Auditing foregone conclusions

4LAKids: Sunday 29•May•2016 Memorial Day W/E 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:  •  ► 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. 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 • 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.

Putting a cicle around it

4LAKids: Sunday 27•March•2016 In This Issue:  •  GRANADA HILLS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL WINS STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON: FRANKLIN IS 2nd, MARSHALL 3rd, FOLLOWED BY EL CAMINO & SOUTH PASADENA  •  REPORT FINDS MASSIVE UNDER-INVESTMENT IN NATION’S SCHOOL BUILDINGS  •  LEGISLATIVE ANALYST PROPOSES FULL-DAY PRESCHOOL FOR ALL LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA  •  LAUSD’S MENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR DESCRIBES CHILD TRAUMA AS A SILENT EPIDEMIC  •  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. I am, admittedly+chronologically: a baby boomer. A child of the sixties; maybe even an unrepentant/unreconstructed hippie. I confess that my generation has-been-and-continues-to-be guilty of being self-absorbed, too loud/too much/too many/all-at-once. A recent bout of chemotherapy caused me to lose almost all my hair; now that it’s growing back I may never cut it again! Gimme head with hair Long beautiful hair Shining, gleaming Streaming, flaxen, waxen Give me down to there hair Shoulder length or longer Here baby, there mama Everywhere daddy daddy Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair Flow it, show it Long as God can grow it My hair Yes, boomers gave the world The Beatles and The Stones and Bob Dylan and paisley shirts and drugs. “Oh, Wow!”and the beads. Apparently we discovered and popularized sex. Eventually we gave the world the ‘90’s and Bill and Hillary and George W. Bush. Donald Trump is a boomer. You’re welcome+we’re sorry. I am a peace creep. I opposed the Vietnam War and campaigned for Eugene McCarthy. I wept when JFK and Bobby and Martin were killed – and when four died in Ohio when the National Guard shot up Kent State. Neil Young said we were on our own – but we were never alone. There are just too freakin’ many of us. The Peace Sign means something to me, something beyond the symbolic metaphor. The symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament”, created by British artist Gerald Holtom in 1958. In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an inverted "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the center of the peace symbol. Exploring the metaphor further, Holtom cites “The Third of May 1808” [http://bit.ly/1UdZRqD] by Francisco Goya, as inspiration for the peace sign. “I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.” A handwritten note on a makeshift memorial in Brussels this week: “In the end, when you see what can be done in the name of God, it makes you wonder what is left for the devil.” Which brings us to the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal; set this week in a bizarre European/accelerated 24-Hour-News-Cycle counterpoint to the madness in Brussels. Radovan Karadzic (a boomer, a psychiatrist and a poet. …and a madman for our time) was convicted of one count of Genocide, five counts of Crimes Against Humanity, and four counts of Violations of the Laws or Customs of War. I’m sorry, I am not such a peace creep as to not believe in spontaneous retaliation or a right of self-defense. And deep in my amygdala I think someone ought to punch Donald Trump (who called Brussels a “hell hole” this week) in the nose. But aren’t Crimes Against Humanity and Violations of the Laws or Customs of War mutually exclusive? Doesn’t one preclude the existence (or confirm the illogic) of the other? All I am saying Is give peace a chance. Whether your Easter is about the Redeemer Risen or chocolate bunnies and colored eggs: Happy Easter! Peace+Love+Rock ‘n Roll. ¡Onward/Adelante! – smf GRANADA HILLS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL WINS STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON: FRANKLIN IS 2nd, MARSHALL 3rd, FOLLOWED BY EL CAMINO & SOUTH PASADENA By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1pFxZPG 3/20/16, 12:47 PM PDT | SACRAMENTO :: Granada Hills Charter High School won this weekend’s California Academic Decathlon in Sacramento and the ability to compete in the prestigious national competition next month in Alaska. It’s the San Fernando Valley school’s fifth state championship since 2011, and it will be vying for just as many national titles when it competes at the 34th annual United States Academic Decathlon Competition April 28-30 in Anchorage. Granada Hills Charter’s score is “the highest team score ever in the history of Academic Decathlon,” including the nationals, said Cliff Ker, coordinator for Academic Decathlon at Los Angeles Unified School District, by phone Sunday. “There was a huge gasp in the audience when they announced their score.” The nine-member team beat out 68 other schools by scoring 61,149.6 points out of a possible 65,400, followed by two other LAUSD schools — Franklin High School in Highland Park, which earned 59,133.3 points and John Marshall High School in Los Feliz, which earned 59,109.15, according to California Academic Decathlon. “We went into the competition feeling prepared but we also knew that our competing schools were just as prepared,” said Granada Hills Charter senior Joshua Lin. “We went into the awards ceremony very nervous, not sure what the outcome would be.” Lin earned the highest score of any student in the competition — 9,600 points out of a possible 10,000 points. Granada Hills Charter, which won the national title last year in Garden Grove, is well aware of its competition and believes that Highland Park High School in Texas will be the team to beat in Alaska, said Mathew Arnold, a Granada Hills Charter team coach. Only one school from California is allowed to compete in the national competition that’s held in a different state each year. “The way they work for each other is one of the main reasons they’ve been as successful as they have,” Arnold said by phone. In addition, “they’re fortunate to be at a school where the support for the team is really strong.” LAUSD’s El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills, which won the national championship in 2014, came in fourth place this year with 59,104.5 points while South Pasadena High came in fifth with 56,845.7. As second place winner, Franklin High School will now compete against other large schools in the national online competition in April. West Covina Unified School District’s Edgewood High School, which earned the medium school title, and Fresno Unified School District’s University High School, which earned the small school title, will also compete against similar-sized schools in the online competition. Granada Hills Charter and Marshall High School both earned the highest possible score in this year’s fast-paced Super Quiz relay involving multiple choice questions on a variety of subjects. El Camino Real Charter and Bell High School tied for second, while Edgewood High School from LA County finished third in the relay before an audience that resembles a game show format. Each nine-person team must include three honor students (3.75 and above GPA), three scholastic students (3.00-3.74 GPA) and three varsity students (2.99 GPA and below.) Members of the winning Granada Hills Charter team are Aishah Mahmud, Joshua Lin, Melissa Santos, (Honor); Isha Gupta, Jorge Zepeda, Mark Aguila, (Scholastic); and Mayeena Ulkarim, Christopher Lo, Julian Duran (Varsity). In addition to Arnold, Jon Sturtevant and Rachael Phipps are coaching the team’s students this year. For Zepeda, who is competing for a second consecutive year, being on the Academic Decathlon team has helped him to be more organized, focused and goal oriented, he said. “It’s also helped me to be a better person, to learn to take responsibility, to know what it means to be a leader and to help your teammates,” said Zepeda, who said he looking forward to a well-deserved spring break this week. Another San Fernando Valley school, Burbank High School, earned the top score among Division II teams. Division I teams include the top 20 highest scoring teams, while Division II includes the next top 20 teams, according to the California Academic Decathlon. REPORT FINDS MASSIVE UNDER-INVESTMENT IN NATION’S SCHOOL BUILDINGS By Emma Brown, Washington Post | http://wapo.st/1pIoEH1 March 23 at 3:00 AM :: The nation is spending $46 billion less each year on school construction and maintenance than is necessary to ensure safe and healthy facilities, according to estimates in a new report. The study, released by a group that advocates for environmentally-sound buildings, is meant to draw attention to the condition of buildings that on weekdays house some 56 million students and teachers — more than one-sixth of the U.S. population — but that nevertheless attract little attention in the national debate over education policy and reform. “We are consistently and persistently underinvesting in our nation’s schools,” said Rachel Gutter of the D.C.-based Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, which co-authored the report. “Communities want to resolve these issues, but in many cases the funds simply aren’t there.” Detroit has made headlines this year for crumbling schools plagued by rats, roaches and mold. But while conditions in the Motor City are particularly deplorable, the average U.S. school is more than 40 years old, and thousands of school buildings nationwide are in need of upgrades, according to the federal government. Poor communities in far-flung rural places and declining industrial city centers tend to be in a particularly bad situation: School construction budgets rely even more heavily on local dollars than operating budgets. And in many places spending has not recovered from cuts made during the recession, leaving school districts struggling to patch problems. In Philadelphia, which has suffered deep budget cuts in recent years, an elementary school was forced to delay its opening last fall after a worker discovered that the building’s foundation was structurally unsound. A boiler exploded at another of the city’s elementary schools in January, seriously injuring an employee. “These things are happening because too many public officials have turned a blind eye to what’s really going on in schools across Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Hughes (D) said in a statement, calling on the state legislature to increase its investment in public education. “This is a fool’s errand.” The federal government contributes about 10 percent to operating budgets but virtually nothing to school construction or renovation. Some states, such as Wyoming and New Mexico, have strong statewide programs for school construction, but a dozen states offer no assistance, which means the cost of school construction falls entirely on local taxpayers. Among the states that do not contribute to school construction is Michigan, where Detroit has struggled so mightily to maintain healthy and safe buildings. Others are Wisconsin, Indiana, Oregon and Nevada. “It’s entirely tied to the wealth of the district,” said Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century Schools Fund, a D.C.-based nonprofit and report co-author. “It’s got inequity built into it.” Filardo said that there is a growing body of research that shows links between the school environment and a child’s ability to learn, and yet the condition of school buildings remains little-mentioned in discussions about closing achievement gaps. She suggested that the federal government could help push for equitable school facilities by providing funding for construction in high-poverty schools, as it now does for teaching and learning through the Title I program. But that would be politically difficult given the GOP-led Congress and its push to shrink federal spending, she acknowledged. The last time the federal government attempted to survey the condition of the nation’s school buildings was in 1995. At the time, more than 8 million students attended 15,000 schools with poor air quality; 12 million students attended 21,000 schools in need of new roofs or roof upgrades; 12 millions students attended 23,000 schools with inadequate plumbing. [Read the 1995 GAO report on the condition of schools | http://www.gao.gov/assets/230/220864.pdf] And the list goes on: The Government Accountability Office estimated that it would cost about $112 billion to ensure that all schools were in good condition. In the two decades since the GAO made that estimate, the nation has spent an average of $99 billion a year on maintenance, operations and construction, according to the new study. And that’s far less than the $145 billion that’s needed, according to the study, which suggested a standard — a tweaked version of commercial-building standards — that should be used to estimate the cost of maintaining the nation’s school facilities. The report calls not only for greater public investment in school facilities, but also for an effort to collect and share more information about the condition of school buildings — which account for the second-highest level of public infrastructure spending, after highways. There is no comprehensive federal data source on school buildings, and the quality and amount of information varies widely at the state level. The inconsistency and scarcity of data on schools has contributed to their neglect, Gutter said: “This is a problem that we’ve just made it so easy for ourselves to ignore.” ALSO SEE: Investment in Nation's School Buildings Falls Woefully Short, Report Finds - District Dossier - Education Week http://bit.ly/1LHdpZ9 2016 State of Our Schools Report: DOWNLOAD THE REPORT LEGISLATIVE ANALYST PROPOSES FULL-DAY PRESCHOOL FOR ALL LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA By Jeremy Hay | EdSource Today |http://bit.ly/22Iv0nD March 22, 2016 :: The state should require all its preschool and transitional kindergarten providers to offer, at a minimum, part-day programs to all low-income families, with full-day programs available for all low-income families with working parents, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office is advising. The recommendations, contained in a review of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed childcare and preschool budget for 2016-17, would cover 270,000 4-year-old children through both part- and full-day publicly funded programs. That would be nearly 50,000 more than the combined number of children now in the California State Preschool Program, which serves low-income and at risk-children, and transitional kindergarten programs, which provide an extra year of public school for 4-year-olds with fall birthdays. The recommendation inserts the highly regarded Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO, into the robust policy conversation about the importance of early education and how the state should support it. It also raises the less charted question of how much additional value full-day preschool adds compared to part-day, and how many hours constitute an effective full day. At a glance, said Alisha Roe of Oakland, the change sounds welcome. “I’m a grandmother raising her grandbaby, and I’m working part-time. This is a great facility and with full-time I would love to go back to school. It would give me the opportunity to become more self-sufficient,” Roe said, as she collected her grandson from the Community Child Care Council of Alameda’s Child Development Center. But early education advocates have not warmed to the LAO recommendation, saying it could be impractical for working parents if it is not year-round, and sidesteps the question of additional funding for early education. Still, policy experts said the recommendation will carry weight. “People pay attention to (the LAO) because it’s going to be part of the discussion when the governor and the Legislature get together to try and reach consensus,” said Mark Baldassare, president of the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California. Along with the state Department of Finance, “it’s widely understood that these are among the state’s most influential and expert analysts of the budget,” he said. Early education administrators said that when it comes to learning activities, there are benefits to full-day programs, though they don’t clearly outweigh part-day programs. “When you look at the part-day program, they’re missing some components; with the full-day, the teachers definitely can build in some more, but not head and shoulders above,” said Cynthia Young, director of the Long Beach Unified School District Child Development Centers. The LAO’s recommendation doesn’t differentiate between preschool and transitional kindergarten, defining preschool as anything prior to kindergarten, although it confines its plan to 4-year-olds. It also doesn’t specify whether a full day means the length of a school day or longer, nor whether it would be a full-year program or one aligned to the 180-day school year. “Local providers would have broad discretion to operate for the number of hours they saw fit,” said Virginia Early, an LAO fiscal and policy analyst who focuses on early education. If the local preschool provider were a school district, for example, it would make sense that the length of the day and year correspond to the 180-day school schedule, she said. There are 138,400 4-year-olds in the state’s preschool program now, according to the LAO. Another 83,000 are in transitional kindergarten programs. The latest figures available from the state Department of Education show that in the 2014-15 school year, 39,381 4-year-olds were in full-day preschool. The LAO’s proposed program, which would be funded through a $1.6 billion block grant that Brown is proposing, includes an illustration of one possible funding arrangement, based on a 180-day schedule in which providers would be paid $7,800 per child. “I think that families do want and would benefit from having full-day preschool programs, because of parents having to work and have their children in a safe learning environment,” said Marco Chavez, community relations administrator at the San Mateo County Office of Education. That has disturbed early education advocates because it seemingly departs from the goal spelled out, though not mandated, in the 2014-15 state budget of providing year-long, full-day preschool to all low-income 4-year-olds. That objective came to be called the “preschool promise.” “That goal was an achievement, and I believe that this (LAO) proposal represents a step backwards from that because it is not addressing the full needs of working families” by covering the length of a work day, said Erin Gabel, deputy director of First 5 California. Advocates’ hopes were dashed last year when Brown vetoed a bill that would have given the preschool commitment more substance by setting a timetable for the state to fulfill it. Others say the LAO’s proposal is as problematic as the governor’s childcare and preschool budget proposal, which adds no new early education funding for childcare and preschool programs for children under the age of 5. Instead, it would consolidate into a single $1.6 billion block grant the funding for the state’s preschool, transitional kindergarten and quality rating programs, and lift the requirement that school districts offer transitional kindergarten. “We don’t want to get in this game of ‘Let’s move things around with the same $1.6 billion,’” said Giannina Perez, senior director of early childhood policy at Children Now. “There’s a lot of moving parts and we want funding to be part of that conversation, too, especially in a year when there are resources available.” The LAO’s proposal itself, in that it opens the door to preschool programs tied to the length of a school year, Perez said, falls short. “One hundred and eighty days, for many folks, isn’t going to cut it,” she said. The LAO says a “reasonable cut off” for family income eligibility for the program would be 185 percent of the federal poverty level – or $44,955 for a family of four. The LAO is recommending that children who are at risk of abuse and neglect, who have disabilities, or are homeless also be eligible. “Everybody who fits these criteria can access those programs, they don’t go on a waiting list, and they can access it for a full day,” Early said. Non-working families would have access to the full-day programs, but the state wouldn’t pay for them, Early said. Research has concluded that quality early education programs, including transitional kindergarten, provide significant benefits, especially for low-income children. But fewer studies have looked at the effects of full-day versus part-day preschool. More are being done, though, and most have found that full-day programs offer greater value. “We found better learning gains for kids,” said Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, a Rutgers University-based organization that focuses on early childhood education. But that improvement depends on several factors, he said. Key among them, he said, is what is done during the extra time students are spending in full-day programs. “The implications are, if you’re going to tell people to do this you have to provide support so that teachers can effectively change what they do rather than just figure it out on their own,” he said. Also, Barnett said, there is the question of what children are doing during the time they spend outside preschool. That factor is among those that have led to conclusions that preschool, especially full-day programs, is particularly valuable for low-income children, who generally have fewer structured early learning options. And full-day programs do attract a number of families who without it would not participate in any preschool at all, Barnett said. “I think that families do want and would benefit from having full-day preschool programs, because of parents having to work and have their children in a safe learning environment,” said Marco Chavez, community relations administrator at the San Mateo County Office of Education. The county has 926 children in full-day programs and 1,150 in part-day in California State Preschools, he said. Alejandro Nicolas of Petaluma said having access to full-day care would help his family financially. “I already work eight hours a day, but then my wife could work. She can’t now because she has to take care of my daughter. It would help us a lot,” he said, after dropping off his daughter at the Willow Creek State Preschool in Santa Rosa on his day off. The LAO’s proposal leaves questions about preschool curriculum and other quality-related factors aside, but does call for providers to share with the public key information about their programs, such as curriculum and family engagement and child development activities. Early said the LAO proposal was not a comment on the relative value of full-day versus part-day preschool. “We made the recommendation primarily because we were concerned that without it, families would not come into the program,” she said. LAO Recommendations LAUSD’S MENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR DESCRIBES CHILD TRAUMA AS A SILENT EPIDEMIC By Jeremy Loudenback | Posted on L.A. School Report, published in partnership with The Chronicle of Social Change. | http://bit.ly/22J62o1 March 24, 2016 9:52 am :: As director of the School Mental Health unit at the Los Angeles Unified School District, Pia Escudero supervises more than 300 psychiatric social workers, clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals. She has also worked to create trauma-informed systems and therapeutic approaches in schools. Escudero was part of a team that helped developed the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program, an intervention aimed at reducing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and behavioral problems. The School Mental Health team has successfully deployed CBITS in several schools, but the need for more trauma-informed resources is high at LAUSD, where the student population numbers more than 650,000. Over the past two years, Escudero and her team have introduced a universal prevention curriculum in partnership with the Nathanson Family Resilience Center at the University of California Los Angeles. Originally designed for children in military schools facing family disruption issues as a result of deployment, the Families Over Coming Under Stress School-Based Skill Building Groups (FOCUS-SBG, or FOCUS) is designed to complement CBITS and the school district’s other trauma-related resources. Last week, she presented on her work with FOCUS at Echo Parenting and Education’s conference on creating trauma-informed schools. THE CHRONICLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE: You’ve described child trauma as a “silent epidemic.” Why is this the case and how did you come to see it this way? PIA ESCUDERO: Silent epidemic seemed like a compelling and accurate way to describe it. Consistently every time we’ve screened for trauma throughout the years at LAUSD, the rates are extremely high. When we first started doing targeted screening of sixth and ninth graders in 2000, our RAND partners would tell us to do it again. ‘The rates are really high.’ But we know that traumatic events are common here, and today, when we’ve screened, about 98 percent of our children have had at least one traumatic event. The average is between six and eight events. Trauma is common in our children’s lives, but multiple traumas are also very common. With our partnership with the Nathanson Family Resilience Center over the past two years, we’ve adapted the curriculum they developed for students in military schools dealing with the issue of deployment and family disruption, but for our schools in an urban setting in Los Angeles. With the FOCUS pre-test, there are resiliency questions and skills, but also four trauma-related questions: if they answer two or more, they’ve been exposed to a traumatic event and they could be in the range of needing clinical support or further intervention. What we’ve found is that in the fifth-grade classrooms this past year, 73 percent of children score within a clinical range of PTSD. An epidemic occurs when the rate of disease substantially exceeds what is expected. In the general population, rates of PTSD average 7 to 12 percent and a little higher for military. Across LAUSD, trauma screenings have identified over 50 percent of students reporting moderate to severe traumatic stress symptoms. So if the common rates are 7 to 12 percent, this is something that’s really masked and been under the radar in our classrooms. THE CHRONICLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE: So how should school districts be approaching child trauma/adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and what can they do to deal with students’ mental health needs that arise through the screening process? PIA ESCUDERO: As we’ve been doing this work more and more, we’re very careful about screening because when you screen there’s a huge ethical commitment to treat because you will find something. You can’t just screen and walk away and not treat the matter. We only screen when we are going to have a therapeutic approach to align with that approach. With FOCUS, the encouraging news is that once children get this curriculum children who have core treatments like problem solving and relaxation techniques, they dramatically improved. The concept of doing curriculum-based teaching in the classroom early on and in middle school is something that’s brand new for us. Based on the high numbers of children who have been exposed to trauma, we now know there has to be a universal approach and it has to be something that really is available to all children, not just a select few. It really calls for a systems lens. THE CHRONICLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE: How important is the process of trauma screening as it relates to trauma-informed schools? PIA ESCUDERO: It’s critical. I think the way our educational system is set up is to really support the teacher, to be the best teacher possible with the best instructional materials or technology. If we focus entirely on that, and there’s trauma in the classroom and the teacher’s not prepared to deal with that barrier or is not aware of the barrier, it doesn’t matter how good of a teacher she or he is or what type of instructional material they have. This really addresses the need for looking at attachment or regulation activities. That’s why we have a big miss academically. Our children are coming with these high rates of exposure to trauma and our teachers sign up to teach, and they’re not able to do this effectively. And it leads to burnout. Untreated trauma is so costly to our society. These are the kids who drop out of school, end up in then juvenile justice system, early death and with very maladapted behaviors that cost us. But the fact that we can see children bounce back, learn skills and get some support is critical. THE CHRONICLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE: Why are schools a good place to address mental health challenges? PIA ESCUDERO: One of the reasons I’m so passionate about being in the schools is that people feel that schools are extensions of the family and they come. When we refer children out, we know that they’re very unlikely to get that treatment. Our partners in RAND have done some work of tracking services, and they’ve found that services rendered at schools are much more likely to be completed and more effective versus [seeking treatment outside the school]. Families in LA have long work hours, plus getting on a bus or traveling somewhere else with the transportation, and then we also lose a day of school. That’s why we set up our school wellness centers. It’s a new model. We just launched them about a couple years ago. They’re attached to schools, and students and their parents can get health and mental care, and students don’t have to miss a day of school. We have 14 of these new-model wellness centers, and seven of them are co-located with school mental health staff. Our school mental health staff are trained on individual trauma-focused therapy, but then if we have a school-based social worker at the school, they’re doing all the macro work, student campaigns, doing presentations in class, and surveying children in the center. It’s really a public mental health model. Teachers and administrators really appreciate it. These children come with such a load of barriers. It’s not just being homeless or just child abuse. They’re homeless, they’ve experienced trauma and they’re living in a community with violence and they might have a parent who is incarcerated. It’s usually multiple issues facing their lives when they come into the classroom. • Jeremy Loudenback is child trauma editor for The Chronicle of Social Change. HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources   Getting the lead out: SCHOOLS NATIONWIDE STILL GRAPPLE WITH LEAD IN WATER, DIGGING FURTHER INTO A WATER PROBLEM + CA ISN'T USING BLOOD-TEST DATA THAT COULD HELP FOCUS EXIDE LEAD CLEANUP EFFORTS http://bit.ly/1PxegWX    "Chronic Underfunding": FEDERAL FUNDING FORMULA HURTS CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, REPORT SAYS http://bit.ly/25oGRcI LAUSD’S MENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR DESCRIBES CHILD TRAUMA AS A SILENT EPIDEMIC http://bit.ly/1WMxuxz Accomplishing change w/o changing anything: ESSA RULEMAKING: Day 3 http://bit.ly/1ZxqeHA LAO PROPOSES FULL-DAY PRESCHOOL FOR ALL LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA http://bit.ly/1VK8b0T DR. DEBRA DUARDO NAMED COUNTY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT http://bit.ly/1RzEfop REPORT FINDS MASSIVE UNDER-INVESTMENT IN NATION’S SCHOOL BUILDINGS http://bit.ly/1RkUrXn TEACHERS' PENSION FUNDS INVESTED IN PEARSON? http://bit.ly/1XKGZO2 SUPERVISORS HIRING AN EX-DROPOUT TO LEAD L.A. COUNTY EDUCATION OFFICE http://bit.ly/1RekFfh A FOUR-LETTER WORD FOR CALIFORNIA EDUCATION http://bit.ly/1RdM7IE One year later: VACCINE DEBATE RETURNS TO CALIFORNIA CAPITOL | http://capradio.org http://bit.ly/22soHYt LA SCHOOL REPORT/THE 74 ATTACKS PROGRESSIVES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS & QUOTES THEMSELVES TWICE AS GUARDIANS OF TRUTHINESS http://bit.ly/1T4gALQ LA CITY COUNCIL BEHIND LAUSD EFFORT TO INCREASE AFTER-SCHOOL FUNDING http://bit.ly/1XHPd9v HOW TO HELP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FEEL SAFE AFTER A STABBING ON CAMPUS http://bit.ly/1Mjpi7z GRANADA HILLS WINS STATE ACADEMIC DECATHLON: FRANKLIN IS 2nd, MARSHALL 3rd, FOLLOWED BY EL CAMINO & SOUTH PASADENA CA CHARTER SCHOOLS PUSH FOR 1 MILLION STUDENTS BY 2022; BROAD PLAN CHANGES, "BUT THE ORIGINAL INTENT HASN'T CHANGED" http://bit.ly/1WCNbY1 EVENTS: Coming up next week... LAUSD schools are Closed Monday. WHAT’S CLOSED, OPEN ON CESAR CHAVEZ DAY IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA, MARCH 28 AND 31 By Holly Andres, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1ZBwUo1 Posted: 03/24/16, 4:02 PM PDT BANKS: Banks and financial markets are OPEN both days. GOVERNMENT: •City of Los Angeles offices, including libraries (www.lapl.org), are CLOSED on Monday March 28. •Los Angeles Superior Court is CLOSED on Thurs. March 31. •State offices, including the Department of Motor Vehicles (www.dmv.ca.gov), are CLOSED on Thurs. March 31. • Los Angeles County and federal offices are open both days. MAIL: The U.S. Postal Service delivers mail both days. www.usps.com SCHOOLS: • Los Angeles Unified School District schools are CLOSED on Monday March 28 (home.lausd.net). • Cal State Northridge, Mission, Pierce and Valley colleges are CLOSED on Thurs. March 31. TRANSIT: Buses and subway services in Los Angeles will run on a regular schedule (www.metro.net) as will Metrolink trains (www.metrolinktrains.com). TRASH: Pick up is on a regular schedule in Los Angeles (www.lacitysan.org), Burbank (www.burbankca.gov) and Glendale (www.glendaleca.gov) on both days. __________  Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - 9:00 a.m. SPECIAL BOARD MEETING - INCLUDING CLOSED SESSION ITEMS Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - 1:00 p.m. SPECIAL BOARD MEETING *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. 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