In This Issue:  | | • | NO BIG BUCKS = NO CHANCE IN L.A. UNIFIED ELECTIONS | | | • | THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED’ GAP+ Report: NOT PREPARED FOR CLASS + Letters + smf’s 2¢ | | | • | LAUSD EMPLOYEES GET ‘BUMP’ TO NEW LOCATIONS + LAUSD EMPLOYESS PROTEST LAYOFFS AND REDUCTIONS IN HOURS | | | • | L.A. SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES WIDE-RANGING PACT WITH CHARTER SCHOOLS | | | • | HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources | | | • | EVENTS: Coming up next week... | | | • | What can YOU do? | |
Featured Links: | | | | "Winners never quit/quitters never win."
So it says. My run for Board of Education ends here. On Monday morning I will officially withdraw my candidacy. Recent events and direction (or perhaps the lack thereof) in LAUSD, in my personal life and the lack of a groundswell of support for my candidacy ...plus a modicum of political reality have set in. (I have a killer head cold but I think I'll survive that.)
I certainly appreciate the many offers of support+encouragement from friends and colleagues and readers. But for simple reasons: I probably can't win -- and more complicated ones: My voice and efforts focused against recent bad decisions by the Powers-That-Be may+will appear more honest if considered not as self-serving political speech but as honest altruistic concern.
I've been here before and done this before; maybe it's a pastern of loserliness. [See the following article NO BIG BUCKS = NO CHANCE IN L.A.UNIFIED ELECTIONS from the March 5 2007 LA Times]
I stand by my previous whining. The so called electoral reform from Proposition L makes running for school board more difficult and more expensive. The leading candidate in my former race is a professional political fundraiser/operative who is hosting $1000 a plate breakfasts and dinners in a district where 79% of students qualify for (but don't necessarily receive) free and reduced lunches. He had a campaign war chest of $31,500 as of two months ago [http://bit.ly/hD6fSc] before the race began - with contributions from district employees, charter school management organizations and district contractors I couldn't take contributions from while remaining on the Bond Oversight Committee. Maybe I could legally ...but not ethically. Certainly not with a straight face.
Did I mention that Luis Sanchez - whose ballot description is "Educator/Parent" - is a District employee and the Chief of Staff for Board President Monica Garcia?
DON'T ASK/DON'T TELL: from wikipedia |. http://bit.ly/h4JzZm: On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 integrating the military and mandating equality of treatment and opportunity. It also made it illegal, per military law, to make a racist remark. Desegregation of the military was not complete for several years, and all-black Army units persisted well into the Korean War. The last all-black unit wasn't disbanded until 1954.
The integration commanded by Truman's 1948 Executive Order extended to schools and neighborhoods as well as military units. Fifteen years after the Executive Order, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara issued Department of Defense Directive 5120.36. "Every military commander", the Directive mandates, "has the responsibility to oppose discriminatory practices affecting his men and their dependents and to foster equal opportunity for them, not only in areas under his immediate control, but also in nearby communities where they may gather in off-duty hours."
Nowhere in the foregoing - a triumph of civil rights - does it mention anything about how the joint chiefs testified to congress about 'combat effectiveness' - or how a poll was taken of serving troops about how they would feel about serving with persons of another race or color.
Because it didn't happen.
Admiral Mullen, the chair of the Joint Chief of Staff says he worked alongside gay service members through his entire career, and combat units who are most opposed to having gays serve openly in the military could lead the way in a smooth transition to a policy switch. Mullen added, "In fact, it may be the combat arms community that proves the most effective at managing this change, disciplined as they are. It's not only because our young ones are more tolerant. It's because they've got far more important things to worry about."
The president needs to cop the attitude of Harry Truman (or the drill sergeant-as-therapist in the Geico commercial):. "That's a direct order from the commander-in-chief soldier/sailor/airman/marine!"
THE DECISION BY THE DISTRICT TO LEND MONEY TO CHARTER SCHOOLS IS WORRISOME. Not because it's bad policy to keep those schools afloat and those kids in schoolrooms (that's good policy) but because of the District’s own cash flow stuation and because loaning such money as a kind of "work-around-the-Ed Code" co-sign agreement is fiscally irresponsible.
The District's loans to charters would mimic Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes. TRANs are short-term, interest bearing notes issued by a government in anticipation of tax revenues that will be received at a later date. The notes are retired from the tax revenues to which they are related. Many School Districts issue TRANs for cash flow management purposes every year. Note, ho wever, that funds borrowed from TRANs are typically available only within the fiscal year, rather than across fiscal years.
Charter Schools and Charter School Management organizations do not qualify for TRANS (and are barred from using them) because they are not government agencies with taxing authority - they are stand alone corporations; for-profit or non-profit.
If you read the California Charter Schools Association argument “these loans are not going to cost the district anything, but yet it could help save the charter schools of Los Angeles.”- you will see that they are currently able to get short term cash-flow loans - to meet payroll and operating shortfalls - for 'more than 15%" -- which means the credit rating agencies rate them as "high risk". For LAUSD to ignore that caveat and loan at less than 2% - the TRANS rate - with the superintendent claiming that even that may be "entirely offset" - is an argument right out of a street corner Faro game ...or sub-prime home loan prospectus! All loans incur costs for legal, paperwork, due diligence and debt service.
Because most charter schools rent their facilities - and/or operate out of buildings not built to the Field Act earthquake standards - they do not have collateral LAUSD can use for a loan.
If the loans "will cost the district nothing", and the costs to charters will be "entirely offset" -- that, gentle reader, equals Free Money!
Excuse the musical interlude, but:
"That ain't workin' - that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free."
If it SOUNDS too good to be true it IS too good to be true! And just because you write it on a legal pad - or dream it up on a smart phone - doesn’t mean it's either legal or smart..
IN SUNDAY'S EDITION THE LA TIMES dropped another shoe/fired another round in its school reform jihad: "Grading the Teachers" - begun with the "value added" ratings of teachers that proved fatal in one instance.
This is round two in the mixed-metaphorical attack: this time on teacher seniority / longevity / experience and educational attainment. The story is the sad (and old) tale of the unfair impact of 'rightsizing' RIFs on Liecthy Middle School - a tale of woe already adjudicated in the courts. The argument made is that seniority preference in decision making had an undue+unfair impact on Liechty.. The court (and public opinion and even the plaintiffs) agreed - but the court ruled that LAUSD IMPROPERLY APPLIED the seniority law - NOT that the law was unfair. The Times logically fallacious conclusion (not supported by the settlement) is that the proven unfairness extends universally. [However... roaming into logic brings us face to face with the quandary of the Fallacists' Folly: Just because the argument is fallacious doesn’t prove the premise is false!] http://lat.ms/hWpSyx
AS YOU READ ON you will see that LAUSD is laying off folks based on seniority-and-seniority-alone- (including excellent employees at Liechty) - , bumping others and squirreling away money meant to save jobs this year so they can save other jobs next year. You will see that the great promise of having "highly qualified teachers" in classrooms is not being kept. That the State Board of Ed (overloaded with charter schools proponents) is overwhelmed by charter school issues. That QEIA - which reduces class size in poorly performing schools - is working ...but probably doomed. That the first+only thing the Congress could agree on is to improve the school lunch program. That Public School Choice v.2.0 is barreling along as scheduled while charter principals don't expect to stay (...and many charters don't participate in the school lunch program). That the early start calwnadr is probably a done deal even if the air conditioning units can't handle the load. That LAUSD has an important and valuable art collection beyond the notable exhibit of plein air landscapes in the superintendent's office. And the superintendent stands firmly behind his Facilities leadership ...no matter what the Inspector General says.
And out there, in classrooms, on the stage of the holiday pageant, in the harmony of voices, in the teachers lounges and on the playground and on the streets in the community good things are happening everyday. Miracles are happening in small places, candles are being lit in windows - each evening the sun goes down earlier but the candlepower grows and the darkness retreats. Wise men+women+children are searching and reaching for stars..
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
________________
MORE THAN 25% OF CHILDREN READ BELOW GRADE LEVEL AND HALF OF THOSE STUDENTS HAVE POOR VISUAL SKILLS.
IMPORTANT VISION PROGRAM WITHIN LAUSD: Tune in at 11pm on Tuesday evening on channel 2. There will be great story about a student vision program within LAUSD that is producing some phenomenal results, including improved student performance.
Ann Street School in Los Angeles has been working with the Gemstone Foundation to provide students with a vision training program meant to improve reading skills. Last year Assemblymember (now Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect) Tom Torlakson joined Ann St. Principal Jane Urbina to announce the first semester results and tour the program.
“Typical school vision screenings only test for part of the problem, not the whole vision system,” said Torlakson. “Good visual skills are essential to reading and this program has seen dramatic results by correctly assessing and improving brain-eye-coordination.”
_____________________________________________________
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●●Join today and follow @4LAKids.
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NO BIG BUCKS = NO CHANCE IN L.A. UNIFIED ELECTIONS
by Bob Sipchen School Me | LA Times | http://lat.ms/eeUrMo
March 5, 2007 - The apparent venality of Tuesday's school board elections brings to mind a knock on my front door a while back. It was the weekend, and as I recall my wife and I were covered with that aromatic dirt that Home Depot sells in big plastic bags.
The neighbor standing on our doorstep pretended not to care how we smelled. He was gathering signatures to run for the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education. Our children had gone to school with his daughter at the neighborhood elementary school. The moment felt all-American.
It was illusory.
School board elections, education histories tell us, once reflected democracy at its cornpone purest. In Tuesday's contest for four seats, vested interests have shoveled well over $2 million into the coffers of candidates running for part-time jobs that pay less than a high school dropout might make as assistant manager at a fast-food joint.
To figure out how this makes sense, try this problem in basic school board math:
About the time that school board candidates began campaigning in earnest, those on the board were agreeing to hand the teachers union a 6% raise, plus benefits, retroactive to July, and worth perhaps $200 million.
If reelected, board members Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte and Jon Lauritzen, the only incumbents running, would immediately be drawn into the decision about how much to give the union next time. For its part, the union has given more than $450,000 to each of them.
Meanwhile, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Better Schools, a group created to advance the mayor's education agenda, had, at last glance, raised more than $1.6 million, much of it from builders and business types who usually don't have much to say about education. Prosecutor-turned-board candidate Tamar Galatzan alone received more than $800,000 of that largesse.
Galatzan is running against Lauritzen, who, like LaMotte, bucked the mayor on his takeover bid. Which helps explain why, as my colleague Howard Blume has noted, individuals sympathetic to the mayor are giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to LaMotte's opponent, charter school operator Johnathan Williams.
So: If X = a school board member's salary of about $25,000, and Y = the amount people are willing to spend to get their preferred candidate elected, what is the value of Z, the possible payoff?
Answers:
A) The future of the children, upon which no monetary value can be placed.
B) Many millions in slam-dunk salary and benefit increases and other concessions for the union.
C) A potentially massive piece of the district's $19-billion construction budget or some of the stray billions floating around for contracts on everything from algebra books to umpteen gallons of cafeteria teriyaki sauce.
D) All of the above.
Alas, like a once wonderful teacher who burned out because the union opposed the sort of merit pay that might have motivated him to keep working hard (and who now can't be fired because principals are hamstrung by contract restrictions), I don't really have an answer.
I do know that my neighbor, Scott Folsom, decided not to run for the school board seat in part because of the "obscenity" of trying to raise $500,000 to $1 million for what is ostensibly a part-time job.
Not that Folsom is some sort of political puritan who recoils at the idea of money dirtying up the democratic process. But I do think it's sad when a quintessential concerned parent gets bullied out of grass-roots do-goodism by Big Money.
Folsom's first encounter with public education LAUSD-style came many years ago, on the day he walked his daughter through the doors of Mount Washington Elementary School. "My initial experience wasn't a happy one," the semiretired producer says.
It wasn't the peeling paint that got to him, but rather an autocratic principal who, he says, acted as if parents were an inconvenience and met Folsom's efforts to find the appropriate class for his daughter by tossing up an impenetrable tangle of bureaucratic obstacles.
Folsom opted for private school, but returned when "the best principal in the world" replaced the obstructionist. He started volunteering, then joined the school's PTA and eventually wound up as that organization's president for an area covering most of L.A. Unified except the Valley. He continues to work without compensation to organize parents and advocate for them and their kids.
Along the way, he also was appointed to a committee to oversee the bond money voters had given the district to build schools.
Soon he had his own L.A. Unified hard hat and was spending his life at policy meetings and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Then there's his perverse attraction to school board meetings, which Folsom attends, without coercion, apparently for the sheer joy of marveling at members' willingness to discuss endlessly such matters as the merits of plastic spoons and then decide without debate multimillion-dollar budget matters.
He quotes Mark Twain: "God made the idiot for practice, and then he created school boards."
But gradually Folsom began to find satisfaction in changing things from within.
He was already moving on toward the next level of obsessive involvement when he realized that the time he invested in raising money as a candidate might be better spent trying to talk people out of cash to support such PTA projects as free and reduced-cost dental and eye clinics for students.
Tuesday's ballot offers voters a chance to, as my colleague Joel Rubin put it, "rein in the frenzied nature of school board races." If enacted, Charter Amendment L would set a $1,000 limit on individual contributions to board members (last Monday, one contributor alone sank 100 times that amount into the campaign of Williams, LaMotte's opponent). It also would subject contributions to the city's stricter ethics scrutiny (though it would do nothing to stop independent expenditures such as those made by the mayor's education fund). And it would set up a committee to reconsider the size of board members' salaries.
None of this adds up to much. We can hope, however, that it proves a tentative prelude to the shrinking, restructuring and reform the district must undergo to achieve manageability.
And that might make it possible for candidates to wade into the fray and win or lose a board seat based not on the kindness of potential predators with deep pockets but on energy, ideas and freewheeling candidate debates held in school auditoriums.
Even now, of course, candidates do gather in public. But you almost want to say, "Why bother?"
Example: When a cluster of neighborhood groups put on a candidates' forum recently at Carthay Center Elementary School, LaMotte sent the teachers union's charmingly cocky president as her proxy.
In a district with a normal sense of propriety, that sort of coziness would seem beyond creepy. In L.A. Unified, it's business as usual.
LaMotte attributes the matter to a scheduling conflict rather than a conflict of interest. "The union endorsed me," she said. "We have the same goal — what's best for kids."
I've met few Southern Californians who don't thrum in resonance with such "good for the kids" sentiments. But pathetically few of us bother showing up to vote in school board elections.
With turnout low and interest even lower, the elections become auctions. The bidding goes insane. And well-meaning candidates, taxpayers and about 700,000 students get elbowed aside.
●● Bob Sipchen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and currently the Communications Director of the Sierra Club where he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Sierra magazine. As Associate Editor of the Los Angeles Times editorial pages he, along with colleague Alex Raskin, won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Sipchen also shared in the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for the Times coverage of the Los Angeles riots. His weekly "School Me" column and multi-media "School Me!" blog explored education issues.
THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED’ GAP+ Report: NOT PREPARED FOR CLASS + Letters + smf’s 2¢
THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED’ GAP: No Child Left Behind mandates such teachers in all U.S. schools. A new study shows that little progress has been made in meeting that requirement.
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/hzdL4X
November 26, 2010 - While states and school districts hotly debate the issue of whether student test scores should be used to evaluate teachers, the nation has been virtually ignoring a more basic question: whether those teachers are even qualified in the first place. Too many of them aren't.
The No Child Left Behind Act mandated that all students be taught by "highly qualified" teachers. And although we disagree with many elements of that 2001 federal school reform act — its rigidity, its use of the wrong measurements to assess student progress — this provision always made more sense.
Among other things, a highly qualified teacher in the secondary schools is supposed to have expertise in the subject he or she teaches, whether that means having majored in the subject in college or having a credential to teach it. Ample research has found that students learn better when their teachers have such formal expertise. Yet a new report by the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the educational lot of poor and minority students, shows that the problem is widespread and that little progress has been made.
According to the report, more than 15% of secondary school teachers were teaching outside their areas of expertise during the 2007-08 school year, a drop from about 17% four years earlier. California's record is even less impressive. About 17.5% of its teachers weren't qualified to teach their subjects in 2007-08, down from 17.7%.
Some states did worse, with the number of unqualified teachers rising. Others did much better; in Pennsylvania, for instance, the number plummeted from 17% to 7.6%. The problem is especially acute in math and in high-poverty schools. A quarter of math teachers in such schools across the country are unqualified to teach the subject.
It's not easy to fill all teaching jobs with qualified individuals. Math majors can usually find better-paying jobs in the private sector. Contracts negotiated with teachers unions make this harder still because schools cannot offer math teachers a higher salary than those whose jobs are easier to fill. This makes no sense. It defies reason to pay the same salary for a job that might have one or two qualified applicants and one that might have 500. Similarly, seniority rules should not keep school districts from assigning teachers to high-poverty schools.
If states, school administrators and unions will not reform this situation, the courts probably will. Consider the recent lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, which successfully challenged union rules that resulted in high-poverty schools suffering layoffs in disproportionate numbers. Qualified teachers matter, and they are the law.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Dec 3
Re "The 'highly qualified' gap," Editorial, Nov. 26
Teachers are not highly qualified to teach simply because they possess expertise in their subject field. If that were the case, UCLA professors with a doctorate and a list of publications would be assured success in K-12.
That's why all states require certification to teach in public schools. It's recognition that pedagogy plays an indispensable role in instructional effectiveness.
Although there may be candidates who are natural teachers, the overwhelming majority need the clinical experience that licensing mandates.
Walt Gardner
Los Angeles - The writer's blog, Reality Check, is published by Education Week.
Recruiting great teachers might be a problem if we continue cutting funds for schools and attacking teachers.
Funding means higher salaries and the supplies and support that make the difficult job of teaching manageable.
Funding means that after spending your own money for supplies for several decades, you at least know you will be able to live on your pension. But those are under attack, usually by people far wealthier than public school teachers.
Big business justifies high executive pay by claiming such compensation draws the best people. Guess what? We need our kids' teachers to be the best people too.
Joel Pressman
Los Angeles
WRONG LESSON
Re "1,000 L.A. Unified workers lose jobs," LAT Dec. 1
Always fire the little people — the custodians, office personnel and library workers. This is what so infuriates me about the Los Angeles Unified School District.
When I first came to South Gate High School in 1981, there were about 5,000 students on a year-round schedule, a principal and two or three assistants. When I left in 2008, there were about 3,500 students on a regular, one-track school year. But our administrative staff had grown to six or seven, each of whom made six figures.
I'll bet most of us would prefer to have a clean bathroom and a nice place to eat lunch rather than another assistant principal.
Cheryl Clark
Long Beach
●●smf’s 2¢: I have been having an e-mail conversation with the publicist for a number charter schools and The California Teachers Corps – an alternative certification program - on this subject. It's safe to say that the qualifications to be ‘highly qualified’ are subject to spin+debate.
LAUSD EMPLOYEES GET ‘BUMP’ TO NEW LOCATIONS + LAUSD EMPLOYESS PROTEST LAYOFFS AND REDUCTIONS IN HOURS
LAUSD EMPLOYEES GET ‘BUMP’ TO NEW LOCATIONS
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer | Daily News/Daily Breeze | http://bit.ly/gFiGwv
12/02/2010 - A day after more than 1,000 Los Angeles Unified clerks, janitors and classroom aides lost their jobs, about 2,000 more reported Wednesday to new work sites in the latest round of cost-saving personnel moves.
The reassignments - coupled with 1,023 layoffs and about 1,600 demotions or pay reductions - are designed to help the district stave off staff reductions during the 2011-12 school year.
But those "bumped" to new positions - some on the opposite side of the sprawling school district - found the mid-semester move disconcerting at best.
Among them was office worker Elvira Lopez Loa, who was reassigned Wednesday to a high school in West Los Angeles - her third "bump" in the last year.
"I am very grateful to at least have a job but the commute is driving me crazy," said Loa, of Sylmar, who worked 23 years at an elementary campus in nearby San Fernando before being reassigned last year to a school in Pico Unon and, three months later, San Pedro.
"I had a home at my school, I still call it my home ... I just wish they could let me stay ... This is a major disruption for schools."
Leaders of the union representing the non-teaching workers had hoped the district would use $130 million in federal money to preserve the jobs.
But in a letter sent Wednesdasy to employees, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the federal money was more critical to operations in fiscal 2011-12.
"We are attempting to bring stability during these turbulent times. If we don't use these dollars in 2011-2012 to preserve jobs, then our challenge becomes worse, rather than better," Cortines wrote.
The district has used layoffs, furloughs and other cuts to address a $640 million deficit this year. Nearly 2,200 classified staff and more than 2,700 certificated employees - largely teachers - have been laid off since the state began dramatic cuts to education funding in 2008.
At the same time, LAUSD enrollment has dropped by about 10 percent since its peak in 2002, reducing attendance-based funding the district gets from Sacramento.
"We're in a situation where we're trying to adjust our reality," said district spokeswoman Lydia Ramos. "The district is not going to look the same way it did five years, six years ago."
Anna Ciaramitaro, who was laid off after five years as an attendance clerk at San Pedro High School, worries how schools will operate with fewer support staff.
"The schools cannot run without the clerks," Ciaramitaro said. "They're the backbone of the schools."
LAUSD EMPLOYESS PROTEST LAYOFFS AND REDUCTIONS IN HOURS
Written by Alex Garcia, San Fernando Sun Contributing Writer | http://bit.ly/eYiZWD
en español: Empleados de LAUSD Protestan Despidos y Recorte de Horas http://bit.ly/fCDVCQ
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 - This will be a sad end of the year for Robert Johns. The Teamsters member is one of hundreds of employees who were laid off by Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in an effort to combat the district's budget deficit.
"It's going to be a dry Christmas," said the truck driver, who transported food to schools.
Robert Grzesiak, a custodian at Chatsworth High School, was laid off and then rehired as a "sub" employee, meaning he no longer enjoys retirement and paid vacation benefits.
"I'm shocked I'm still here, but I guess I'm low cost," he said.
And Juana Bermudez, an office assistant at an elementary school in Glassell Park, saw her hours cut in half.
"I don't know if I'll make it," said the single mother of two. "I barely make it as it is, imagine now.
"For me, this is a day of sadness, frustration. In the middle of these hard times, this is just going to make things more difficult," added Bermudez, who has worked for LAUSD the past 14 years.
These are just some of the clerical workers, plant managers and aides who either lost their jobs, saw their hours reduced or were transferred to other schools as LAUSD tries to plug a budget deficit prompted in part by state funding cuts.
District officials sent out 4,672 layoff notices on Oct. 15. A total of 996 employees were actually laid off, along with 27 non-permanent employees.Many of those former workers and dozens of others, as well as educators, held a protest Tuesday outside of the district headquarters.
Adriana Salazar, Teamsters Local 572 representative, said the cuts would "cripple" LAUSD. "They'll be crippled without administrative and custodial workers," she said. "These cuts are hurting our students."
That was the same message from United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) representative Joshua Pechthalt.
"We think that this is a bad move for the schools," Pechthalt said. "It really hurts the continuity at the school sites. Schools will not be kept as clean.We're losing the people who actually make the schools run properly with teachers."
Protesters demanded that the district use money from the federal jobs bill they received to save these positions. A. J.Duffy,UTLA president, gave an example of how that money could be used.
"Retaining plant managers is about a $10million item, and the money is there," he asserted.
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines has said that the $103 million the district was awarded by the federal Education Jobs bill was set to save more than 2,000 jobs next year and using it now would be "grossly irresponsible."
The district, he said, is dealing with an ongoing $142million deficit.
Apart from employees who were laid off, the District also shifted 2,040 workers into new positions at the same pay grade.
Another 1,609 workers were assigned positions with a lower classification or given fewer working hours.
Some were also transferred to other schools.
That's the case of Cheryl Halpert, Maria Forss, Liliana Pabon and Virginia Wolf. All of them were office technicians and custodians at Chatsworth High School, but have been sent to other schools throughout the San Fernando Valley.
"We didn't want to move but nobody asked us," Halpert complained. "We didn't want to leave."
The situation was even worse for Pabon, who was initially transferred to a school in Huntington Park and had to plead with the District for a reassignment to a school closer to her home in the San Fernando Valley.
"We wanted to stay where we were, but at least we didn't lose our jobs, at least not yet," Pabon said.
L.A. SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES WIDE-RANGING PACT WITH CHARTER SCHOOLS
by Howard Blume | L.A. Times/LA NOW | http://lat.ms/fTl9Hj
November 30, 2010 | 7:08 pm - Financially struggling charter schools have secured a commitment for low-interest loans as part of a wide-ranging pact with the Los Angeles school system.
The agreement, approved Tuesday by the Board of Education, also sets up a fledgling though uneasy political alliance to raise new funds. Under it, charter schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District would campaign together to raise tax revenue--and then share the proceeds.
Charter schools are independently managed, free from many restrictions that govern traditional schools. About 10% of L.A. Unified students attend charters.
The agreement on low-interest loans would be groundbreaking in California, said Jed Wallace, head of the California Charter Schools Assn. The loans “are not going to cost the district anything, but yet it could help save the charter schools of Los Angeles.”
The loans would be especially timely because of the ongoing state budget crisis, particularly as the state has delayed substantial payments to schools for months.
The practice has caused a cash flow crisis for schools, putting an estimated 180 vulnerable charter schools across the state in danger of insolvency, said Caprice Young, the chief executive of ICEF Public Schools. The problems at ICEF, which operates 15 local schools, also stem from high debt and overspending, issues that resulted in the hiring of Young, a former L.A. school board president and business executive. Cash-flow loans have been costing ICEF and other charters more than 15% in interest, she said.
L.A. Unified can get such loans for less than 2%, officials said. And if the district manages these funds carefully, even that cost can be entirely offset.
Under the Quality Schools Compact approved Tuesday, L.A. Unified also pledges to share the proceeds of future voter-approved parcel taxes with charter schools. In exchange, charter schools are being asked to use their political muscle to help persuade voters. Charter schools opposed a local parcel tax in June; that measure failed.
The agreement also calls for developing common academic expectations for all schools and a common teacher evaluation process, among charter and traditional schools.
But charters and the district have persisting conflicts that already are coloring this new collaboration. In an interview Tuesday, Supt. Ramon Cortines threatened to withhold the needed loans unless charter schools abandon a lawsuit against the district over the sharing of classroom space.
And board member Steve Zimmer voted against the pact, citing widespread concerns that charter schools don’t serve enough disabled students and also don’t pay their share of these costs. The board vote was 5-2, with Zimmer and Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte voting no.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
LA Times’ ‘Grading the Teachers v. 2.0’: WHEN LAYOFFS COME TO L.A. SCHOOLS, PERFORMANCE DOESN’T COUNT: After the... http://bit.ly/eqrceR
HIGH AND MISPLACED HOPES FOR STUDENT TESTING: Themes in the News for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 3, 2010 By UCLA IDEA... http://bit.ly/gOruIh
SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS: “We won't tax the ‘Citizens,’ we'll tax the Moms!” + MALIBU PARENTS TURNED DOWN TO CHARTER K-5 POINT DUME SCIENCE + WANNA RUNNA SCHOOL? + APPEALS COURT: PARENTS CAN SUE SCHOOLS WITHOUT MINIMUM PE - from California’s Children | http://bit.ly/faxMe4
SENIORITY RULES, BUT DO STUDENTS LOSE?: Episode: KPCC AirTalk with Larry Mantle for December 3, 2010 | http://bi... http://bit.ly/gZsVgK
QEIA Progress Report: TEACHER-LED REFORM HELPING IN CALIFORNIA: By Amy Buffenbarger | from The Priority Schools ... http://bit.ly/gus0c6
Mendez vs. Westminster: CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY IN ORANGE COUNTY - Years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Gonza... http://bit.ly/g1fED6
THE ‘HIGHLY QUALIFED’ GAP+ Report: NOT PREPARED FOR CLASS + Letters + smf’s 2¢: The 'highly qualified' gap: No C... http://bit.ly/f5VzU4
NEW OVERSEER FOR CHARTERS URGED: State board too consumed by charter petitions: By John Fensterwald - Educated G... http://bit.ly/emC4wH
CTA CITES QEIA’s BIG IMPACT: Is it teacher leadership or smaller classes?: By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess ... http://bit.ly/fP1ELj
CONGRESS SENDS SCHOOL NUTRITION BILL TO OBAMA: By The Associated Press | http://bit.ly/fTc0Hb December 2, 2010 ... http://bit.ly/g74jQp
STUDY LOOKS AT TURNOVER IN CHARTER PRINCIPALS: "You’re Leaving? Sustainability and Succession in Charter Schools... http://bit.ly/eFjH28
CHARTER SCHOOLS AND OTHERS SUBMIT PLANS FOR CONTROL OF NEW AND STRUGGLING L.A. SCHOOLS: Howard Blume in LA Times... http://bit.ly/igaoM3
LAUSD EMPLOYEES GET ‘BUMP’ TO NEW LOCATION + LAUSD EMPLOYESS PROTEST LAYOFFS AND REDUCTIONS IN HOURS: LAUSD empl... http://bit.ly/gJI5vF
BILL GATES LISTENS TO THE WRONG PEOPLE: By Diane Ravitch in the Ed Week Bridging Differences blog | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/dXsPm2
LATEST ROUND OF LAUSD LAYOFFS INSPIRE PROTESTS: 5 Eagle Rock High School staffers lose their jobs.: By Ajay S... http://bit.ly/dZ6w5B
PSC v 2.0: POOL OF 48 APPLIES TO RUN SCHOOLS + CHARTER OPERATOR MAGNOLIA WON’T APPLY TO MANAGE NEW CARSON SCHOOL... http://bit.ly/eSBPZQ
SUPERINTENDENT CORTINES LETTER TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE LATEST RIFS: “Next year will not be any easier.”: http://bit.ly/hJdY7Y
MORE THAN 1000 L.A. UNIFIED WORKERS LOSE THEIR JOBS: Thousands of others will be shifted to new workplaces, with... http://bit.ly/hzHbVM
L.A. SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES WIDE-RANGING PACT WITH CHARTER SCHOOLS: --Howard Blume | L.A. Times/LA NOW | http://l... http://bit.ly/hwFZko
THE NEXT ROUND OF SCHOOL REFORM IS ON TAP: Wednesday is application deadline to run 13 LAUSD campuses.: By Conni... http://bit.ly/fr3qKV Wednesday, December 01, 2010
SCHOOL CROSING GUARD ATTACKED, ROBBED - TWO ARRESTED: Witnesses say the driver defied her order to stop and his ... http://bit.ly/hRf24T
HARD TIMES BRING ‘HARD TIMES’ TO RESEDA HIGH: Richard Verrier | LA Times: Company Town: The business behin... http://bit.ly/esUriF
THE IRONY OF THE TEACHABLE MOMENT, MISSED: On the 55th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks kept her seat the LA Times whines abaout Hitler's wedding anniversary!... http://bit.ly/dOMOwb
ArtsEdMail for November 30: CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR ARTS EDUCATION: November 30, 2010 ArtsEdMail provides all ... http://bit.ly/gI8p3w
Bloomberg News Reports: MAYOR BLOOMBERG WINS WAIVER FOR ESQUIRE+COSMO PUBLISHER TO BECOME CHANCELLOR OF NYC SCHOOLS!... http://bit.ly/f2KlTD
U.S. GRADUATION RATE IS RISING: By SAM DILLON – New York Times | http://nyti.ms/dISc53 November 30, 2010 - The ... http://bit.ly/fohXqv
LOS ANGELES UNITED (sic – UNIFIED?) SITS ON ART WRORS WORTH MILLIONS: MY TURN by Diana L. Chapman – CityWatch - ... http://bit.ly/iherUA 12:36 PM
CARSON-AREA CAMPUS MAY ADD GRADES: New high school could serve sixth-through 12th-graders under district plan.: ... http://bit.ly/hNSqNs
STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH FUNDING: Legislative leaders ask court to overturn Schwarzenegger veto in connection with ... http://bit.ly/g6i69o
LAUSD 'EARLY START' CALENDAR: Additional coverage: Some Valley parents are opposing expansion of LAUSD's 'early ... http://bit.ly/e1A8Nd
CIRCLE OF LEARNING IS MORE THAN A FIGURE OF SPEECH: Teachers are using a traditional technique to help students ... http://bit.ly/foAmz5
LAUSD CONSIDERS EARLIER START TO SCHOOL YEAR: The district's proposal would start and end the academic calendar ... http://bit.ly/e38o9E
CORRECTION: previous tweets referring to Dec 30th advocacy should be for tomorrow NOV 30th !!! -smf
THE ULTIMATE NOV 30th ADVOCACY: Protest Rally @ Beaudry – Come get your fair share of abuse!: Nov 30 LAUSD RIF P... http://bit.ly/hltYsH
More Dec. 30th Advocacy: Preschool California says “THE WHITE HOUSE NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!”: Preschool Californ... http://bit.ly/g6wHQj
DECEMBER 30th: AFT Legislative Action meets LAUSD RIF’s: smf: Tomorrow seems to be a Cosmic Confluence as LAUSD ... http://bit.ly/ejGvLp
JOHN MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS MAKE A BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBORHOOD: Editorial By Carole Nese in the Los Feliz Ledger... http://bit.ly/i329nk
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Nury.Martinez@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 Schwarzenegger: 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.
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