp
REPORT CALLS FOR BIG CHANGES IN EDUCATING STATE’S ENGLISH LEARNERS
http://bit.ly/1Xp5voK
MAYOR GARCETTI ANNOUNCES EAGLE ROCK HS TO GET EARTHQUAKE WARNING SYSTEM
http://bit.ly/1Mb5AUN
HIGH-POWERED SECRET PANEL EXAMINING LAUSD FINANCES + smf's 2¢
http://bit.ly/1W9VgaD
"Save your Confederate money, boys - there’ll always be a ...": HOW TEXAS TEACHES HISTORY
http://bit.ly/1RsT6fA
White Paper - NOT JUST FOR SPECIAL ED ANYMORE: INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS FOR ALL STUDENTS
http://bit.ly/1NYu36d
2 questions from The Times: WHAT ROLE SHOULD PARENTS TAKE IN THE LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH?
2 from questions fromThe Times: WHO MIGHT HEAD L.A, UNIFIED, AND WHAT ARE OFFICIALS LOOKING FOR IN A LEADER?
http://bit.ly/1W9Kyf1
…and maybe an answer: MAYOR GARCETTI SAYS LAUSD'S NEXT SUPERINTENDENT SHOULD HAVE THE QUALITIES OF PAST SUPERINTENDENT ROMER.
http://bit.ly/1KuPdBq
S.F. teachers get help living in city under ambitious plan to subsidize housing - SF Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mayor-and-SFUSD-have-a-plan-to-help-teachers-keep-6583001.php …
LAUSD repair crews hustling in advance of strong El Niño | LAUSD Daily http://lausddaily.net/2015/10/lausd-repair-crews-scrambling-in-advance-of-strong-el-nino/ …
FOR SACRAMENTO MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON (Mr. Michelle Rhee) CHILD SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS RESURFACE | http://nyti.ms/1ZXL58w
EVA MOSKOWITZ'S "SUSPENSION ACADEMY" CHARTER SCHOOLS | Alan Singer http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/eva-moskowitzs-suspension_b_8356050.html …
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: PLEASE VOTE FOR PEOPLE FOR PARKS TO WIN A $100,000 LA2050 GRANT!
http://bit.ly/1jUCdzE
Poll: VOTERS RATE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION "CRITICAL FOR FUTURE SUCCESS“ & A TOP NATIONAL PRIORITY
http://bit.ly/1Rpbm9t
‘FRIEDRICHS v. CTA’ – What you need to know about challenge to union dues | EdSource
http://bit.ly/1MTX41x
A Year Later: OAKLAND - THE SCHOOL SYSTEM THAT WELCOMED UNACCOMPANIED UNDOCUMENTED MINORS: NPR Ed : NPR
http://n.pr/1LMDZNT
Study: ONLY 2% OF FRESNO STUDENTS ARE 'COLLEGE READY" - Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News
http://bayareane.ws/1QUPnHD
4LAKids: UPDATE ON “PARENTS ARE ANGRY NO ONE TOLD THEM WHAT HAPPENED TO TEACHER RAFE ESQUITH”
http://bit.ly/1PEf00O
FIRST PUBLIC MEETING TO PICK A NEW L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF IS SMALL BUT GETS LIVELY + schedule for future meetings
http://bit.ly/1kmCtrI
STATE LABOR PANEL TO FILE INJUNCTION IN CHARTER SCHOOL UNIONIZATION PUSH - LA Times
http://lat.ms/1LIqEGu
OVERCROWDING, CLASSROOM SIZE OUTRAGE IN LAUSD SCHOOLS MAY FORCE PARENTS TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST DISTRICT +smf's 2¢
http://bit.ly/1ZTSRAk
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
●Tuesday October 27, 2015 - 11:00 a.m. SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
OPEN SESSION: Appointment of Ms. Abigail R. Marquez, representing the
Los Angeles City Mayor’s Office to the School Construction Bond
Oversight Committee
CLOSED SESSION ITEMS:
1. Conference with Legal Counsel: S.M. v. Los Angeles Unified School District
2. Court of Appeal State of California Case No. B253983
3. Employee Evaluation: Superintendent of Schools
●Tuesday October 27, 2015 - 2:00 P.M. BoE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE – Legislative agenda and priorities.
●Thursday October 29, 2015 – 11:30 a.m REGULAR MEETING OF THE SCHOOL
CONSTRUCTION BOND CITIZENS’ OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE – [Note
later-than-normal start]
*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 • 213-241-8333
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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