Another case/anaother story

4LAKids: Sunday 17•Apr•2016 In This Issue:  •  APPEALS COURT REVERSES VERGARA RULING (2 stories)  •  COURT RULING IN CALIFORNIA TENURE CHALLENGE IS UNLIKELY TO DERAIL THE REFORM MOVEMENT …or (smf’s 2¢) discourage the Times’ Editorial Board  •  FORMER L.A. CHARTER SCHOOL LEADER FINED FOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST  •  MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI COMMITS LOS ANGELES TO A GOAL OF GIVING EVERY LAUSD GRADUATE ONE FREE YEAR OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE  •  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:  •  ► Friends4smf :: The GoFundMe campaign  •  Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting  •  4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!  •  4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc. Q: Someone once asked me what I thought of Vergara. A: “Well,” I said., “in the unlikely event of an erection lasting more than four hours one should probably get professional medical help.” VERGARA v. CTA was a landmark show trial in the great “Let’s take public education out of the hands of public educators - run it through the courts - and put it into the boardrooms of ©orporate $chool ®eformers and Silicon Valley Edupreneurs” movement. FRIEDRICHS v. CTA – The U.S. 9th District Court’s ruling in favor of CTA recently affirmed by an equally divided Supreme Court was another such public legal proceeding, accompanied by similar judicial sturm und drang – and promoted by many-of-the-same (un)usual suspects. Vergara was tried in a courtroom of the L.A. Superior Court by a judge and on the steps of the courthouse by the media – recounted nightly+breathlessly by L.A. School Report …which was founded by former Vice President and L.A. Bureau Chief of Court TV Jamie Alter Lynton. It may not have been reality T.V. …but it was just as real! The lawsuit was brought and funded by an organization called Students Matter, bankrolled by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch on behalf of nine students. The complaint argued that current state law makes it too much work/too time consuming/too hard to fire ineffective teachers. Vergara was a photo opportunity for high profile attorneys, almost-a-billionaire venture capitalists and telegenic/camera ready plaintiffs – allegedly denied a good education by employment protections and due-process safeguards built into the California Ed Code by evil teachers’ unions and their subservient friends in the legislature. It was “Bad Teacher: The Courtroom Drama” The star witness for the plaintiffs was one Dr. John E. (‘Don’t call me Johnny’) Deasy, superintendent of LAUSD – who swore under oath that LAUSD was ungovernable under the teacher ‘tenure’ standards in the Ed Code. Bad Teachers were everywhere and Dr. John’s hands were tied; he couldn’t fire his way out of the mess! (Semantics 411: Public school teachers don’t have ‘tenure’, which is lifetime employment guaranteed to college+university professors. Teachers have the protection of due process – which mandates a fair hearing over employment issues.) ●● Another case/another story: Deasy’s own firing from LAUSD would result from other testimony he gave, in Cruz v. CA. Deasy in Vergara said LAUSD was ungovernable; Judge Hernandez in Cruz pretty much said that LAUSD was ungoverned. ROUND 1 TO THE PLAINTIFFS: Deasy and the Vergara Plaintiffs ultimately convinced Judge Rolf M. Treu that job protections for teachers were so harmful that they deprived students of their constitutional right to an education. The laws, Treu wrote in his 2014 opinion, protected a small but significant number of “grossly ineffective” teachers and disproportionately harmed poor and minority students. He went on to say the tenure system resulted in educational malpractice that “shocks the conscience.” ROUND 2 TO THE APPELLANTS: Last Thursday the California Court of Appeals for the Second District unanimously reversed Judge Treu and found that the plaintiffs failed to show “that the statutes inevitably cause a certain group of students to receive an education inferior to the education received by other students” – the prerequisite for an equal protection claim. “With no proper showing of a constitutional violation, the court is without power to strike down the challenged statutes. The court’s job is merely to determine whether the statutes are constitutional, not if they are ‘a good idea’.” THE THIRD AND DECIDING ROUND was always going to be in the California State Supreme Court; the case is about the California State Constitution and the California Supremes will be the final arbiter. Stay tuned. In the meanwhile it is hoped that the legislature will step in and tweak the Ed Code and perhaps add a little bit more time to the period during which new teachers can be evaluated before they receive protected status. Watch this space. KUDOS TO MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI, who in his State of the City Address Thursday said Los Angeles will commit to a goal of giving every hardworking graduate of the Los Angeles Unified School District one free year of community college. Mayor Garcetti once asked me to periodically advise him on education issues; I have been loath (or perhaps dilatory) in doing so …and if Hizzoner keeps doing the right things I’m going to uncharacteristically keep my mouth shut! THE MOUNTAIN LION ON THE CAMPUS AT JOHN F. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL on Friday cannot go unremarked on. We live in and share a wonderful world with all nature of things. ON SATURDAY, in the heart of downtown; within view of city hall and other iconic architectural buildings and works of art, Grand Park was the spotlight for a very spectacular display of talent from all five local school districts within LAUSD. The LAUSD Grand Arts Festival, hosted by the Arts Education celebrated LAUSD’s unique and diverse artistic culture. 15,000 Festival attendees were expected to attend this free, public event. Festival goers witnessed over 2,000 LAUSD student performers on four stages, a student visual arts gallery, and a film festival of original student films being sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. There were scores of informational and interactive booths from community arts partners, LAUSD arts schools, and higher education institutions, as well as family activities and food trucks. “My film and media students are ready,” says former entertainment industry insider Aaron Lemos, current veteran master instructor of digital media and film (and lion-lockdown survivor) at John F. Kennedy Senior High School in Granada Hills. Mr. Lemos’ students are superstars in their own right, heading to national competitions in late May to maintain their championship titles. “We look forward to the Grand Arts Festival this year to see what the other students are expressing through digital media and film, have fun, and celebrate the young people’s talent and artistry.” This year’s Arts Festival will also feature some professional performers on the festival main stage. This opportunity to connect with professionals has schools excited. “This is the first time our choir will be on the main stage performing,” said Dr. Iris Stevenson, longtime chair of the music department at Crenshaw Senior High School (…and Deasy-era ‘Teacher Jail’ inmate). “I have taken these kids all over the world to perform, and it is so good to share our talent at home.” ¡Onward/Adelante! - smf APPEALS COURT REVERSES VERGARA RULING (2 stories) ►CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT REVERSES DECISION TO OVERTURN TEACHER TENURE RULES By Jennifer Medina and Motoko Rich | New York Times | http://nyti.ms/23Fis48 April 14, 2016 :: Los Angeles — A California appeals court ruled on Thursday that the state’s job protections for teachers do not deprive poor and minority students of a quality education or violate their civil rights — reversing a landmark lower court decision that had overturned the state’s teacher tenure rules. The decision put a roadblock — at least temporarily — in front of a national movement, financed by several philanthropists and businesspeople, to challenge entrenched protections for teachers, championed by their unions. Two years ago, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge struck down five California statutes connected with the awarding of tenure, as well as rules that govern the use of seniority to determine layoffs during budget crises. Ruling in a case brought by a group of nine high school students — four of whom have since graduated — the judge, Rolf Treu, said the statutes violated the students’ rights to an equal education under the California Constitution because they allowed poorly performing teachers to remain indefinitely in classrooms. In reversing the trial court’s decision, a panel of three appeals judges wrote that if ineffective teachers are in place, the statutes themselves were not to blame because it was school and district administrators who “determine where teachers within a district are assigned to teach.” The laws themselves, the judges wrote, do not instruct districts in where to place teachers. “The court’s job is merely to determine whether the statutes are constitutional,” the panel wrote, “not if they are ‘a good idea.’” Teachers unions immediately welcomed the ruling. “I consider this a victory for teachers and a victory for students,” said Eric C. Heins, the president of the California Teachers Association. “What these statutes have done is, one, they bring stability to the system, and for many students they bring stability to their schools and to the teachers in their schools. For many kids, the school environment is the only stable environment that many of them have.” Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction in California, said the appeals court decision would allow districts to recruit and train teachers at a time of shortages in the state. “All of our students deserve great teachers,” Mr. Torlakson said in a statement. “Teachers are not the problem in our schools — they are the answer to helping students succeed on the pathway to 21st century college and careers.” The plaintiffs in the case, known as Vergara v. California, said they would appeal to the state Supreme Court. “The Court of Appeal’s decision mistakenly blames local school districts for the egregious constitutional violations students are suffering each and every day,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “But the mountain of evidence we put on at trial proved — beyond any reasonable dispute — that the irrational, arbitrary and abominable laws at issue in this case shackle school districts and impose severe and irreparable harm on students.” The decision came just a day after another group of parents served notice to defendants in a lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s job protections for teachers. A similar lawsuit is also pending in New York. The plaintiffs in Minnesota and New York vowed to press on, with backing from the Partnership for Educational Justice, a New York-based group that receives financing from the foundations of Eli Broad, a Los Angeles billionaire, and the Walton family, founders of Walmart. Katharine Strunk, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California, said that while the ruling may be considered a victory for teachers’ unions, the case had sparked a national conversation over teacher hiring and firing. “The judges are saying things are not right in California, that there are drawbacks to the current system, but this is not something for the courts to decide,” Ms. Strunk said. “I don’t think anyone believes that these laws are the best we can do.” After the trial court judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs two years ago, Arne Duncan, former United States secretary of education, applauded the decision, saying he hoped it would prompt policy makers to change tenure statutes. On Thursday, John B. King Jr., Mr. Duncan’s successor, was not immediately available for comment. The plaintiffs argued that because the state allows districts to grant tenure after just two years, and because districts often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove teachers they consider low-performing, tenure rules can lock in ineffective educators for life. All too often, the plaintiffs argued, the worst teachers are placed in schools with high concentrations of low-income and minority students. In its ruling, the appeals court said that “the challenged statutes do not in any way instruct administrators regarding which teachers to assign to which schools.” The judges acknowledged that principals got rid of “highly ineffective teachers” by transferring them to other schools, including schools with many poor students. “This phenomenon is extremely troubling and should not be allowed to occur,” they wrote, “but it does not inevitably flow from the challenged statutes.” ______________ ►CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS VERGARA RULING By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/1VskFes April 14, 2016 :: A California appeals court has struck down a trial judge’s controversial Vergara ruling that declared that several state laws governing teacher hiring, firing and layoffs are unconstitutional. The appeals court decision in Vergara v. the State of California and the California Teachers Association is a victory for teachers unions in a case that has drawn national attention. At issue were five state laws that established layoff procedures based on seniority, laid out dismissal procedures and awarded teachers permanent status, known as tenure, after two years on the job. David Welch, the driving force behind Students Matter, the organization that filed the lawsuit on behalf of nine students, promised the decision would be appealed to the California Supreme Court. “I’m not going to mince words – we lost,” he wrote in an email. “This is a sad day for every child struggling to get the quality education he or she deserves – and is guaranteed by our state constitution.” In his 2014 ruling, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that the teacher workplace laws interfered with students’ constitutional right to a quality education. The laws, Treu wrote, protected a small but significant number of “grossly ineffective” teachers and disproportionately harmed poor and minority students. In his 16-page decision, Treu wrote that evidence from a two-month trial “shocked the conscience.” But in a strongly worded, unanimous decision, three judges of the Second District Court of Appeal, based in Los Angeles, wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show “that the statutes inevitably cause a certain group of students to receive an education inferior to the education received by other students” – the prerequisite for an equal protection claim. “With no proper showing of a constitutional violation, the court is without power to strike down the challenged statutes. The court’s job is merely to determine whether the statutes are constitutional, not if they are ‘a good idea,’” the decision states. The judges also said that administrators are responsible for deciding where low-performing teachers teach, but that the lawsuit attacked the statutes, not how they may have been inequitably applied. “Although the statutes may lead to the hiring and retention of more ineffective teachers than a hypothetical alternative system would, the statutes do not address the assignment of teachers; instead, administrators – not the statutes – ultimately determine where teachers within a district are assigned to teach,” the ruling states. In a statement Thursday, Theodore Boutrous, lead attorney for Students Matter, said that the appeals court got it wrong. The decision “mistakenly blames local school districts for the egregious constitutional violations students are suffering each and every day, but the mountain of evidence we put on at trial proved – beyond any reasonable dispute – that the irrational, arbitrary, and abominable laws at issue in this case shackle school districts and impose severe and irreparable harm on students.” He expressed optimism that “the California Supreme Court will have the final say.” CTA President Eric Heins celebrated the ruling as a “great day for educators, and, more importantly, for students.” “Today’s ruling reversing Treu’s decision overwhelmingly underscores that the laws under attack have been good for public education and good for kids and that the plaintiffs failed to establish any violation of a student’s constitutional rights,” he said in a statement. “Stripping teachers of their ability to stand up for their students and robbing school districts of the tools they need to make sound employment decisions was a wrong-headed scheme developed by people with no education expertise and the appellate court justices saw that.” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a statement, “The Appellate Court clearly recognized that Vergara was a flawed ruling and overturned it unanimously. Now we can move forward together to recruit, train, and support talented and dedicated educators in school districts all across our great state. Read the Vergara v. CTA Court of Appeals ruling here. COURT RULING IN CALIFORNIA TENURE CHALLENGE IS UNLIKELY TO DERAIL THE REFORM MOVEMENT …or (smf’s 2¢) discourage the Times’ Editorial Board by Joy Resmovits , Howard Blume and Sonali Kohli | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1SdMDF9 April 16, 2015 :: An appeals court decision this week upholding California's teacher tenure and seniority rules leaves school reform forces at a crossroads as they press for changes across the nation. The movement had made the Vergara case — which would have thrown out the nation's most generous teacher employment protections — a centerpiece in their effort to remake schools. Despite the defeat in California, nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups have scored victories in other states. But experts say making inroads has become harder recently as teachers' unions have flexed their muscle locally and nationally. The Vergara decision came just weeks after another major victory for teachers' unions. The U.S. Supreme Court was set to review a California case, which could have prevented unions from collecting dues from employees who didn't agree to become members. Some observers believed the conservative court would rule against the unions. But the court deadlocked 4-4 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Chester Finn, a former Reagan administration education official and senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute, acknowledged that teachers' unions have racked up significant victories. "The two big courtroom centered strategies for weakening teacher union power both kind of bit the dust in the last few weeks," he said. "If I were the head of one of the unions, I would be gloating with satisfaction that my side prevailed and that these bad guys haven't done any serious damage to me." But he and others believe reform efforts can move forward from the defeats, noting they continue to be well-funded and well-organized. In California, backers were looking for the silver linings in the Vergara defeat while also noting they were appealing the case to the California Supreme Court. "I think where the movement goes is where it's been going for the last two years — people are suddenly paying attention to the impact of ineffective teachers on students, about evaluation, about dismissal policies," said Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University who testified on behalf of the Vergara plaintiffs. Ben Austin, an official with Students Matter, the nonprofit Silicon Valley group sponsoring the Vergara plaintiffs, agrees: "I can remember not that long ago when these issues were untouchable; you just couldn't mention them without getting laughed out of the halls" of Sacramento. Unlike in many other states, California lawmakers refused to mandate the use of student test scores as a significant portion of a teacher's evaluation. Traditional teacher job protections are probably the strongest in the country: an instructor earns tenure safeguards after two years,; the dismissal process is longer and more complex than for other state employees, and layoffs are based primarily on seniority rather than performance. The Vergara lawsuit, to supporters, represented a way around the political stronghold. They argue that it's far too difficult to remove bad teachers and that this hurts students. Unions and their supporters said eliminating tenure and seniority would result in a lower-quality teaching corps and cause the profession to attract and retain fewer talented people who have other career options. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, hailed the Vegara ruling. Weingarten acknowledges that the current tenure laws are problematic, and said that the state of California should "work together" to improve them. "You can't fire your way to a teaching force," she said. Reform forces scored big wins in North Carolina, which virtually eliminated tenure. And in Wisconsin, union political funding has largely dried up because of laws that limit the collection of membership dues. Currently, there are two similar lawsuits that target tenure in New York and Minnesota, and backers say those are moving forward despite Vergara. But the environment has been more challenging elsewhere. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been pushing back against reforms embraced by predecessor Michael Bloomberg. Still, one advantage the reformers still retain is money. The movement is backed by some of the nation's wealthiest foundations and philanthropists, including Bloomberg and the heirs to the Walmart fortune. "They have a huge reservoir of money," said retired California teacher Anthony Cody, who has become a leader of a group opposing the reformers. "And they will keep trying to find avenues to break unions wherever they can." _____________ ►NEW VERGARA RULING MAKES CLEAR IT'S LEGISLATURE'S JOB TO FIX LAWS PROTECTING BAD TEACHERS by The L.A. Times Editorial Board | http://lat.ms/1V9oYeC April 14, 2016 :: Not every weakness in California’s public schools is tantamount to an assault on the state Constitution. After a problematic lower-court ruling struck down various job protections for California teachers, an appeals court rendered a more sensible conclusion Thursday: the state’s current seniority and tenure laws aren’t optimal, but they fall short of being unconstitutional. At issue in the case of Vergara vs. California were laws that lay out a long and tortuous procedure for teachers to appeal a firing, require that less experienced teachers almost always be let go first when districts carry out layoffs and give principals only 18 months to decide whether a new teacher deserves tenure. These laws go too far. Bad teachers are a stain on schools; parents will go to almost any lengths to avoid the worst of them. Students lose learning time and, perhaps worse, their interest in school under the weakest and least motivated instructors. The laws should be changed, but it is not the courts’ job to intervene in every poorly crafted or outdated statute. The question was whether these protections so harmed education — and discriminated against the black and Latino students who often come from low-income families and attend schools with fewer resources — that they violated constitutional guarantees of equal treatment and a free and high-quality education. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu decided that they did, despite evidence that truly awful teachers make up a tiny percentage (perhaps 1% to 3%) of the overall teaching force. In addition, as the appeals panel noted, there’s little proof that the weakest teachers are disproportionately assigned to schools with large numbers of black and Latino students. Even if that’s so, that problem isn’t caused by state law, but by union contracts in each district that give more experienced teachers first shot at job openings at other schools, instead of assigning teachers where they’re most needed. What happens next? Probably nothing very good. The school reform-minded plaintiffs vow to appeal. With the pressure of a lawsuit off its neck, the Legislature, which has been far too solicitous of the wishes of the California Teachers Assn., is less likely to pass AB 934, a reasonable legislative fix to the laws in question that would still protect teachers from capricious and vindictive firings. Worse, the battle lines between reformers and union-allied groups become even more deeply etched. This state has real problems to work on in its schools, especially the lack of counselors and the looming teacher shortage. If California can’t draw more enthusiastic and well-trained new teachers to fill openings in classrooms, education will suffer mightily — especially for disadvantaged students. This is the big issue that both sides should get to work on resolving. _______ ●●ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ EDUCATION MATTERS FUNDING: Education Matters – the Times’ self-described “education initiative to inform parents, educators and students across California” receives funding from a number of foundations. The California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Baxter Family Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the California Endowment and the Wasserman Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, The Times retains complete control over editorial content. FORMER L.A. CHARTER SCHOOL LEADER FINED FOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST by Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1VwwYqz April 13, 2016 :: A former local charter school operator has agreed to pay a $16,000 fine for misconduct that includes using public education funds to lease her own buildings. Under a tentative settlement with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, Kendra Okonkwo acknowledges that she improperly used her official position “to influence governmental decisions in which she had a financial interest,” according to documents posted Monday by the state agency. The settlement or “stipulation” notes two instances of wrongdoing: establishing leases for the school in two buildings that Okonkwo owned and arranging for public funds to pay for renovations to these structures. The school, Wisdom Academy for Young Scientists, lost its charter to operate and closed last year. “In this matter, Okonkwo engaged in a pattern of violations in which she made, used or attempted to use her official position to influence governmental decisions involving real property in which she had a significant financial interest,” the commission said. Okonkwo declined to comment, but the commission cited several factors for not imposing a larger fine, including that “Okonkwo understands the seriousness of the violations and accepts responsibility for her actions.” The South Los Angeles school, which opened in 2006, had been targeted by regulators for several years. The violations cited this week by the state date from 2010 and 2011, when Okonkwo earned a total of $223,615 as the elementary school’s executive director. She also received about $19,000 a month in rent from the school. She attempted to eliminate the appearance of conflict by assigning the property to a new, separate corporation, for which her mother signed the leases. But the arrangement did not pass legal muster, according to the state. The other violation pertains to Okonkwo signing contracts for school-funded renovations worth $62,000. Okonkwo addressed this conflict by resigning as executive director. Someone else then signed the renovation contract. Charters are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. Wisdom Academy began under the jurisdiction of the L.A. Unified School District, which refused to renew the school after its initial five-year charter expired. A report to the school board cited “serious concerns pertaining to violations of conflict-of-interest laws against self-dealing on the part of the school's executive director as well as insufficient governance by the … board of directors.” The L.A. Unified action did not close the school because, under state law, a charter can appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which chose to take over as the supervising agency. But the county office eventually turned against the school as well, revoking its charter in 2014, and leading to its shutdown at the end of the last school year. The county cited a report by state auditors, who concluded that administrators may have funneled millions in state funds to Okonkwo, her relatives and close associates. Some of the allegations bordered on the bizarre. Auditors questioned, for example, the use of school funds to pay a $566,803 settlement to a former teacher who sued the organization for wrongful termination after she was directed by Okonkwo to travel with her to Nigeria to marry Okonkwo's brother-in-law for the purpose of making him a United States citizen. The organization's payment of the settlement was inappropriate because Okonkwo was not acting within the scope of her school employment, auditors concluded. The school took its fight to survive all the way to the state board of education. In papers filed with the state, Wisdom’s leaders accused auditors and the county office of misconduct and “open hostility … against this African American operated school,” calling it “the culmination of years of unfair treatment and retaliation … because a few [county office] staff members dislike our school’s founder Kendra Okonkwo, her family, the thickness of her accent, and the color of her skin.” State officials declined to overrule the charter revocation. MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI COMMITS LOS ANGELES TO A GOAL OF GIVING EVERY LAUSD GRADUATE ONE FREE YEAR OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE by City News Service+ABC7.com staff | http://bit.ly/1SKna5p Thursday, April 14, 2016 06:59PM | LOS ANGELES (KABC) :: Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles will commit to a goal of giving every hardworking graduate of the Los Angeles Unified School District one free year of community college. Delivering his annual State of the City address on Thursday, Garcetti also said the city is looking at plans to put 260 new cops on the street, fix more broken sidewalks and streets, fight homelessness and create jobs for reformed ex-gang members. He is working on the college plan, he said, in partnership with LAUSD and the Los Angeles Community College District. He said it is similar to a program announced by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union last year that sought to offer two free years of community college to U.S. students. "Tonight Los Angeles will become the largest city in the nation to commit ourselves to a new goal: every hardworking student who graduates from LAUSD will receive one free year of community college," Garcetti said. A spokesperson for the mayor said the deal is not done yet, but when finalized it would start in 2017. Funding would come from the community college district, the city and a private philanthropist. Garcetti spoke at Noribachi, an LED manufacturer in LA's Harbor City neighborhood that relocated from New Mexico four years ago and has since won national recognition for its rapid growth. The mayor focused primarily on jobs, wages and businesses in his address. He said under one city program, launched by City Attorney Mike Feuer, the city will provide education and job training to 1,500 former gang members. Garcetti said he also expanded the city's program to match young people with jobs, tripling the number from 5,000 when he took office to an expected 15,000 this year. He noted that the city expects to hire 5,000 new employees over the next two years, and recruiting for those positions will target communities in need, including ex-offenders. He also said the city needs to step up its efforts to fight homelessness. The city budget Garcetti will propose next week will commit $138 million to get homeless people off the streets, a figure he described as a "tenfold" increase in the city's investment. Next year, he said, the city will place a comprehensive measure to fight homelessness on the local ballot that will include a "linkage fee" on developers who build new projects. Garcetti has also recently been touting the 109,000 jobs that the city has added since he took office in 2013 and the 5.8 percent unemployment rate, about half of what it was in 2012. The focus on job creation follows a year in which Garcetti and the City Council adopted a measure to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 an hour by 2020, creating fears among businesses that the city could lose jobs. Garcetti urged Angelenos to support him in his vision for the city, which he said includes plans not just to fix problems for the next few years, but for an entire generation. "If Kobe Bryant could post 60 points and lead his team to victory in his final game, come on guys we can do this," he said. HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources STUDENT BOARD MEMBER LEON POPA WEIGHS IN ON HIS EXPERIENCE AS SEARCH FOR SUCCESSOR BEGINS | LAUSD Daily http://bit.ly/1r4MKfF THIS SCHOOL IS OPENING THE FIRST GENDER-NEUTRAL BATHROOM IN LOS ANGELES UNIFIED - LA Times http://lat.ms/1W8ddnN EVENTS: Coming up next week... All Tuesday April 19, 2016: • BUDGET, FACILITIES AND AUDIT COMMITTEE - - 10:00 A.M. • EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND PARENT ENGAGEMENT Committee - 2:00 p.m. – [Rescheduled from 4/5/16] • SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL CLIMATE COMMITTEE -- 4:00 P.M. *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 • LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR 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! Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 13 years. He currently serves as Vice President for Health, is a Legislation Action Committee member and a member of the Board of Directors of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids. • FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. • To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-mail smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.

Springing Forward. Falling Up.

4LAKids: Sunday 8•March•2015

In This Issue:  •  MORE ADVICE FOR BOSTON’S NEW SUPERINTENDENT  •  GAUCHOS WEAR PINK? SOMEONE MUST BE PUNISHED! – 3 stories +smf’s 2¢  •  CRIME IS AT ITS LOWEST LEVELS SINCE THE 1950's, BUT EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, FEAR OF THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR DOOR NARROWS THE CIRCLE OF OUR LIVES. WHY?  •  CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL WITHDRAWS PETITION TO BREAK AWAY FROM LAUSD: Educators have abandoned their effort to make the 100-year-old school an “Indepen  •  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:  •  Give the gift of a 4LAKids Subscription to a friend or colleague!  •  Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404  •  4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!  •  4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc.

What if they gave an election and only 8% of the voters came? We just had this election in L.A. – our home town – and now the question is: What Does It All Mean? Did Charter School Promoters triumph, as they claim? Did the Teachers Union triumph, as they claim? No and no. What we did learn was the power of running unopposed: George McKenna got 100% of the vote in District #1. Woo-woo! – these pages supported and endorsed Dr. George. The LA Times endorsed George. The charter folk endorsed George. Everybody loves a winner and George has won 3 elections in 9 months …give that man another 18 months in office! We learned another thing. The question was asked: “Do we have too many piddly little elections in L.A.?” And 77% of the most hard core, “we-vote-in-every-election-no-matter-how-piddly” voters [The few/The obsessed/The 8%] turned out and voted YES! That, ladies+gentlemen/boys+girls decided that. Decisively! The rest of it? Pretty ambiguous. In my council district they haven’t even narrowed it down to the top two finishers. The Community College District? Who knows? In LAUSD the Charter Proponents almost won. The Teachers Union almost won. It was close-but-no-cigar in Districts 3, 5 and 7. Incumbents were bruised and challengers were bloodied. The cut-men are working feverishly in the corners. The whole thing will be decided later, in the next round. On May 19th. Stay tuned. It’s back to walking precincts. Back to making calls. Back to mailing mailers. Back to tiptoeing around the rules and pretending your right hand doesn’t know what your left hand is doing. Back to being shocked – ¡shocked! – at what your unaffiliated supporters are up to. Back to raising money. But of course it isn’t about the money; it’s about the kids. And remembering that when it isn’t about the money ….that’s when it’s MOST about the money! So the special interests and the especially interested will mobilize and fill mailboxes with mailers and there will be lies and half-truths and truth squads and half-truth squads. Bogus statistics will be employed to prove falsehood. The boogeymen of Dr. Deasy+iPads+MiSiS will be used by both sides to abuse the other. Hopefully a lot of parents and community members will turn out on May 19th for what will be the last odd-year general election in L.A. history. And they/we will decide the issue based on what’s best for our 650,000 special interests – because the school board member sitting in that chair in districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 next August when new kindergarteners enroll – will still be in that chair when that class prepares to matriculate to middle school. This coming term is the moment to do some long-term-planning and set a course. As the editorial in today’s LA Times says: 5½ Years To Get It Right | http://lat.ms/1FuOyzu. This Board of Ed, these four plus the serving three, will pick the next superintendent. They will set five annual budgets –hopefully not five stop-the-bleeding reactive Band-Aids – but a five year cycle of proactive educational+fiscal reform. Not Disruptive Reform but Authentic Reform. (School Reform, like change, is a constant – we have been practicing it since at least 1830 and Horace Mann …and this leaves Plato, Joseph Lancaster and J.J. Rousseau wondering: “Were we just chopped liver?’) Because what’s best for kids and teachers and parents and voters and taxpayers is ultimately a single thing. FALLING UP: The rumors have been swirling since the return of Mr. Cortines: How will he reorganize the District? It was pretty well accepted that one of the first things to go would be the ISIC ESC (Intensive Support and Innovation Center Education Service Center).Alert the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.: How central can one be while decentralizing centrality? In many urban school districts in thrall with ©orporate $chool ®eform, placing underperforming/low-scoring (unpopularly called ‘failing’) schools into their own mini-district is called ‘Superintendent’s Districts’ in EdReform jargon. Dr. Deasy created ISIC in this/his-own image –but decided not to affix his title to it. (This may be unkindly likened to wiping the fingerprints off the candlestick/revolver/knife/rope/poison.) It is pretty well conceded by the unknown knowledgeable who gather around water coolers in break rooms and the Beaudry Cafe that Supt. Cortines is not a fan of the “superintendent’s district” concept+practice …and that ISIC would be soon to go. Other strikes against the ISIC program: • ISIC schools (¿why is one is tempted to write iSiC?) are spread across the 720 square miles of LAUSD; everyplace is too far from everywhere else. The chain of supply+command is overextended. Logistics are untenable. Distance disconnects. • The expected rapid turnaround of programs wasn’t. • The MiSiS Crisis hammered ISIC especially hard. Jefferson High School, an ISIC school, became the MiSiS poster child and Crisis ground zero. – and the intensive innovation and support never materialized. The Courts and California Dept. of Education got involved. The quick fix cost $1.1 million. Dr. Deasy left town, never to return. Last week it was announced that the ISIC superintendent, Tommy Chang, had been named superintendent of Boston Schools [http://bit.ly/1FruwWF] and 4LAKids wishes Dr. Chang and Boston well. Both are going to need it. See MORE ADVICE FOR BOSTON’S NEW SUPERINTENDENT [following]. I have always found Tommy Chang to be personable and forthcoming and much more accessible than others in Deasy’s inner circle – but I also remember what Casey Stengel said about nice guys. Chang didn’t last long enough at ISIC to really prove himself and the ISIC program was Deasy’s baby. The Boston Globe heaps praise on Chang [http://bit.ly/1wPq4S9]. Sorry Tommy, 4LAKids isn’t about to go that far! Plus I’ve received angry email from the Jefferson community who choose to disagree with my praise for (and your handling of) the Nava College Prep Academy last week At least one person views it as Us v. Them, with NCPA as an unwelcome co-locator on the Jefferson campus. I suspect that you’re looking forward to working in Massachusetts, #11 in per pupil funding at $13,361 per student. But I note the Boston media gives you credit (and sets expectations) for achieving success with less money! Based on the way that Dr. Deasy catastrophically mishandled the MiSiS Crisis at Jefferson once it was his problem I hold him ultimately responsible there. His “non mea culpa” letter to the court was a confession of gross incompetence, total disconnect, utter cluelessness and worse. John Deasy, the master of “Falling (or Failing) Up”, whose best practice has always been in dropping-the-bread and having it always land ‘butter-side-up’, originally came from Boston. Maybe LAUSD, in sending Chang to Boston returns the favor. Or maybe it’s all just a revolution of the Great Mandala. To go all biblical, in Leviticus two goats are selected for sacrifice to the Lord. One is deemed to be pure and sacrificed. The priests assign all the sins of the community to the other – the scapegoat – and set it free wander to in the wilderness. It’s a lovely metaphor; feel free to cast the roles however you wish. “We're not guilty, he was crazy And it's been going on for ten thousand years.” THIS WEEKEND is not just the 50th anniversary of that Bloody Sunday in Selma; it is also the 50th anniversary of the landing of the first US ground forces in Viet Nam. And the 50th anniversary of the death of silent screen star Harold Lloyd. IN OTHER SPECULATION ABOUT THE CHANGES TO COME: Apparently ESC North (The San Fernando Valley) will be split into two ESCs. For all the logistical reasons this makes sense – but one would hope that it’s not divided in such a way that one of the new ESCs is overwhelmingly in Board District #3 (currently Galatzan) and the other in the other in Board District 6 (Ratliff). School Board members are accountable for policy, budgets and superintendents, not turf. “CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS once viewed lifetime healthcare coverage for employees as a cheap alternative to pay raises. That decision is coming back to haunt school leaders…” - http://lat.ms/1A8EbxP “SOME THINGS HAVE CHANGED since that awful day two years ago when a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and killed 20 first-graders and six employees. “But some things have not changed, including the problem of gun violence in schools, members of an advisory commission established after the shootings said Friday as they wrapped up two years of work and presented their final report to Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.” | http://lat.ms/1E3Oo2l GODSPEED: JOHN MOCKLER (1941-2015) – It has been said again+again that there are only one or two people in Sacramento who truly understand Public Education Finance. If there was one it was Mockler. As the Sac Bee says, "He left deep footprints".| http://bit.ly/1zY8JCn LAUSD HAD ITS FIRST MEASLES CASE ON FRIDAY. The student attends Cal Burke High School, an alternative school on the campus of Panorama City High School. The initial data shows that the school has a very high vaccination rate – within the numbers that create community or “herd immunity” – so at the school this case should be an isolated instance, not an outbreak. Hopefully the infected student has not exposed siblings or other children to the disease outside the school setting. Again, Measles is extremely contagious but usually not dangerous except in infants+toddlers too young to be immunized (under one year old) – or anyone with naturally or medically compromised immunity. Pertussis (whooping cough) – which is prevented by the same vaccine – is nearing epidemic proportions in LA County because not enough people have been vaccinated. Let’s get those shots everyone! ¡Onward/Adelante! – smf …and you did set your clock ahead for Daylight Savings Time, right? MORE ADVICE FOR BOSTON’S NEW SUPERINTENDENT By Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe Columnist | http://bit.ly/1wPsb8O March 05, 2015 :: Congrats, Tommy Chang! Being superintendent of Boston’s public schools is a wonderful, maddening rollercoaster of a job. You’re probably feeling pretty nervous today, as the reality of your new responsibilities — not to mention the prospect of moving from sunny LA to this frozen hell — sinks in. But take comfort in this: No matter how great your achievements here, boatloads of Bostonians will inevitably deride you. You can’t make one of this city’s many constituencies happy without ticking off another. They’re all probably lavishing you with (conflicting) advice right now. Might I add my own? If you want a grasp of the problems you need to solve here, look not just to the system’s failing schools, but to some of its brightest stars, too. There, you’ll see success met not with rewards, but with bureaucratic and budgetary roadblocks. You’ve no doubt heard of the Orchard Gardens K-8 School in Roxbury. After all, it’s a national model for improving the educations of the poor city kids a lot of people assume are beyond help. Under visionary head Andrew Bott, that failing school — avoided by families and teachers despite a sparkling new facility — transformed itself into a mecca for dedicated staffers, and for parents desperate to give their kids chances they never had. The school now offers kids art, and high expectations, and some of the biggest academic gains in the state (though many of its students still have a long way to go). Its reward? This year, funding that falls $700,000 — 10 percent — below its needs. The gap comes because of rising salaries, as the young teachers Bott recruited several years ago gain experience, and qualify for higher pay; because of a change in the way the district defines poverty, which determines how much money each student brings into the building; because of undersubscribed (so, underfunded) special programs for English language learners and others for which the school nevertheless has to provide teachers; and other bureaucratic peculiarities too Byzantine to bore you with before you get here. The Roxbury school’s current principal (Bott left for the saner Brookline system) is looking at eliminating ten staff positions, including six teachers. She’ll have to rethink the intensive literacy programs that have been keys to student success at Orchard Gardens. There will not be as many small-group learning sessions. For supporters, it’s death by a thousand cuts. “It is maddening and mind blowing to me that the district isn’t celebrating the success of Orchard Gardens, but instead proclaiming ‘Mission accomplished,’ ” said Michelle Boyers, an education reform specialist who is on the school’s board, and is convinced the city has turned its back on the school. Interim superintendent John McDonough vehemently disagrees. “Those who would say we are retreating from our commitment to Orchard Gardens are sorely mistaken,” said McDonough, whom you’ll succeed in July. He says the district has protected the longer days, the clear mission, and the partnerships responsible for the school’s success. He says the problems faced by Orchard Gardens beset all of the city’s schools, to some degree. We can’t let this happen anywhere. It’s your job to make Orchard Gardens whole, sir. And all of the other schools — successful and failing — where principals are being forced to make agonizing decisions that could endanger hard-won gains. You’ve got to find the money — control labor costs, rein in the most expensive school bus system in the nation, reform food services, and yes, shut down some schools and consolidate others. The good news is, McDonough and others have started on some of this, and they’ve got the bruises to prove it. Which brings us to the bad news: All of the things you need to do are going to inflict some pain. People will be very, very angry. But let’s think happy thoughts, shall we? It’s months till you have to deal with this stuff. Bask in the glow of your new appointment — and that California sunshine. By the time you start, we’ll have finally stopped complaining about the snow. Which will free us up to pummel you. Your new job will never be as much fun as it is right now. GAUCHOS WEAR PINK? SOMEONE MUST BE PUNISHED! – 3 stories +smf’s 2¢ ►NARBONNE GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM BOOTED FROM CITY FINALS FOR THINKING PINK By Matt Lopez, Daily Breeze |http://bit.ly/1KDk1pY 3/02/15, 5:21 PM PST :: Narbonne High School’s girls basketball team won’t get its hard-earned shot at an L.A. City Section Open Division championship this weekend, all because it decided to “Think Pink” with its uniforms in its semifinal win. The L.A. City Section announced Monday that Narbonne would forfeit its 57-52 semifinal win Saturday over View Park and be immediately removed from the playoffs because the team wore pink letters and numbers on their jerseys. Narbonne had been scheduled to face Palisades in the City final on Saturday night. According to Article 1305 in the L.A. City Section Goldbook, “Uniform colors may only be a combination of the official school colors as listed in the Board of Managers Gold Book.” Penalties include probation and forfeiture of contests. Because pink is not a school color at Narbonne, the Gauchos needed to obtain a waiver to wear it. Narbonne coach Victoria Sanders said she didn’t realize the team needed to apply for a waiver, and that the pink numbers were simply to show solidarity with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, which hosts “Play 4 Kay” every February to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund for breast cancer research. Yow was a former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach who died in 2009. “Everybody’s baffled, it just doesn’t make sense,” Sanders said. “If you’re going to punish someone, punish me. I’ll take it. Tell me I can’t coach the game, but don’t take it away from the girls.” Even more confusing for Sanders and her team was that Narbonne wore the same jerseys in a 60-52 win over University High on Feb. 20 in the first round of the playoffs. “Nobody said a word about it then,” Sanders said. The City Section said in its ruling that Narbonne would not only be removed from the City finals, but would also not be allowed to participate in the CIF State playoffs. “I was outraged when I heard the news,” said Chris Cuaron, whose daughter, Nneka Anyaoha, is a senior on the team. “As I got a chance to read the rule I understood what it said, but what angered me even more is they allowed the girls to play in those uniforms in the first game. The officials had the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, you guys can’t wear that’ and they never did.” Narbonne players were struggling to come to grips with the ruling late Monday. “At first I thought it was a joke, but it’s completely devastating to have it end like this,” said Narbonne All-City guard Latecia Smith. “The punishment seems so harsh when it’s not the players’ fault. If we had known, we would have never disregarded the rules.” Sanders said the school tried to explain the situation to the City Section, but was unsuccessful, particularly because the program already was on probation after playing a playoff game last year with an ineligible player. That incident led to a similar ending to last season for Narbonne, which was booted from the second round of the Southern California Regionals. Narbonne will be replaced by View Park in the City final. Palisades coach Torino Johnson said he was “in disbelief” when he heard the news. “It has nothing to do with us, it’s nothing we did, but you feel torn apart for the young ladies who won’t be able to participate,” Johnson said. “But as a coach and leader we have rules and have to be held accountable to those rules.” L.A. City Section Commissioner John Aguirre did not return a call for comment Monday afternoon. _____________________________ ►NARBONNE GIRLS' BASKETBALL REINSTATED, COACH BARRED OVER PINK ON JERSEYS By Eric Sondheimer | Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1weCzWN March 3, 509 PM :: Narbonne High girls' basketball team thought it was doing a nice thing, wearing uniforms with pink letters and pink numbers to acknowledge breast cancer awareness. Instead, their good deed got them punished — and nearly disqualified. The team was reinstated to the City Section basketball playoffs on Tuesday by a three-person appeals panel, a decision that came a day after City Section officials had bounced Narbonne from competition because it violated a rule that prohibits teams from wearing anything but their official school colors. Narbonne's are green, gold and black. Narbonne will face Palisades High in the section championship game Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills, but the Gauchos will be without Coach Victoria Sanders. Sanders has been suspended for the remainder of the season as part of a trade-off that allowed her team to continue. That means she cannot guide her team in the title game or in the state playoffs should Narbonne advance. Also, the girls' basketball program will remain on probation through next season and the school will not be allowed to host a girls' basketball playoff game at Narbonne's home court in 2016. "I can accept it," Sanders said of the punishment. In a statement, the appeals panel said it reinstated the team as an attempt "to meet the spirit of the rule and place kids first." High school competition in the state is governed by the California Interscholastic Federation. The City Section is the only one of the CIF's 10 sections that has a rule on uniform colors. Earlier in the school year, the North Hollywood High girls' volleyball team forfeited a match because it wore uniforms that were entirely black. At what point does it lessen the honor to dilute playoff competition? Roger Blake, executive director of the CIF, praised the appeals panel decision. In a statement, he said the original punishment was "not appropriate" and encouraged the section's leadership to review all of its bylaws and penalties to assure that any sanctions fit the infraction. The decision to disqualify Narbonne was made by City Section Commissioner John Aguirre, who said the school's athletic director and principal were informed of the uniform violation at halftime of last Saturday's semifinal game against View Park. The Gauchos, the top-seeded team in the playoffs, won that game, 57-52. Narbonne had worn the same uniforms in a quarterfinal win over University High and no one lodged a complaint. But an assistant section commissioner in attendance at the View Park game noted the violation there. Commissioner Aguirre felt his hands were tied. "This is what the rule tells me," he said of his decision to order a forfeit and Narbonne's elimination. "I'm going to be consistent." Coach Sanders said she was unaware Narbonne needed special permission to wear pink on its uniforms. "I was under the impression we were able to do it," she said. "I didn't know we had to fill out a waiver." Several players were attending the funeral of a teammate's grandmother Monday when told their team had been disqualified. Aguirre said Narbonne's "lack of communication to follow protocol" was a factor in his original decision. The school was already on probation because the girls' basketball team used an ineligible player during last year's state playoffs. That player received two technical fouls in a game, which automatically disqualified her from participation in the next game. Instead, she played. "Administrators are responsible for making sure their teams and kids are doing the right things," Aguirre said. Mark Pilon, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which raises funds for breast cancer research, was not aware of Narbonne's plight until he was told by a reporter. "It's very unfortunate," he said, "this happened to young girls in sports." Now, instead of Narbonne being disappointed, another team has had its championship hopes crushed. View Park, which was told Monday it would be playing for the City title, learned Tuesday it would not. Coach Corry Thomas said some of his players were upset. He was pragmatic. "We didn't have the right to be in the championship," he said. "They have to understand they had their chance." ________________ ►HIGH SCHOOL COACH TAKES THE HEAT, AND TEACHES HER TEAM ABOUT CHARACTER By Scott Simon | NPR Weekend Edition Saturday | http://n.pr/1EC84vv Listen to the Story | 2 min 35 sec | http://n.pr/1He8BmW March 07, 2015 8:25 AM ET :: Gauchos don't wear pink. The Narbonne Gauchos high school girls' basketball team in southern California will play for the section championship against the Palisades High School Dolphins tonight. But they began the week on the bench, tossed from the championships because in their slender victory last Saturday over the View Park High School Knights, the Gauchos wore pink. They put pink letters and numerals on their uniforms, as part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association "Play 4 Kay" cancer awareness program. It's a pink thing they've seen pro athletes do. Narbonne had worn pink in their previous game, a win over the University High Wildcats; no one said pink was prohibited. But school conference rules require a team to wear only their official school colors: green, gold, and black for the Gauchos. Just last September, the North Hollywood High Huskies girls' volleyball team had to forfeit a victory for wearing black uniforms, when their school colors are blue, grey, and white. It is the kind of rule that may sound small-minded and senseless. Pink can't make a player run faster or jump higher. But high school districts these days have to worry that an athlete, even inadvertently, may display gang colors. LA City Section Commissioner John Aguirre disqualified the Gauchos from the playoffs. "This is what the rule tells me," Aguirre told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm going to be consistent." Such rules may often appear to be consistently ridiculous. But abiding by rules, even if you dispute them, is part of what high school sports is supposed to teach students. Just as the team's months of toil, tears, hopes and sweat were about to be dashed, the Gauchos' coach, Victoria Sanders, made a suggestion. "If you're going to punish someone, punish me," she told the conference appeals panel. "I'll take it. Tell me I can't coach the game, but don't take it away from the girls." And the panel thought that made sense — "to meet the spirit of the rule and place kids first," they said. They suspended coach Sanders for the rest of the season. But the Narbonne Gauchos will get to play on. Coach Sanders said, "I can accept it." In a time when sports often seem to show youngsters all the wrong things about life, this decision about the Gauchos seems to do something right. The rules are upheld. But youngsters won't have to pay for the mistakes of adults. And a coach showed her team how real men and women accept responsibility. ●●smf’s 2¢: “Such rules,” Scott Simon says, “may often appear to be consistently ridiculous. But abiding by rules, even if you dispute them, is part of what high school sports is supposed to teach students.” I might’ve bought that, begrudgingly, if it wasn’t for the “…but high school districts these days have to worry that an athlete, even inadvertently, may display gang colors”. Gang colors? Really? PINK? Would that gang we’re afraid of be the “Pink Ladies” in “Grease?” The team uniform color rule is only a rule in the City Section, not the Southern Section (all the area schools, public+private except LAUSD) or the California Interscholastic Federation. And the City Section is only LAUSD. Let the kids play! And rather than throwing her under the bus, let their coach coach ‘em. But alas, Cinderella was not to be. Congratulations to the City Champion Palisades Dolphins, who defeated the Narbonne Gauchos (in white and green) in an exciting and well-played game Saturday night: 60-56. Please read the article following. The gangs and the terrorists and the things that go bump in the light have won. The kids have lost. And small-minded+senseless/insensitive “the rules are the rules” adults like the “assistant section commissioner in attendance at the View Park game” are the ones enforcing the “peace”. CRIME IS AT ITS LOWEST LEVELS SINCE THE 1950's, BUT EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, FEAR OF THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR DOOR NARROWS THE CIRCLE OF OUR LIVES. WHY? Invisibilia: LEARNING FEAR :: From NPR: World With No Fear | originally broadcast January 15, 2015/Rebroadcast March 6, 2015 | http://n.pr/1BeQ0X6 ●●smf’s 2¢: The last couple of days I have been reading essays by middle schoolers (why are they not scholars?) about the effect of violence on their lives. What I am reading is that these sixth, seventh and eighth graders – 12, 13 and 14 year olds – are deeply touched by violence, not every day but nevertheless in their everyday lives. It is palpable. In school. In their neighborhoods. Sometimes in their homes. They see it, they feel it, and they fear it. Or they have been taught by others to fear it. The following is from transcript of a radio program that aired Friday night. Apropos of everything in particular. ______________ Listen 24:43 | http://n.pr/1EYj8U1 This is INVISIBILIA, stories about the invisible forces that shape human behavior. LULU MILLER, HOST: I'm Lulu Miller. SPIEGEL: And I'm Alix Spiegel. And today we are talking about fear, and like many stories that involve fear, this one begins in the woods. (SOUNDBITE OF ROGER HART FILM) SPIEGEL: This is tape from a film which shows two little children, ages 4 and 5, together in a clearing in the forest. They're alone, two tiny bodies dwarfed by tall, dark trees. Close by in the brush, a man is watching them. By his side, there's a camera. But really, the children don't even seem to notice the man. They're too busy, absorbed in one of the most central, sacred activities of human childhood... (SOUNDBITE OF ROGER HART FILM) UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Imitating fart noises). SPIEGEL: ...The production of fart noises. Now, this film is all about the fart noises, in a way. The man filming them from the trees was an environmental psychologist who was interested in what children do when they're alone because at that time - this film was taken in the 1970s - that work had literally never been done before. ROGER HART: They just hadn't been studying children in natural settings. SPIEGEL: This is Roger Hart, the environmental psychologist in the trees. HART: Almost nothing was known about how children even explored the world, and then I came across a book on baboons. And I realized that we knew more about baboons' everyday behavior than we did about children's behavior outside of school. SPIEGEL: And so you wanted to study children the way Jane Goodall studied baboons? HART: Precisely. SPIEGEL: So Roger found himself a small town in Vermont, set himself up there and started tracking all of the children in the town. HART: There were 86 children between 3 and 12 years of age, and I worked with all of them, all of the waking hours for two and a half years, I was with them. They were my life, these kids. SPIEGEL: Roger would follow the kids throughout the day, documenting everywhere the children went by themselves. HART: Show me the places that are dangerous. Show me the places that are scary. Take me to where you're not supposed to go, and show me where that is. SPIEGEL: He then took that information and literally made maps... HART: OK. Let me just find the chapter. SPIEGEL: ...Physical maps that measured the distance each child was allowed to go by themselves and what the average was for every age group. And what Roger discovered was that these kids had remarkable freedom. Even 4- or 5-year-olds, like the ones in the woods, traveled unsupervised throughout their neighborhoods, and by the time they were 10, most of the kids had the run of the entire town. HART: They had more than the run of the town. Some of them would go to the lake, which would be on the edge of town, and the lake, you'd think, would be a place that would be out of bounds. SPIEGEL: But the parents weren't worried about the lake or their kids being abducted. HART: Abduction wasn't something I ever heard anybody talk about then. SPIEGEL: So there was no stranger danger? HART: No. SPIEGEL: The point is that these parents weren't particularly motivated by fear. HART: No. SPIEGEL: Which brings us to today. See, several years ago, Roger went back to the exact same town to document the children of the children that he had originally tracked in the '70s, and when he asked the new generation of kids to show him where they played alone, what he found floored him. HART: They just didn't have very far to take me, just walking around their property, really. SPIEGEL: The huge circle of freedom on the maps had grown tiny. HART: There is no free range outdoors. Even when they're much, much older, parents now say, I need to know where you are. I need to know where you are at all times. SPIEGEL: What's odd about all of this, Roger says, is that the town is not more dangerous than it was before. There's literally no more crime today than there was 40 years ago. HART: You know, 35 years later, it's remarkably the same. SPIEGEL: Same physically? HART: Same physically and demographically, in terms of living in the town, very similar. SPIEGEL: So why has the invisible leash between parent and child tightened so much? Roger says it was absolutely clear from his interviews. The reason was fear. ANDREW COLE: You know, you just never know who's out there and what these crazy people are doing. MILLER: Now, this frightened parent is actually somebody you've already met before. (SOUNDBITE OF ROGER HART FILM) UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: (Imitating fart noises). MILLER: Andrew Cole, the very little boy playing unattended in the woods at age 4, all grown up. Even he told Roger he was too afraid to let his kids roam free. COLE: I think when we were children, you know, my parents wouldn't worry if I was gone for an hour, you know, or up in the woods. But here, if my girls are gone for five minutes, I start to, you know, think, OK somebody could be turning around at the end of the road and - or, you know, whatever. So that makes a big difference. SPIEGEL: And what Roger found in this small town, you see it again and again across America. Crime is at its lowest levels nationally since the 1950s, but everywhere you look, fear of the world outside our door narrows the circle of our lives. Why? RALPH ADOLPHS: Are you rolling? Yeah. He's rolling. So I guess we're ready. SPIEGEL: This is Ralph Adolphs, a professor at Caltech who spent decades studying fear in the human brain. And when we were talking, he said something that really struck me. He said our overall fear threshold - that is what triggers our fear - is something that evolution has set and set at a high level for a very good reason. ADOLPHS: You know, if I just hear a slight creak in my house at night, I feel fear, and 99.9 percent of the time, there's no burglar in the house. And it's all safe. But nonetheless, I felt fear. So you have a lot of false positives. But that's as it should be because you don't want to miss any. SPIEGEL: The problem, Adolphs says, is just that modern life - it's constantly triggering our fear in all kinds of ways that our natural world didn't. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS) SPIEGEL: This is the sound of the first mass murder captured on film in American history. It was recorded in Austin, Texas, in 1966 after a lone shooter named Charles Whitman stormed the balcony of the clock tower in the middle of the University of Texas campus and started firing at random. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: There must have been a hit that last time. We hear people outside of our building in an area where we can't now look safely saying, let's help that boy. Does he need help? Someone must be down. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Ricochet bullets bouncing off the top of the... (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS) SPIEGEL: It is chilling to see this footage - the puffs of gun smoke floating from the deck of the clock tower, the people falling to the sidewalk in the hot Texas sun and not getting up. It's terrible. But today, of course, it's not exactly novel. (SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORT) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: This morning in Michigan, police have arrested a man who's suspected of chopping off up his wife. (SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORT) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: A stranger seized a child. (SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORT) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: Three men accused of abducting and holding the women hostage. SPIEGEL: Horror inflicted on other people surrounds us. And Adolphs argues that because of our wiring, we are just not set up to ignore it. (SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORT) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #4: A serial killer... SPIEGEL: And so it distorts our experience of the world, activating our fear when we don't need it. (SOUNDBITE OF NEWS REPORT) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #4: And police say it's only a matter of time before he strikes again. SPIEGEL: Essentially, Adolphs is saying that a lot of our modern First World fear is totally unnecessary. ADOLPHS: I think not being able to experience fear is mostly lethal if you're in the wild. But in today's world, I mean, I'm sitting here in my office, and, you know, other than a microphone in my face, there's not a particular threat going on. So our environment, which of course isn't the environment in which we evolved, you know, there just aren't that many hazards around. SPIEGEL: Which got Lulu and I thinking. What would happen to us if we somehow disappeared our fear? This is INVISIBILIA. MILLER: I'm Lulu Miller. SPIEGEL: And I'm Alix Spiegel The show continues…. CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL WITHDRAWS PETITION TO BREAK AWAY FROM LAUSD: Educators have abandoned their effort to make the 100-year-old school an “Indepen By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1EDpR5v Posted: 03/06/15, 12:14 PM PST :: Days before a vote that would have allowed the Western San Fernando Valley’s oldest high school to leave Los Angeles Unified after 100 years together, backers pulled their petition. Canoga Park High School educators behind the effort to break away in favor of forming an independent charter with another ex-LAUSD school, El Camino Real Charter High School, have withdrawn their petition, district officials said Friday. Teacher Dennis Clancy said the petition was withdrawn because district staff recommended board members vote to deny the effort at their meeting next Tuesday. Clancy said educators will re-tool their proposal, addressing concerns raised by district staff, and return to the district for approval. A time frame, he said, has yet to be set. “We’re not defeated, we’re not bitter,” Clancy said. “We still want to create the best Canoga Park High School we can, and we want to continue that effort.” Late last year, 73 percent of the campus’ 71 educators voted to leave LAUSD control. Canoga Park High has 1,693 students. School district staff cited insufficient planning in their recommendation the school board stop Canoga Park from becoming a charter. Among other problems highlighted by district staff, the petition did not adequately specify how groups of students would be served, including English-language learners. Additionally, governance of the proposed charter was questioned by LAUSD staff, who faulted plans for El Camino’s board to represent parents and educators of Canoga Park High. “In summary, petitioners have not yet laid the solid foundation necessary to develop and present a fully formed and comprehensive proposal to convert Canoga Park High School into an independent charter school operated by El Camino Real Charter High School that is ready to be implemented and is custom-designed to meet the specific needs and interests of the students, families, and community of Canoga Park,” according to documents drafted by LAUSD staff for the school board’s vote Tuesday. Canoga Park High educators spoke passionately last month about the need to break away from LAUSD as a means to improve learning at the first of two public hearings in front of the school board. The second of two public meetings, and first and only vote, was scheduled for Tuesday. By forming an independent charter separate from LAUSD, Canoga Park High would have more control over its budget, receiving revenue directly from the state of California. Canoga Park would have become the 18th independent charter in LAUSD and 11th in the San Fernando Valley. ________ ●●smf’s 2¢: Also see the “Here We Go Again” heading in the Feb 8 4LAKids [http://bit.ly/1ErqLna] wherein the independence of an independent charter totally run by another charter school was questioned. Though it needs to be remembered that in 2011 former (now current) Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the Associated Press that he expects the charter conversion trend to continue and foresees the day when the district's enrollment of 650,000 will plummet to 400,000.| http://huff.to/1Bjq5fD HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources SANDY HOOK GROUP'S FINAL REPORT CALLS FOR CHANGE: 'We must do something' - LA Times http://lat.ms/1E3Oo2l UH-OH! “School districts once viewed lifetime healthcare coverage for employees as a cheap alternative to pay raises" http://lat.ms/1A8EbxP Geronimo: A CALL TO ARMS http://bit.ly/1BaNuzR DID MONEY BUY ELECTORAL LOVE IN LAUSD BOARD RACES? Kinda/Sorta (3 stories) | http://bit.ly/1wY1BVh ELECTION SETS STAGE FOR L.A. UNIFIED BATTLE BETWEEN CHARTER SUPPORTERS AND TEACHER’S UNION | http://bit.ly/1GZwbE4 TEACHER UNION WILL CONSIDER SUPPORTING GALATZAN’S OPPONENT IN LAUSD RUNOFF ELECTION | http://bit.ly/1CBoVzh Federal Court Rules That Principal Might Have Reported Parents for Child Abuse as Retaliation | http://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2015/03/03/principal_reported_parents_for_child_abuse_as_retaliation_1164.html … Chris Christie vowed to remake Newark’s schools. That hasn’t happened. | http://wapo.st/1NdaSDa Narbonne girls' basketball reinstated, coach barred over pink on jerseys | http://fw.to/CD7hhDH LAUSD's ISIC Supe Tommy Chang named Boston Superintendent | http://fw.to/cszmOaZ LAUSD Board Election Results: What does it mean? | http://lat.ms/1BSErY1 smf/4LAKids: It means there's lots o' work to do! OBIT+GODSPEED: JOHN MOCKLER – Premier Education Consultant, dead at 73 http://bit.ly/1zY8JCn It is said that there was only 1 or 2 people in Sacramento who understood Ed Finance. If there was 1 it was Mockler.http://bit.ly/1M423rY JOHN MOCKLER, SACRAMENTO’S TOP EDUCATION FINANCE GURU, DIES AT 73 | http://bit.ly/1M423rY WHEN IS A TEACHER A COP? + IT WAS ALL ABOUT A CHILD AT RISK | http://bit.ly/1GgzJEo GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR NCLB REAUTHORIZATION? | http://bit.ly/1F5SMNU STATE LABOR BOARD SETS DATES TO MEDIATE BETWEEN L.A. UNIFIED AND TEACHER’S UNION + smf’s 2¢ | http://bit.ly/1CqRj7l NARBONNE GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM KICKED OUT OF PLAYOFFS FOR “ANTI-CANCER” PINK ON UNIFORMS | http://bit.ly/1FSmWV5 "L.A. SCHOOL BOARD EXPANDING ROLE BEYOND EDUCATION INTO 'SOCIAL JUSTICE'” - a turf war Bd of Ed v. Times Ed Board? http://lat.ms/18iid3D Scott Folsom @4LAKids - Mar 3: BE AMONG THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE VOTERS: Today's the Day to vote in L.A. VOTE EARLY+OFTEN McKENNA KAYSER SCHMERELSON VLADOVIC ¡OMG! - A typo in Sunday's 4LAKids blogpost. VOTE FOR SCOTT SCHMERELSON IN LAUSD DISTRICT 3 (not 2!) EVENTS: Coming up next week... • REGULAR BOARD MEETING INCLUDING CLOSED SESSION ITEMS – Tues. March 10, 2015 - 10:00 a.m. - • REGULAR BOARD MEETING – Tues. March 10, 2015 - 1:00 p.m. • BUDGET, FACILITIES, AUDIT COMMITTEE – Thurs. March 12, 2015 - 11 a.m. ^ all above in the Boardroom at 333 S. Beaudry ^ • DIANE E. WATSON CAREER TRAINING CENTER RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY Thursday Mar 12, 2015 - Time: 1:00 p.m. Location: Diane E. Watson Career Training Center 3833 S. Crenshaw Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90008 *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 • LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR What can YOU do? • E-mail, call or write your school board member: Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Bennett.Kayser@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, 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. • If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO! Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?

Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 12 years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids. • FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. • To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-mail smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.