In This Issue:
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TENACIOUS CHANGE AGENT MAKES IMPROVING L.A. UNIFIED HIS MISSION |
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COUNTY
WORKERS CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE IN CASE INVOLVING DEATH OF GABRIEL
FERNANDEZ + HOW OFFICIALS FAILED TO SAVE CHILD FROM YEARS OF
ABUSE+TORTURE |
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ANALYSIS FINDS HIGH BLOOD LEAD LEVELS IN KIDS NEAR EXIDE, DOESN'T ANSWER WHY |
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ALL THE RIGHT AND WRONG DRIVERS + smf’s 2¢ |
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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’s easy (+fun!) to be critical of the Los Angeles Times.
She (What did we do that was wrong?)
Is having (We didn't know it was wrong)
Fun (Fun is the one thing that money can't buy)
Something inside that was always denied
For so many years (Bye bye)
- Lennon+McCartney
The Times has all the promise+potential of a first-rate great major
metropolitan daily: A huge media market, reporting on one of the great
cosmopolitan cities of the world ...certainly the preeminent American
metropolis of the 21st century. Gosh knows L.A. offers great newspaper
material: Scandal+Intrigue+Controversy; Scullduggery+Hubris; populated
with Fascinating Characters …some seemingly unburdened with character
itself.
Here are settings+stories+dramatis personae worthy of Shakespeare,
Dostoyevsky and Stephen Sondheim. L.A. City Hall. The Board of
Education. One could set the entirety of the Bard of Avon’s Histories in
the County Hall of Administration. Add to this the Southeast Cities and
all that-ever-was-and-will-be Compton. Teapot Dome is in Wyoming, but
the oil-soaked scandal was homegrown in corporate boardrooms in L.A.
And Orange County percolates to the South.
Howard Hughes. Hollywood. The names of the streets offer a roadmap:
Chandler. Doheny. Mulholland. There is the continuous ongoing horror
that is the County Department of Children and Family Services. The Gas
Company leak in Porter Ranch. The Exide Battery Plant debacle. And then
there’s whatever John Deasy, Apple+Pearson did (or attempted to do) with
the iPads and the bond money.
Stay tuned.
(In fairness, The Times is also burdened with all the challenges of all
modern newspapers: Declining readership+advertising, the
internet+cable+other news sources – challenges they have handled
spectacularly poorly!)
The History of L.A. is the history as presented, spun+framed by The
Times – the blunt instrument of the Babbitt-at-the-Booster-Club city
fathers. Sure there was the Herald-Examiner and the Mirror News and the
L.A. Daily News. But who are we kidding?
As much of the movie “CHINATOWN” as is true – The Water Wars, The Land
Grabs, the shenanigans at the Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and
Supply – the Personalities of Power+Megalomania+Greed – was first
covered, covered-up, packaged or sold by The Los Angeles Times.
Have you ever heard of the San Francisquito Dam Disaster? [http://bit.ly/1NfgydG]
No?
See what I mean?
And when the legend doesn’t fit with the facts, all journalists go with
the legend. Me too: It sells
papers+advertising+eyeballs-on-the-blog-page+housing tracts in the San
Fernando Valley.
…and tickets to the cinema.
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
On October 1, 1910 at 1:07 AM the McNamara Brothers, outside agitators,
union organizers and bomb-throwing-anarchists brought journalistic
criticism to a new height by blowing the L.A. Times building up.
In the years since The Times has been about as anti-union as ever it
could be, whether in its own publishing business or in editorial policy.
There’s a McNamara behind every labor grievance+work action.
4LAKids wishes The Times was more aggressive in its coverage of public education. Except, of course, when they are wrong.
And 4LAKids cannot argue with Eli Broad and the “Philanthropic
Foundations” that subsidize The Times’ “Education Matters” Initiative.
Education does matter. A lot.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
But I suspect the ‘initiative” is more checkbook journalism from the ©orporate $chool ®eform crowd ….and less from The Times.
All this said, The Times reporters+reporting have always been kind to 4LAKids.
See: NO BIG BUCKS = NO CHANCE IN L.A. UNIFIED ELECTIONS | http://lat.ms/1Sa5vr6
…and this past week’s TENACIOUS CHANGE AGENT MAKES IMPROVING L.A.
UNIFIED HIS MISSION (following) from Times columnist Steve Lopez
So there you have it.
It’s complicated.
(It wouldn’t be worth writing about – or reading – if it wasn’t.)
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
TENACIOUS CHANGE AGENT MAKES IMPROVING L.A. UNIFIED HIS MISSION
THROUGH HIS BLOG, 4LAKIDS, SCOTT FOLSOM HAS BEEN BOTH
CRITIC OF, AND CHEERLEADER FOR, L.A. UNIFIED, KEEPING AN EYE ON HOW
INTELLIGENTLY THE DISTRICT WAS SPENDING PRECIOUS TAX DOLLARS.
By Steve Lopez, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/1Sl6TDV
April 6, 2016 :: "He could be a burr in your saddle," says former L.A.
Unified Supt. Roy Romer. "But generally he was there when I needed him
to help get the job done."
"I don't always agree with Scott, and sometimes I vigorously disagree
with him," says school board President Steve Zimmer. "But I always want
to know what he's thinking, and if I've done something wrong in his
eyes, I'm interested in that criticism."
Both men are talking about Scott Folsom.
Chances are you've never heard of him, and neither have hundreds of
thousands of students who have benefited from Folsom's two decades of
unpaid public service.
He's been a local and state PTA member and has raised a hand to serve on
dozens of education committees. He advocated for restoration of arts
programs and expansion of health services, and he kept an eye on how
intelligently the district was spending your precious tax dollars, by
the billions, on the school building boom.
And Folsom has chronicled this journey on his blog, 4LAKids, where he is both critic of and cheerleader for L.A. Unified
"I read it every single Sunday morning," said Zimmer, who told me that Folsom "has an eye for when the emperor has no clothes."
Zimmer, along with Folsom's family, friends, and a who's who of
educators, administrators and education wonks, honored Folsom on Friday
for his "tireless" and "tenacious" work.
Folsom, 68, insisted on leaving the hospital where he'd been admitted
for the intense pain of a terminal illness. He did not want to miss the
shindig — complete with jazz band — at a friend's Art District loft.
Party over, Folsom is back to writing, serving, going to meetings, because his work is not finished.
When I asked him how it all began, Folsom clued me in on the little mix-up that launched his mission.
About 20 years ago, at Mt. Washington Elementary, Folsom's daughter was
assigned to kindergarten after he'd been promised a first-grade slot for
her. He tried to get help from the principal, the district and a school
board member.
Strike one, strike two, strike three.
So Folsom — who worked in TV and film production — held his breath,
stepped to the edge of the abyss and dived head first into the murky
depths of public education bureaucracy.
Soon he was the PTA president at Mt. Washington Elementary, where it
came to his attention that the prehistoric copy machine was ready for
the scrap heap.
"A school without a Xerox machine might as well not have a flagpole out front," Folsom says.
He was told there was no money for a new one, and nobody seemed to know
what to do about the problem. So he wrote a tongue-in-cheek ditty about
the "little Xerox machine that could," until it couldn't.
Somehow it circulated around district headquarters. The bureaucrats got the point.
They found a used replacement.
Folsom later used the power of the pen to muse about one of the daffiest
district experiences. If you want to get your child into, say, a
particular magnet, you don't apply to that magnet. Of course not. That
would make sense.
Instead, you apply to schools you don't want to get into. With each
rejection, you compile points that can be cashed in — with luck,
witchcraft, connections or who knows what — for assignment to the school
of your choice.
"I made it a little funny," says Folsom, "including information on what
to do if you get accepted into a school you don't want to be in."
Folsom became obsessed with trying to make a difference, and perhaps was
over-invested at times. His daughter asked if he could please not be
PTA president at her high school, and Folsom wonders if he strained his
marriage by volunteering more and more and earning less and less of an
income.
But by then he had made the district his life's work.
He knew that the majority of students were impoverished and attended
falling-apart schools on year-round tracks, stuffed into overcrowded
classrooms. So he became a member of the bond oversight committee and
helped Romer and others bust through political and bureaucratic hurdles
and build 130 new schools.
"He was one of the keys," said Romer, "and we were on a remarkable roll. We built about $19 billion worth of schools."
Says Zimmer:
"Scott in large part made the building program possible, and he did it
with this very unique combination of agitation, impatience and absolute
commitment to his ideals. This is someone who has fought the bureaucracy
and in many ways has won, but he also sees the very benefit of the
institution he's trying to change."
As part of that mission, Folsom lobbied for every school to have a
cafeteria, library and multipurpose room. He opposed former Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa's attempted takeover of L.A. Unified, and though he
sees the attraction of charter schools, he saves his highest praise for
the district's magnet campuses.
In his 2009 Thanksgiving blog post, he wrote, "We hear too much chin
music about how hard it is to get rid of a few bad teachers and
administrators — and not near enough about how to honor the many, many
good ones."
He praised non-teaching staff, nurses who are "spread too thin," those
who "volunteer in the classroom and on the playground before and after
school," and "the students who work hard and make us proud."
Cancer has spread to Folsom's bones, but at his home in Hollywood early
Tuesday morning, Folsom reminded me he had to cut our interview short
because he had work to do. As he once put it, the job is to raise
issues, raise awareness, raise hell.
He winced in pain, moving with the aid of a walker, eager to get to a meeting at school district headquarters.
●●smf’s 2¢: Thank you Steve Lopez. And Roy Romer and Steve Zimmer. Thank
you Howard Blume and Bob Sipchen. Thank you always and especially Jack
Smith – who taught me that whatever it is with the water in Mount
Washington – a mythical place that Smith made up on the pages of the Los
Angeles Times – it makes the writing better.
Thank you all for reading and insisting on making a difference.
Democracy is ideally about the majority – but Margaret Mead taught us
that it is always+only the small dedicated few that change the world.
Thank you for imagining+being the change.
Tony, my friend from high school adds special recognition for LA Times
photographer Mark Boster, whose photos accompany the column in the
Times: [http://bit.ly/1Vdvt0n | http://bit.ly/1NgND96]
“BTW, I loved the portrait in the article. Sure didn't look like the
stuff you see nowadays, shot on phones and one-touch electronic cameras
with auto-flash, auto-everything. The guy actually did a little
lighting. Excellent!”
COUNTY WORKERS CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE IN CASE
INVOLVING DEATH OF GABRIEL FERNANDEZ + HOW OFFICIALS FAILED TO SAVE
CHILD FROM YEARS OF ABUSE+TORTURE
HOW OFFICIALS FAILED TO SAVE GABRIEL FERNANDEZ FROM YEARS OF ABUSE, TORTURE
by Garrett Therolf | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1VHKZ2Y
April 8, 2016 :: The case of Gabriel Fernandez, a child who was killed
after having been beaten, burned and shot with BBs, took a new twist
when four social workers were charged with child abuse.
HERE IS SUMMARY OF THE CASE:
A HORRIFIC SCENE
In May 2013, paramedics arrived at a Palmdale home to find 8-year-old
Gabriel Fernandez not breathing. His skull was cracked, three ribs were
broken and his skin was bruised and burned. He had BB pellets embedded
in his lung and groin. Two teeth were knocked out of his mouth.
Gabriel died two days later.
His mother's boyfriend told authorities that he beat Gabriel repeatedly
for lying and "being dirty," according to records. The child's mother
and her boyfriend were charged with murder and torture.
'PRISONER OF WAR'
Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez, called 911 on May 22, 2013, to report
that her son was not breathing. She told sheriff's deputies who arrived
at the apartment that Gabriel had fallen and hit his head on a dresser,
according to testimony. When paramedics arrived, they found Gabriel
naked in a bedroom, with multiple injuries. He died two days later.
"It was just like every inch of this child had been abused," testified
James Cermak, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic.
Fernandez and her her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 34, deliberately
tortured the boy to death, hiding their tracks with forged doctor's
notes and lies to authorities, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami told
the grand jury.
"For eight straight months, he was abused, beaten and tortured more severely than many prisoners of war," Hatami said.
The abuse worsened in the months leading up to Gabriel's death,
according to testimony from two of his siblings, both of whom are
minors. They said Gabriel was forced to eat cat feces, rotten spinach
and his own vomit. He slept in a locked cabinet and wasn't let out to go
to the bathroom.
Fernandez and Aguirre called Gabriel gay, punished him when he played
with dolls and forced him to wear girls' clothes to school, the siblings
said.
Fernandez and Aguirre hit Gabriel with a metal hanger, a belt buckle, a small bat and a wooden club, Gabriel's brother said.
Their mother once jabbed Gabriel in the mouth with a bat and knocked out several teeth, according to testimony.
MISSED SIGNS OF ABUSE
Records showed that Los Angeles County's Department of Children and
Family Services left Gabriel in the home despite six investigations into
abuse allegations involving the mother over the last decade.
Gabriel had previously written a note saying he was contemplating
suicide, records show. His teacher told authorities he often appeared
bruised and battered at school. BB pellets left bruises across his face.
All but one investigation was determined to be "unfounded."
At the time of Gabriel's death, there was yet another, unresolved
allegation of child abuse in his file. That referral has lingered two
months past a legally mandated deadline for completing an investigation,
records show.
The social worker assigned to that case did not make first contact with
the family until 20 days after the complaint was received, and then
"made minimal attempts to investigate," according to an internal county
report.
On multiple occasions, deputies went to the family's apartment or to
Gabriel's school to investigate reports of abuse and of the boy being
suicidal.
Each time, they concluded that there was no evidence of abuse and did not write a detailed report.
Timothy O'Quinn, a sheriff's homicide detective, told grand jurors that
there was no indication that deputies had removed any of Gabriel's
clothing to check for signs of abuse.
Investigators searching the family's apartment after Gabriel's death
found blood stains, BB gun holes and a wooden club covered in his blood,
according to testimony.
'FAILED TO PERFORM THEIR JOBS'
In a prepared statement issued late Thursday morning by the Department
of Children and Family Services, department Director Philip Browning
said the accused workers did not represent the organization.
“In our rigorous reconstruction of the events surrounding Gabriel's
death, we found that four of our social workers had failed to perform
their jobs. I directed that all of them be discharged. Only one appealed
his termination, and he was reinstated last year by the Civil Service
Commission over our strong objections,” Browning said.
“I want to make it unambiguously clear that the defendants do not
represent the daily work, standards or commitment of our dedicated
social workers, who, like me, will not tolerate conduct that jeopardizes
the well-being of children,” Browning said. “For the vast majority of
those who choose this demanding career, it is nothing short of a
calling.”
_____________________
L.A. COUNTY SOCIAL WORKERS CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE IN CASE INVOLVING TORTURE AND KILLING OF GABRIEL FERNANDEZ
By Garrett Therolf | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1qePohM
April 7, 2016 :: Four Los Angeles County social workers have been
charged with felony child abuse and falsifying public records in
connection with the 2012 death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who was
tortured and killed even though authorities had numerous warnings of
abuse in his home.
Los Angeles County prosecutors allege that the county Department of
Children and Family Services employees minimized “the significance of
the physical, mental and emotional injuries that Gabriel suffered …
[and] allowed a vulnerable boy to remain at home and continue to be
abused.”
Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt were
each charged with one felony count of child abuse and one felony count
of falsifying public records.
At their arraignment on Thursday afternoon, the defendants did not enter
pleas, pending another hearing later this month. Superior Court Judge
Sergio Tapia set bail for each at $100,000.
Gabriel's death sparked widespread outrage and prompted a series of
reforms designed to improve how county officials monitor children who
show signs of being abused. Prosecutors said the social workers' actions
were so troubling that they warranted the rare step of filing criminal
charges.
“Social workers play a vital role in society. We entrust them to protect
our children from harm,” Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said in a statement.
“When their negligence is so great as to become criminal, young lives
are put at risk. We believe these social workers were criminally
negligent and performed their legal duties with willful disregard for
Gabriel's well-being.”
The dead boy's mother and her boyfriend are awaiting trial on charges of
murder and a special circumstance of torture. They have pleaded not
guilty.
The pair are accused of beating Gabriel to death after dousing him with
pepper spray, forcing him to eat his own vomit and locking him in a
cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to muffle his screams,
according to court records. Detectives who searched the family's
apartment found a wooden club covered in his blood.
In the months before the boy was killed, county child protection
caseworkers and sheriff's deputies investigated allegations of abuse
without removing Gabriel from the home. Shortly before Gabriel's death,
officials decided to close his case.
The social workers were aware that the boy had written a suicide note
and had a BB pellet embedded in his chest. Yet he was not sent for
medical treatment or mental health assessment, county records show.
Additionally, the boy's teacher said she made repeated phone calls
reporting evidence of abuse. The caseworkers disregarded them, she said.
A complaint for an arrest warrant was filed against the workers March 28
— about three years after their alleged failings — and all were
scheduled for arraignment Thursday.
Merritt was the first to arrive in court in downtown Los Angeles on
Thursday morning. Asked for his reaction to the charges against him,
Merritt told a reporter, “no response.”
Clement, a former nun and chaplain in the county's juvenile detention
centers, sobbed in court as she awaited arraignment. She, too, declined
to respond to the charges, as did Bom, a supervising caseworker and
father of four young children as well as an elder at his church.
Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.
In a prepared statement issued late Thursday morning by the Department
of Children and Family Services, department Director Philip Browning
said the accused workers did not represent the organization.
“In our rigorous reconstruction of the events surrounding Gabriel's
death, we found that four of our social workers had failed to perform
their jobs. I directed that all of them be discharged. Only one appealed
his termination, and he was reinstated last year by the Civil Service
Commission over our strong objections,” Browning said.
“I want to make it unambiguously clear that the defendants do not
represent the daily work, standards or commitment of our dedicated
social workers, who, like me, will not tolerate conduct that jeopardizes
the well-being of children,” Browning said. “For the vast majority of
those who choose this demanding career, it is nothing short of a
calling.”
In an interview with The Times on Thursday, Browning said he had
referred the social workers' case notes to the district attorney in 2013
“to make sure we didn't miss anything,” but he was not aware that a
criminal investigation was gathering steam, and he said he was surprised
when he learned that charges were filed.
After Merritt appealed to regain his $166,000 job as a supervising
social worker, the five-member civil service commission — which is
appointed by the county Board of Supervisors — voted unanimously to
reinstate him, imposing a 30-day suspension in lieu of termination.
According to the commission's hearing officer, “In the final analysis
[Merritt] bears some culpability for lax supervision but not to the
extent to justify his discharge after nearly 24 years of unblemished
service.”
Merritt's union representative had argued that his client was used as a
scapegoat and had labored under difficult circumstances in the Palmdale
office, where social workers carry some of the highest caseloads in the
county.
County lawyers for Browning went to Los Angeles County Superior Court in
hopes of overturning the civil service commission's decision. That case
is ongoing, but the judge ordered Merritt's reinstatement until a
decision is reached.
Browning said the performance of the four workers in the Fernandez case
was the worst he had seen in any case he'd reviewed since his arrival at
the agency in 2011.
“We made so much progress in the past few years,” Browning said. “I
don't want the morale of the department to suffer in a way that would
impact services to clients.
In the months after the Fernandez case was first reported by The Times
in 2013, social workers removed children from their families at a higher
rate.
Browning defended the rise in removals at the time, noting that
detention rates were rising statewide, but critics said social workers
sometimes needlessly removed children because they were afraid to lose
their jobs if something unforeseen occurred to a child under their
watch.
Browning said he is worried that the charges against the social workers
could spur social workers to again increase the number of children taken
from homes.
“Safety is our priority, but I hope that there won't be additional
detentions because of this,” he said. “I hope that they will continue to
make decisions based on the facts in front of them.”
At a news conference Thursday in Sylmar, family and friends of Gabriel
praised the arrests and decried a system they said is fraught with
laziness and corruption.
“You brought this upon yourself,” Emily Carranza, the boy's cousin, said of the social workers.
Carranza is part of a group of family and friends who rallied after the
boy's death, determined to hold those who killed Gabriel and those who
failed to protect him accountable.
The shirt she wore showed three photos of Gabriel's smiling face.
“Your conviction will be our greatest victory,” she said.
Child welfare officials and prosecutors said that this was the first
case in memory in which child protective caseworkers had been criminally
charged in California over the alleged mishandling of a case.
Such prosecutions are also rare nationally, although New York
prosecutors pursued criminal charges in recent years against two social
workers who handled the fatal case of 4-year-old Marchella Pierce. In
that case, the workers were initially charged with negligent homicide,
but the case collapsed in a plea deal for lesser charges.
Both workers eventually pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a
child, and that misdemeanor was subsequently knocked down to a violation
when they completed hours of community service.
●Times staff writer Sarah Parvini and Times researcher Scott. J. Wilson contributed to this report.
ANALYSIS FINDS HIGH BLOOD LEAD LEVELS IN KIDS NEAR EXIDE, DOESN'T ANSWER WHY
By Paul Glickman | KPCC/89.3 | http://bit.ly/1oM8JGb
Audio from this story : 0:43 | http://bit.ly/1qEnHQl
April 08, 2016 | 02:47 PM :: Young children living near the former
Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon have higher levels of lead in
their blood than those living farther away, but the age of their homes
may be as important a factor as proximity to the facility, according to
an analysis by the California Department of Public Health released
Friday.
State environmental officials declined to draw definitive conclusions
about the role lead emissions from the plant may have played in the
elevated levels, saying the study was not designed to determine the
sources of the lead.
The analysis did not measure other potential sources of lead, such as
that emitted from cars on nearby freeways or lead paint in homes, said
Gina Solomon, deputy secretary for science and health at the California
Environmental Protection Agency.
The study was also limited in that it only looked at one year of data,
and it involved very small numbers of children in the area closest to
Exide, Solomon added.
Those factors "make it hard to draw resounding conclusions" about the
relative importance of Exide's emissions, she said. "We can't say where
the lead in a child's blood is coming from."
The analysis will be used "to further target and refine our efforts" to
clean up lead from soil at homes in a 1.7-mile radius around the
facility, said Ana Mascarenas, assistant director for environmental
justice at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Public health researchers analyzed blood tests of nearly 12,000
children under age 6 in an area reaching up to 4.5 miles from the
now-closed plant. The tests were from 2012, the Exide facility's last
full year of operation.
Only about 2,000 of the nearly 12,000 children lived in the 1.7-mile cleanup zone, said Solomon.
The analysis found that 3.58 percent of young children living within one
mile of Exide had blood lead levels of 4.5 micrograms or more per
deciliter of blood. That's the level the state has set as significantly
higher than average and meriting measures to reduce future exposure.
That's compared with 1.95 percent of children in Los Angeles County
overall who showed lead levels of 4.5 micrograms or more in 2012. In the
broader study area, reaching out to 4.5 miles from the plant, 2.41
percent of children were in that category, according to the analysis.
But when researchers factored in the age of homes, the picture shifted.
Of youngsters living in homes built before 1940, 3.11 percent had
elevated blood lead levels, while only 1.87 percent of those living in
homes built after 1940 had high levels.
As the analysts adjusted the data to account for other factors, "the
effect of age of housing persisted," while "the effect of distance from
Exide diminished greatly," said Solomon.
And the older the homes, the greater their impact, said Solomon.
The Department of Public Health delved more deeply into this question by
performing a sub-study, comparing the ages of the homes of a group of
nearly 300 children who had 4.5 micrograms or more with those of a group
with lower levels. The researchers found "a very large increased risk"
of elevated lead levels for children living in homes built before 1925,
she said.
The study found that younger boys were at higher risk as well.
Exide smelted batteries in Vernon until last year, when the state
ordered it to shut down after it operated for decades on a temporary
permit. At the time, Toxic Substances Control said a few hundred homes
closest to the site would be tested and cleaned up. Last August, the
agency said up to 10,000 properties could be contaminated in a 1.7-mile
radius around the smelter.
The state Legislature is in the process of approving Gov. Jerry Brown's
request for $176.6 million in emergency funding to expedite the testing
and cleanup of those properties.
ALL THE RIGHT AND WRONG DRIVERS + smf’s 2¢
From the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update Week of April 11, 2016 | http://bit.ly/JidN0H
April 7, 2016 :: This week, we are continuing to feature Michael
Fullan’s and Joanne Quinn’s book COHERENCE, which senior leadership and
other staff in the central offices are busily reading.
Unfortunately, copies of the book have not been made available for
middle managers throughout the District who will be impacted by coherent
actions that may be initiated as a result of these reading circles.
Therefore, we are sharing some of the more cogent and applicable tenets
we have learned from the book.
Seeking coherence means building an organization that engages in
“…purposeful action and reaction, looking for capacity, clarity,
precision of practice, transparency, monitoring of progress, and
continuous correction.” Coherence requires “simplexity,” which is
defined as “the harnessing of the smallest number of key factors and
working together with practitioners to become clear about how to master
the factors in actions.” The pathway, or framework, lights the way to
understand what motivates people to engage in the work.
Fullan’s Coherence is an overview of the wrong and right drivers to move
an organization. Wrong drivers are cited as punitive accountability,
individualistic strategies, technology, and ad hoc policies. Using these
drivers to instigate change, the authors argue, results in “…initiative
failure, ad hoc projects, arbitrary top down policies, compliance
oriented bureaucratization, silos and fiefdoms everywhere, confusion,
distrust, and demoralization.” However well intended or well founded in
research these approaches may be, they are doomed to limited influence
as they circumvent the most important asset in the process: The people
who are the organization.
The core basis of Fullan and Quinn’s work is the energizing of human and
social capital to initiate meaningful change within an organization.
This is done by employing the right drivers, which are described within
the Coherence Framework as: (1) focusing direction; (2) cultivating
collaborative cultures; (3) deepening learning; and (4) securing
accountability. As the four drivers are delved into thoroughly
throughout the book, it becomes readily apparent that the approach will
have tremendous implications for every role or position in an
organization.
Focusing direction, the first driver, involves, not only streamlining
the work, but also building an ongoing vertical and horizontal
organizational conversation of the focus. The focus will be reduced,
reframed, and pieces removed as the direction continues to be clarified.
Further, it may require “…moving compliance to the side of the plate”
(pg. 4), not to avoid the mandate, but to shift it to a purposeful
function. It also requires ongoing communication among all levels to
continue to build true collaborative approaches to allow the system to
“…recognize that finding solutions to complex problems requires the
intelligence and talents of everyone,” (pg. 22). It also allows for
ongoing strategizing and dealing with barriers. In short, continually
checking progress by asking, “What is going well? What do we need to be
worrying about or taking action on?” It is the mechanism for
institutionalizing constant adaptation and inquiry.
This topic naturally leads into discussing cultivating collaborative
cultures, the second driver. In this section, the authors more deeply
examine the dynamics of collaborative work. Its first basis is the
acknowledgement that everyone – principal, teacher, superintendent – is
an active learner, and clearly is a participant in the process.
Secondly, collaborative work acknowledges the capabilities of the people
within the system to address the challenges before them. More
significantly, it will allow collective capacity to emerge. Collective
capacity is defined as “the capability of the individual or organization
to make the changes required and involves development of knowledge,
skills, and commitment,” (pg. 56). This, in turn, allows the
organization to take ownership of student achievement and creates a
“growth mind set at all levels of the system,” (pg. 57). Arranging for
teacher groups, the authors warn, is not enough. Teacher groups,
commonly referred to as PLCs
(professional learning communities) are not the panacea. “The popularity
of the concept of PLCs has been far greater than its consistent impact
on student learning,” (pg. 63). The collaborative experience must be
structured, intentional, and focused on “…designing more precise
pedagogy to meet the identified needs,” (pg. 63). Collaborative cultures
require involvement in an ongoing process of inquiry. Inquiry extends
beyond questioning, but rather encapsulates a cycle of investigation,
planning, action, and reflection that is ongoing. The constant inquiry
builds capacity to adapt and allows for meaningful transformation, as
the book expresses, “…deep collaborative experiences that are tied to
daily work, spent designing and assessing learning, and build on teacher
choice and input can dramatically energize teachers and increase
results.” As the collective work involves the entire system, it
influences the structure of the system to support and ensure the
efficacy of the
collaborative practice. Intrinsic to this movement is deep learning, the
third driver.
(To be continued next week.) Next week’s AALA Update will be available Thursday April 14 at http://bit.ly/JidN0H
●●smf’s 2¢: COHERENCE: THE RIGHT DRIVERS IN ACTION FOR SCHOOLS,
DISTRICTS, AND SYSTEMS: Michael Fullan, Joanne Quinn: ISBN
9781483364957: Amazon.com: Books http://amzn.to/1S9qUTX
It’s $22.75 for the paperback, $14.37 for the e-reader. If senior
management is reading it and citing it chapter+verse, the District
should have one available at every school library and on every
teacher+administrator’s iPad.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
MORE SEATS, CREDIT RECOVERY+ENRICHMENT COURSES,
MIDDLE-TO-HIGH-SCHOOL ‘BRIDGE’ AND LATER START OFFERED IN ROBUST LAUSD
‘SUMMER TERM’ PROGRAM
by Barbara Jones | LAUSD Daily | http://bit.ly/1MmI91I
Apr 5, 2016 :: New courses.
New start times.
Even a new name.
L.A. Unified officials on Wednesday unveiled a robust summer program
that will offer space for nearly 69,000 students, up from 42,000 last
year, at 71 high school campuses. Most of the 2,749 classes will be in
English, math, science and social science, and reserved for kids who
need to make up a failed course.
But schools will also be able to offer enrichment classes open to any
student in L.A. Unified – the first time since the budget crisis hit in
2009 that elective courses will be available.
“Whoever thought people would get excited about summer school?” said
Janet Kiddoo, the veteran educator who is the intervention coordinator
for the Beyond the Bell Branch. “People are very excited, and there are
such passionate and very bright people involved this year.”
Summer classes will start June 27 and run for 24 days with two periods
of 2-1/2 hours each that will start at 9 a.m. and noon. That’s an hour
later than previous years, and officials hope the extra time will
improve student attendance and punctuality.
In addition, the program is being called “summer term” rather than
“summer school” so that students will come to see the classes as simply
an extension of the regular school year. Rather than feeling stigmatized
by going to school in the summer, kids can embrace the chance to take a
class just for the fun of it.
“It’s a small step, but small steps can leave a huge imprint,” Kiddoo
said during a presentation to the school board’s Curriculum and
Instruction Committee. “Calling it ‘summer term,’ students may think, ‘I
have the opportunity to take another type of class.”
Other changes are also coming to the summer program. A counselor will
act as a “case manager” in supporting students and helping them overcome
hurdles that might otherwise derail their progress toward graduation.
And a two-week “bridge” program will be offered at 43 campuses, offering
academic and social-emotional support to incoming freshmen who might
otherwise feel overwhelmed by the new world of high school.
“We are beginning to show very positive steps forward,” Kiddoo told the
committee. “That is our mantra – what is happening for the student.”
___________________
LA UNIFIED LOOKS TO INCOME TAX RENEWAL TO OFFSET BUDGET WOES | EdSource
http://bit.ly/22kBWVW
TWO LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLS SHOWCASE MUSICAL THEATRE IN UPCOMING GRAND ARTS FEST - Los Angeles Sentinel
http://bit.ly/1N1puIX
SOUTH L.A. STUDENTS WILL GET PRIORITY ADMISSION TO CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS - LA Times
http://lat.ms/22kATp0
SANTEE EDUCATION COMPLEX CLINCHES LAUSD HEALTHY COOKING COMPETITION
http://bit.ly/1RLccAw
Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs: "DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I SING?" | deutsch29
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2016/04/02/sean-puff-daddy-combs-do-as-i-say-not-as-i-sing/
…
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
REGULAR BOARD MEETING – Tues. April 12, 2016 - 9:30 a.m.- Including Closed Session Items
REGULAR BOARD MEETING – Tues. April 12, 2016 - 1:00 p.m.
Live stream of the board meeting available at LAUSD's Live Stream http://bit.ly/1GnZwJI and on broadcast+cable channel 58
*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 the Superintendent:
superintendent@lausd.net • 213-241-7000
...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. Volunteer in the classroom.
Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child -
and ultimately: For all children.
• 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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