In This Issue:
 |
| • |
AS LAUSD BATTLES INSURERS, TAXPAYERS LEFT WITH BILL FOR TEACHER SEX ABUSE SETTLEMENTS |
|
| • |
PLAS v. P-Rev v. LAUSD @ 20th St. Elementary: PARENTS PROTEST POTENTIAL CHANGE IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT |
|
| • |
FACING
POTENTIAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, LA UNIFIED CONSIDERS FINANCIAL FUTURE +
STILL LISTENING, NO BIG PLAN YET: SUPERINTENDENT KING WRAPS COMMUNITY
TOUR |
|
| • |
HOUSE AND SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN: ESSA ACCOUNTABILITY REGULATIONS NEED CLOSE REVIEW |
|
| • |
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
|
| • |
EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
|
| • |
What can YOU do? |
|
Featured Links:
|
|
|
|
At last Tuesday’s meeting of the Budget, Facilities
and Audit Committee, a minor kerfuffle broke out – maybe it was even a
brouhaha: http://bit.ly/1TGC4Lh [from appx 1:48 > 2:04]
This is the season of budgeting+audits. A time of penny-wisdom and pound-foolishness.
And this issue-of-the-moment is whether LAUSD should undertake an audit
of the District’s fledgling Restorative Justice Initiative.
Not a ‘gotcha’ backwards-looking audit, like the State Dept. Inspector
General vs. Hillary Clinton seeking Wrongdoing,Waste,Fraud+Abuse …but a
Prospective forwards-looking Analysis:
• What are the goals?
• What are the expectations?
• What are the likelihoods?
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE has become the great big fuzzy Golden Retriever
puppy of School District Discipline Policy+Programs nationwide; LAUSD
has become the poster child for RJ. The nation turns its lonely eyes to
us.
The question is not whether RJ is a good program; but whether it is
being effectively implemented and whether there is room for
further/continuous improvement.
No less an authority than Superintendent Cortines said the LAUSD RJ
policies, which were pushed through by the Board of Education and former
Supt. John Deasy and which he supports, were poorly executed. He
compared the implementation to the flawed effort to equip students and
teachers with Apple tablets.
"I will compare it to the iPad," Cortines said. "You cannot piecemeal
this kind of thing and think it is going to have the impact that it
should have. Don't make a political statement and then don't have the
wherewithal to back it up." | http://lat.ms/1ldDSkH
(It is ironic that Boardmember Ratliff – who probably was the most
instrumental person in the building in drilling down into the iPad
Fiasco – seems intent on ‘not going there’ on RJ.)
smf: Don’t get me wrong - I am a true believer in Restorative Justice –
not in the Harry Potter “Lumos Maxima” magic of the promise – but in the
good hard work that can be accomplished by doing the good hard work. I
helped implement RJ (back when it was called ‘Council’ or ‘Talking
Circles’) a decade ago at Reed Middle School.
It is a great program and well-done could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. (…and I’m not a big fan of sliced bread!)
In the interim RJ has become a poster-program for off-the-shelf/brand-name School Discipline Policy ®eform.
1. Forbid suspensions by executive fiat.
2. Implement RJ as identified in the C.O.R.E. CA literature.
3. Check the boxes on the Rubric of Implementation. ¡Mission accomplished!
Dr. Deasy’s pretend-governmental California Office to Reform Education
(C.O.R.E. CA) built+sold RJ to Arne Duncan and the U.S. Dept. of Ed. as
the key to the CORE CA Waiver to No Child Left Behind …with lots a of
promises of unaccountable unaccountabilities + murky transparency (No
testing = No data. Oh dear!)
Dr. Deasy is gone.
NCLB is gone.
RJ had lots o’ one-time federal dollars that are soon to go away.
Whatever data that exists supporting RJ comes from two plus years of
CORE CA’s work since 2013 – hardly an impartial observer. Restorative
Justice in LAUSD moving forward is going to have to be funded by someone
…and that’s the General Fund.
Restorative Justice focuses on the needs of the Victims and Offenders,
as well as the impacted community; it doesn’t address
Prevention+Pre-identification of Potential Discipline Issues: RJ is
reactive, not proactive.
What RJ isn’t is a magic bullet that solves all the ills of public
education – or Public Education Districtwide/School-based/or even
Classroom Discipline+Management. Restorative Justice (which is an
outgrowth of criminology) is NOT Restorative Practices (an outgrowth of
Education) – which addresses Prevention+Proactivity …as well
Victims/Offenders/The Community’s rights+responsibilities..
The conversation around the LAUSD Board of Ed. horseshoe on Tuesday was about:
1. RJ is so new, it’s too early to audit it.
2. RJ is so wonderful. It’s too wonderful to audit.
3. “We already know…” that any audit will show LAUSD has not invested enough training+professional development in RJ.
Really?
A. RJ is a number of years into its implementation. There is a long history - when exactly do we start evaluating programs?
B. RJ IS that wonderful …but LAUSD has the capability of homogenizing
wonderfulness until it is a binder-on-a-shelf or a vague memory of what
could’ve been; if only….
C. If we “already know” we have not committed sufficient
training+resources now when-there-is money maybe this is the moment to
say so – not 2 or 4 or 6 years down the line when the money is gone.
Questions also arose as to whether the Office of Inspector General is
the right place to look into RJ from? Dr. Vladovic returned to
days-of-yesteryear when the Board of Ed had its own Independent Audit
Unit (IAU). The Board had their own Counsel too – but those days are
gone and the OIG is the entity in LAUSD that undertakes+oversees
audits+investigations.
Underlying this is the faint whiff of micromanaging the independence of
the OIG by the Board of Ed. by tightening the purse strings.
THE OIG VISION: To be a proactive agency striving for excellence and
continuous positive change in the management and programs of the Los
Angeles Unified School District.
THE OIG MISSION: To promote a culture of accountability, transparency,
collaboration and integrity through the performance of audit and
investigative services designed to drive continuous improvement, support
effective decision making and detect and deter waste, fraud and abuse.
If not them, whom?
And, [see: AS LAUSD BATTLES INSURERS, TAXPAYERS LEFT WITH BILL FOR
TEACHER SEX ABUSE SETTLEMENTS] in light of the pending LAUSD budget and
“who’s-going-to-pay-for-it now” element above: Who’s going to pay for
all the sex abuse settlements being made if the District’s insurance
carriers don’t?
From the AALA Update: MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL’S ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM
placed first in the U. S. Academic Decathlon’s National Online
Competition (eight events) that occurred simultaneously with the
National Competition.
Individually, the team members won 68 medals and claimed eight of the
nine top- scoring positions for the Large School Division. Martin
Gonzalez emerged as the top-scoring student in the competition. The team
members are Martin Gonzalez, Manuel Griffin-Espinoza, Robina Hensen,
Abeer Hossain, Tahmin Khan, Giovani Martinez, Arbyn Olarte, Tina Tan,
and Gun- Min Youn. Kudos to the team, their coach, Larry Welch, and
principal, Patricia Heideman. “This, said Cliff Ker, Coordinator for
Academic Events, is the fourth time since 2010 that Marshall has won the
Online Competition,”
“They worked very hard to earn this honor.”
Marshall High School won the National Academic Decathlon championship in
1986-87 and 1994-95, and in 2010-11 and 2014-15, the school had repeat
victories as LAUSD Academic Decathlon champs.
Additionally the Marshall High School iconic tower and main
administration building’s (on the National Registry of Historic Places)
structural+historic preservation was approved by the Bond Oversight
Committee on Thursday – as well as the restoration of the Marshall High
School Auditorium – where smf’s mother once trod the boards as a
student thespian.
Thought for the day: I really don’t care which restroom you use. Just please: Wash your hands.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
AS LAUSD BATTLES INSURERS, TAXPAYERS LEFT WITH BILL FOR TEACHER SEX ABUSE SETTLEMENTS
Kyle Stokes | KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1Wt7ESE
May 26 2016 :: When the Los Angeles Unified School District reaches a
settlement with victims who experienced sexual abuse in its schools, who
pays? Or, more to the point: who should pay?
L.A. Unified officials contended their insurance policies should've
covered the $200 million it cost to settle abuse cases from Miramonte
Elementary School in 2014. Last year, the district sued 27 insurance
companies that L.A. Unified believes "abandoned the school district,
forcing it to defend itself and utilize its own much needed resources"
to mount a defense and settle the cases.
Now, on the heels of another $88 million settlement with victims from De
La Torre and Telfair elementary schools, district officials said they
have gotten no indication that their insurers intend to participate in
those settlements either — meaning, once again, taxpayers could end up
on the hook.
"We’re asking [LAUSD's insurers] to participate in the eventual payout
for those settlements," said Greg McNair, chief business and compliance
counsel for L.A. Unified. "They have not agreed to do so as of yet. If
they don’t soon agree to do so, we will file lawsuits against those
insurers, just like we filed lawsuits against the insurers for the
Miramonte lawsuit."
But in their own court filings related to the Miramonte case, one of the
district's insurers argued it's not clear the policies they sold to
L.A. Unified cover the district's settlement costs.
In their own 2013 lawsuit, Everest National Insurance Company questioned
whether the costs L.A. Unified incurred in settling the Miramonte cases
exceeded their "self insured retention" — roughly analogous to the
deductible on an auto or homeowner's policy — of $5 million. (Exceeding
that "deductible" through either defending or settling the case, McNair
said, triggers the insurance coverage.)
L.A. Unified asserted that it exceeded that amount in 2012 by replacing
all faculty and staff at Miramonte following the two suspected abusers'
arrests. But Everest attorneys dispute this, writing in their court
filing that L.A. Unified never provided sufficient clarification to make
it clear they had exceeded the self insured retention amount.
As the insurance company's attorneys wrote, Everest "disputes that there
is any coverage under the Everest policies for the underlying claims"
in the Miramonte case.
With the legal dispute dragging on — the next court date isn't until
August — the district has had to pay Miramonte settlements out of its
general fund.
"The insurance companies have deprived the district of its ability to
use this money in the classroom by their failure to live up to their
obligation to provide insurance for these incidences," McNair said.
Settlements in abuse cases are generally paid out in a lump sum, McNair
said; if the victim is young, the settlement typically covers the cost
of an annuity. In the most recent high-profile cases, the district has
paid out into a qualified settlement fund for victims, he said. A
retired judge then oversees the disbursement of money from that fund.
For decades, the district has had several layers of insurance coverage
that would handle liability claims, with each policy generally covering a
one-year timespan. In a sexual abuse case, the year in which the abuse
occurred determines which policy would, in theory, cover the claim.
L.A. Unified paid roughly $5.4 million in premiums on insurance that would cover abuse cases during the 2015-16 school year.
PLAS v. P-Rev v. LAUSD @ 20th St. Elementary: PARENTS
PROTEST POTENTIAL CHANGE IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
WHILE SOME PARENTS ARGUE THAT LOS ANGELES' 20TH
STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOULD BE PUT UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP, OTHERS
CONTEND THEY LIKE THE SCHOOL JUST THE WAY IT IS.
By Sonali Kohli | LA Times | http://lat.ms/20Q76ER
May 27, 2016 :: 2:05 PM :: Not every parent at 20th Street Elementary School wants new leadership for their kids’ school.
About 30 mothers gathered in front of the Los Angeles campus Friday
morning with signs in English and Spanish, protesting a potential
agreement that would give some control of school operations to the
Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a nonprofit that specializes in
improving low-performing schools, often in under-resourced
neighborhoods.
A different group of parents threatened to sue the Los Angeles Unified
School District in March, after the district rejected a petition that
58% of parents at the school signed to invoke the state's “parent
trigger law,” which allows parents to take control of low-performing
schools.
To avoid a lawsuit, the district may agree to allow the partnership to
take over school operations, which L.A. School Report first reported on
Wednesday. The partnership runs 17 schools in L.A. Unified, including
Roosevelt High School and Dolores Huerta Elementary.
Unlike an independent charter school, though, partnership schools are
still Los Angeles Unified district schools, meaning the teachers are
unionized and the district receives state money allocated for each
student. Beyond the district resources, the partnership says it can
fundraise for programs, enhancements and technology.
“We are not as bad as other schools that have gotten this
partnership,”said Karla Vilchis, a 20th Street parent with one daughter
in transitional kindergarten and another who finished fifth grade at the
school in 2013. Changes, she said, should come from “working together
instead of attacking each other."
She and other parents at the protest Friday morning were mostly silent.
They didn’t want to disrupt classes or fight, but they did want to show
other parents that not everyone wants the school to change hands,
Vilchis said. They held signs with phrases like “No to PLAS” (an acronym
for the partnership), “We are improving” and “Padres que apoyan Calle
20.”
The parents pushing for a change in leadership complain about low
academic scores and a lack of resources at their school. Last year, they
launched the first petition to transform 20th Street into a pilot
school, a district-run school with more freedom than a traditional
school. At the end of the 2014-15 school year, the district agreed to
make improvements.
But the district didn’t follow through on those promises, like having
more coordinators to help students prepare for junior high school and
teaching more rigorous classes, said Omar Calvillo, one of the parents
leading the trigger actions. So the group launched another petition,
this time to take full control of the school.
Some teachers and parents at 20th Street argue that the school has
improved. The playground is open on Saturdays, there are more
opportunities for parents to be involved and a program focused on
reclassifying English-learner students began this year, said Javier
Cruz, a third-grade teacher and the school’s United Teachers Los Angeles
chapter chairman.
A district spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on the status of
20th Street. “We are still in negotiations regarding this issue and have
no further comment,” Shannon Haber said in an email.
When the 20th Street parents union submitted its petition in February,
it also put out a request for proposals for charter school operators who
would be able to run the school, said Gabe Rose, chief strategy officer
for Parent Revolution, the group helping 20th Street parents invoke the
trigger law. The partnership, though not a charter, submitted a
proposal.
The parents’ group will accept only an agreement that allows the
partnership full autonomy over the school, Calvillo said. Otherwise, it
is prepared to sue the district for full control.
FACING POTENTIAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, LA UNIFIED
CONSIDERS FINANCIAL FUTURE + STILL LISTENING, NO BIG PLAN YET:
SUPERINTENDENT KING WRAPS COMMUNITY TOUR
► FACING POTENTIAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, LA UNIFIED CONSIDERS FINANCIAL FUTURE
By Michael Janofsky | EdSource | http://bit.ly/1sW33w9
May 26, 2016 :: Members of the Los Angeles Unified school board got a
sobering economic report this week as finance experts warned that a
slowing state economy and failure of a November ballot measure to extend
an increase in personal income taxes could cost the district hundreds
of millions of dollars.
It was neither a message they didn’t know nor one aimed solely at L.A.
Unified, the largest school district in the state – all of California’s
1,200 school districts would be affected by economic developments beyond
their control.
But with more than 1,200 schools and 550,000 students, L.A. Unified
would face the most drastic change in operations, leading to probable
cutbacks in personnel, programs and school improvements. Listening to
the possibilities, board President Steve Zimmer suggested the district’s
future could be “fairly apocalyptic.”
The cause for alarm involves two factors beyond the control of
policymakers, in Los Angeles, Sacramento or anywhere else in the state.
One is the ballot measure, which would continue a tax on high-income
earners created by Proposition 30, which was approved by voters in 2012
and scheduled to end in 2018. No effort is underway to extend the sales
tax increase that is part of the proposition, which ends this year.
The new ballot initiative – the Children’s Education and Health Care
Protection Act of 2016 – remains in the signature-gathering phase to get
it on the November ballot. It would extend by 12 years personal income
tax increases on earnings over $250,000, generating a projected $5
billion or more annually, with $2 billion a year earmarked for
children’s health programs. Of the rest, 89 percent would go to K-12
schools and 11 percent to California Community Colleges.
Over the last four years, Prop. 30 income tax revenue has accounted for
about 13 percent of the district’s Local Control Funding Formula
revenue, and the loss of the income tax extension would cost about $600
million in future revenue, according to a report presented to board
members by district finance experts.
The other factor prompting concern is the uncertainty of California’s
economic growth. According to the May revision of Gov. Jerry Brown’s
budget for the next fiscal year, the state budget for the next two years
will remain balanced. But state financial experts are predicting a $4
billion deficit by 2019-20, an amount that could only be offset by an
improving economy, which is uncertain, or passage of the Prop. 30
extension.
An economic slowdown, combined with the failure of the tax extension, would hit every school district in the state.
In a colloquy at the board meeting with Dale Shimasaki, CEO of Strategic
Education Services, a Sacramento-based education consulting and
lobbying firm that works with school districts, Zimmer asked, “On a
scale of 1 to 10, where would you put, with 1 being the least and 10 the
most, how important is (extending) Prop. 30?”
“Oh, 10. It’s the most important,” Shimasaki responded.
Zimmer went on, explaining the district’s mission to maintain an “equity
agenda” for all the children in the district in the face of potential
economic distress and a need to develop a strategy to stem an enrollment
decline of 3 percent annually that has been underway for more than a
decade and has cost L.A. Unified nearly a billion dollars in lost state
revenue.
He asked Shimasaki where the balance is between policy decisions based on further investment or program cutbacks.
“You’re not the only (district) now going through that,” Shimasaki said.
“But I’m not sure where you go between those two things.”
But he then agreed with Zimmer, who said, “So investing, for example, in
growing enrollment is something you would strategically recommend,
whatever that pathway might be that we determine.”
“Right,” Shimasaki said, agreeing again with Zimmer’s assertion: “Even
though the (economic) picture is bleaker in the future, not investing
could be even more dangerous.”
______________
►STILL LISTENING, NO BIG PLAN YET: LAUSD CHIEF MICHELLE KING WRAPS UP COMMUNITY TOUR FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR
Posted on LA School Report by Sarah Favot | http://bit.ly/1sFXWzt
Posted on May 26, 2016 4:29 pm :: As Michelle King wrapped up her
“listen and learn” tour in her first semester as LA Unified
superintendent, she said she still has more listening to do before
announcing her priorities, a strategy that some experts said could make
her more successful than her predecessors.
Many people have been asking her about her plans, but “It’s not going to
be a Michelle plan,” she said. “The Board of Education and I, we have
said, it’s going to be an LAUSD plan. It’s going to be built from the
ground up.”
Tuesday’s 8 a.m. town hall at Nightingale Middle School in Cypress Park
was the last of three large forums on her tour before the end of the
school year and attracted a little more than 100 people. The first, in
March at Pacoima Middle School, drew about 700 people, while about 500
attended one earlier this month at Gage Middle School in Huntington
Park.
Antonio Plascencia Jr., who leads King’s transition team, said that the
superintendent has held about 20 other meetings of various sizes with
audiences from high school students to school facilities managers and
members of community groups.
Plascencia said the qualitative data collected at the meetings will be used to develop King’s strategic plan.
Some parents said Tuesday it was the first time they had ever seen an LA Unified superintendent at their neighborhood school.
District officials said they believe King is the first superintendent to
have an organized series of forums to meet with parents and the
community.
“No previous superintendent has ever done that. I think that’s a good start,” said parent Courtney Everts Mykytyn.
ASSESSING THE STRATEGY
Experts said that King’s approach of meeting with parents and community members before revealing her priorities is wise.
Pedro Garcia, a professor of clinical education at USC’s Rossier School
of Education, said King’s leadership style is to build relationships and
a support team that will help to carry out the vision.
“She knows the system. She has a much better perspective than the
previous superintendent,” said Garcia, a former schools superintendent
in Nashville, Tenn., and in districts in California.
“When she comes up with a vision, I think it will be very clear, very
direct and accurate, instead of pie in the sky. I wouldn’t worry about
the fact that she hasn’t verbalized a vision yet.”
Pedro Noguera, distinguished professor of education at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences, agreed.
He said around the country he’s seen some new superintendents
immediately take charge with big ideas, while others take a long time to
come up with a strategic plan. He said he’s rarely seen superintendents
with the former approach become successful.
He said King’s strategy is somewhere in the middle.
“I think it’s a smart approach, and the reason why is I think that is
part of what she’s got to do is demonstrate that the district is going
to be responsive to the concerns and the aspirations of the community
and take that into consideration,” Noguera said.
“She’s got to start to rebuild a sense of confidence in the school
system, and you can’t do that by just putting out your own ideas, you
have to engage in a dialogue,” he added.
Noguera also said that King has to make sure the school board is
informed about the challenges — particularly financial ones — facing
the district before she announces her priorities because her plans must
address those issues.
“If they don’t fully understand what the challenge is then how are they
going to agree to any plan to address them,” said Noguera, who has been
hired by the district to facilitate board retreats.
The plan that King comes up with must also address the issues that have been raised in these community town halls, Noguera said.
Both Garcia and Noguera expect that King will announce her plans by the beginning of the fall.
Calling herself an LAUSD “lifer,” King told the audience Tuesday about
herself from her experience in the district as a student to a teacher to
an administrator. She said she still considers herself a teacher.
WHAT STUDENTS, PARENTS WANT
King gave an overview of the feedback that she’s heard so far from
parents and students on her listening tours throughout the district. She
said she’s “still on the road.”
She said students of all ages in the district told her in various ways
they want their teachers to have high expectations of them. She said
students also want to have electives at their schools, so they can
choose classes like music or art in addition to required courses.
Students also want to have a safe environment at their schools. Older
students spoke about wanting their schools to implement restorative
justice practices.
She said she’s heard from parents that they want teachers to teach
rigorous curriculum, so that their kids are prepared to go to college or
into a career. King also said parents want the district to offer
continuous pathways so that if a child is enrolled in a dual language
immersion program in elementary school, there is an option to continue
that program in middle school and high school. She said the district
will expand its offering of dual language programs to include Arabic and
French next year.
The audience applauded when King mentioned her plans to expand popular magnet school programs.
King said she also wanted to expand the district’s teaching of computer science and coding skills.
King said her biggest goal is to raise graduation rates and ensure that students are prepared to go to college.
She stressed her belief in school choice and that not “one size fits
all,” pointing to the experience she had with her three daughters.
“All three of them were different and really had different interests and
different needs and so that really became a part of me and my
philosophy about making sure that we design, cultivate based on the
school’s needs, on a community’s needs,” King said.
For Lisette Duarte, who was sitting in the front row of the auditorium,
that message hit home. Duarte has a son in the 10th grade who is
attending a Partnerships to Uplift Communities charter school on the
Sotomayor Learning Academies campus. Her daughter is in 5th grade at
Monte Vista Elementary School, a traditional school.
“It’s not a one size fits all, she really gets that,” Duarte said
afterward. “I love that she was kind of bridging that divide. We need to
lift those failing or struggling schools and we need to share best
practices.”
Duarte said she appreciated that King came to the community to hear from
parents, rather than the superintendent saying this is what the
community needs.
“The community came because they have questions, concerns or comments,”
she said. “This is a great first step. I want to see more of it.”
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
Tuesday’s event was described as a “conversation.” During the hour-long
town hall, King spoke and then was interviewed by school board member
Ref Rodriguez, who represents District 5 in east and northeast Los
Angeles. Rodriguez asked some of his own questions and then asked about
six or seven questions submitted from the audience.
Some parents said they wished they could have asked their own questions.
Rodriguez said he decided to have audience members submit their
questions in writing, so that all of the questions could be addressed
even if they ran out of time during the forum.
Rodriguez said at another event, parents came up to microphones to ask
their questions, and some stood in line at the microphone for 40 minutes
and weren’t able to ask their questions.
About 45 people submitted questions.
Plascencia said the district plans to follow up with people who
submitted questions. If the question deals with a school-specific issue,
he said, the question will be forwarded to local administrators, and
the superintendent’s office would ensure there is follow-up.
King said she believed local superintendents and school administrators should be able to address school-specific concerns.
Some parents came to the town hall looking for answers about problems at their child’s school.
Zaira Cervantes brought her 2-year-old son to the town hall. She said
she wanted to tell the superintendent about an issue she has at the
Olympic Primary Center, where one of her daughters attends.
“I think it’s good to have this meeting, She’s the only one that can help us,” Cervantes said.
“She seems that she cares about our kids.”
Cervantes didn’t get the answers she was looking for Tuesday but hoped the superintendent would respond.
Another parent, Rosaura Roa, came with a group of parents from Arroyo
Seco Museum Science Magnet School. She said she was hoping to speak with
the superintendent herself. She spoke with Plascencia after the forum.
“I hope she will have answers,” Roa said.
Everts Mykytyn said she thought the town hall forum wasn’t the place to
talk about an individual issue with her child. She said she submitted a
question about how the superintendent would ensure that the push for
school choice doesn’t segregate schools.
“I’ll be interested to see who and if anyone gets back to me on that question,” she said.
Plascencia said the “listen and learn” tour won’t end with the wrap-up
of the school year. He said the superintendent plans to have a
“back-to-school” series in the new school year.
HOUSE AND SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN: ESSA
ACCOUNTABILITY REGULATIONS NEED CLOSE REVIEW
CHAIRMEN SAY IF REGULATION DOESN'T FOLLOW LAW, THEY WILL SEEK TO OVERTURN IT THROUGH CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT
From FitzWire :: By email
May 27, 2016 :: House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman
John Kline (R-MN) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) released the following
statements after the Department of Education released its proposed
regulation implementing "accountability" provisions in the Every Student
Succeeds Act. This proposed regulation is the first step of the
regulatory process. The public will have 60 days to comment on the
proposal.
CONGRESSMAN KLINE SAID: "Congress worked on a bipartisan basis to move
the country away from the prescriptive federal mandates and requirements
of No Child Left Behind. We replaced that failed law with a
fundamentally different approach that empowers state and local leaders
to determine what's best for their schools and students. I am deeply
concerned the department is trying to take us back to the days when
Washington dictated national education policy. I will fully review this
proposed rule and intend to hold a hearing on it in the coming weeks. If
this proposal results in a rule that does not reflect the letter and
intent of the law, then we will use every available tool to ensure this
bipartisan law is implemented as Congress intended."
SENATOR ALEXANDER SAID: "I will review this proposed regulation to make
sure that it reflects the decision of Congress last year to reverse the
trend toward a national school board and restore responsibility to
states, school districts, and teachers to design their own
accountability systems. The law fixing No Child Left Behind was passed
with large bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate. I am
disappointed that the draft regulation seems to include provisions that
the Congress considered-and expressly rejected. If the final regulation
does not implement the law the way Congress wrote it, I will introduce a
resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn it."
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
AB 934: A LEGISLATIVE FIX FOR VERGARA?
http://bit.ly/1U87r0P
¿HOW MUCH DO CHARTER SCHOOLS COST LA UNIFIED? :: Fact-checking the teachers union's estimate | 89.3 KPCC
http://bit.ly/1XSRZeP
Putting Parents First: POLICYMAKERS MUST DO MORE TO ENSURE EDUCATION LAWS DON'T OVERLOOK PARENTS. | US News Opinion
http://bit.ly/1s8hz3e
LEAKED QUESTIONS REKINDLE DEBATE OVER COMMON CORE TESTS - The New York Times
https://t.co/2VHIGPKk3q
PROPOSED TEXAS TEXTBOOK SAYS SOME MEXICAN AMERICANS ‘WANTED TO DESTROY’ U.S. SOCIETY - The Washington Post
https://t.co/9t1l5xefvK
Gun Violence Brought Home: A DRUMBEAT OF MULTIPLE SHOOTINGS ...BUT AMERICA ISN’T LISTENING
http://bit.ly/1s5R8uY
Special Report: LA CHARTER SCHOOL UNDER REVIEW AFTER HIGHLY-PAID PRINCIPAL CHARGES $100K ON CREDIT CARD
http://bit.ly/1TsxXYt
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
MONDAY MAY 30
MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY
NO SCHOOL
TUESDAY MAY 31:
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING - May 31, 2016 - 9:00 a.m. - Including Closed Session Items
Start: 05/31/2016 9:00 am
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY COMMITTEE MEETING - May
31, 2016 - 10:00 a.m. POSTPONED TO THURSDAY, JUNE 2 AT 10:00 A.M.
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING - May 31, 2016 - Time Change to 10:00 a.m.
Start: 05/31/2016 10:00 am
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND PARENT ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE - May 31, 2016 - 2:00 p.m. POSTPONED TO THURSDAY, JUNE 2 AT 1:00 P.M.
THURSDAY JUNE 2:
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY COMMITTEE MEETING - THURSDAY, JUNE 2 - 10:00 A.M. Postponed from May 31, 2016
Start: 06/02/2016 10:00 am
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND PARENT ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE -Thursday, June 2, 2016 - 1:00 p.m. - Rescheduled from May 31, 2016
Start: 06/02/2016 1:00 pm
*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!
|
