In This Issue:  | | • | THE LAUSD BUDGET: What we know/What we don't know. | | | • | $3.1-BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS WINDFALL OFFERS A CHANCE TO REFORM CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, TOP EDUCATION OFFICIAL SAYS | | | • | NY Times’ Los Angeles Journal: GIVING LESSONS IN TRAFFIC SAFETY AT MIDDLE SCHOOLS | | | • | LAYOFFS WOULD HIT VILLARAIGOSA'S SCHOOLS ESPECIALLY HARD | | | • | 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: | | | | Bad things happened at LAUSD this week.
You won't read about them in this part of 4LAKids. Not this time.
Skid-a-marink a dink a dink, Skid -a-marink a do; we love you,
Skid-a-marink a dink a dink, Skid -a-marink a do; we love you
We love you in the morning and in the afternoon.
We love you in the evening and underneath the moon.
Oh skid-a-marink a dink a dink, Skid-a-marink a do;
We love you Julie Korenstein, yes we do.
You didn't have to be there, but you should've been. If you were you know and heard and saw and felt the love.
Friday. 10AM.. The Charles Leroy Lowman Special Education Center in North Hollywood.
Their Earth Day Celebration.
And for National Library Week, the dedication of the new school library: The Julie Korenstein Library.
There is no more important classroom in any school than the school library.
And Friday the Lowman school library was dedicated-to-and-named-for Julie K. — who saved the school back when Special Ed Centers were universally out and mainstreaming was universally in. Julie who used her personal board member office funds to get bookshelves for the school library. And books to put on them.
Julie Korenstein. 22 years on the Board of Ed. A teacher before that.
Ponytail. Bangs. The rare public official who asks questions when she doesn't already know the answer. The word "retiring" will never fit in a sentence about her
That Julie.
Profoundly challenged and disabled special Ed students like the ones at Lowman don't need books or a library you say? Because they can't read and maybe never will.
That was the thinking - or lack thereof - at LAUSD. Not the big LAUSD we are all a part of, but the small LAUSD about test scores and right sizing and dollar signs. The other LAUSD.
Special Ed Kids can imagine. They can dream.
Like every child they can be and do anything they set their hearts to - and their hearts are a mile wide.
They can sing and dance.
They can connect smiles and make laughter.
They can listen.
They can listen as school librarian Franny Parish reads to them. Yes, that Franny Parish - the PTA Goddess with the leopard print stockings is also the School Library Goddess.
Who knew?
The kids at Lowman know; they know the words and the tune and they dance to the music. Skid-a-marink.
They know about books. They may not be able to decode and decipher and comprehend. They may not know their letters …but they get the very essence of it.
They know about Earth Day and how important the earth is. They know about the hungry hungry caterpillar and about hopping on pop and all those hats Bartholomew Cubbins has. Like every child they love those things. Even if they can't speak they take your hand and show you things you need to know about.
Julie made a speech for the adults about the 22 years. About how this past year has been the hardest; about how next year will be worse. How she wonders whether public education and LAUSD will survive.
And Julie made a speech to the kids about Earth Day and Books and about Franny. How Julie's ninety-year-old- mother asks her each day what she's going to do when she grows up. She talked about the Library. About how special the kids and the school truly are to her and to all of us.
Franny joked about the wonderful new library with the painting on the wall painted over the weekend by Principal Paula Melideo …and how it probably won't have a librarian next year.
That joke didn't get a laugh. Kids don't understand irony and metaphor. The future is a long way away when you have Down's Syndrome …but you have high expectations. You want to know about Bartholomew's hats today and what's in the book next to it tomorrow.
There probably won't be a more meaningful or appropriate memorial to Julie’s service to her community and her constituents than this school library. Julie's community is our aspiring city of angels, her constituents twenty two years of schoolchildren.
Good job, well done. Skid-a-marink indeed.
¡EverOnward/Hasta adelante! - smf
THE LAUSD BUDGET: What we know/What we don't know.
by smf for 4LAKids
THIS MUCH WE KNOW:
• The Federal government though the stimulus package is committed to maintain and create jobs in public education – that is the goal of this initial phase of the stimulus. Reform comes later, with different dollars.
• LAUSD's budget, approved last Tuesday, is reform and 'rightsizing' driven: the Board of Ed voted to reduce and eliminate, not save and create jobs, positions and programs.
• Yes, 1996 elementary teacher positions from a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) pool of over ten thousand were 'saved' – but 8,541 jobs were done away with Tuesday. The possibility of saving 3,167 of these jobs through the federal stimulus was relegated to the school sites' discretion – if they can find the money and can figure out the district, state and federal mandate. 5,374 jobs cannot/will not be saved under the 4/13 budget plan.
• The California Ed Code says that only the Board of Education has hiring and firing authority.
• The first of the Federal Stimulus funding was released by the feds to the state Friday; California was the first state in the nation to receive the funding.
• The feds say the governor has authority and responsibility to send the money to school districts. The legislature says the California Constitution gives them that sole authority. Where the California Superintendent of Public Instruction – the state's premiere elected official in education fits in is unclear – but he has weighed in (see $3.1-BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS WINDFALL OFFERS A CHANCE TO REFORM CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, TOP EDUCATION OFFICIAL SAYS, following) In LAUSD the Board of Ed and the superintendent are at odds with O'Connell's advice to come up with "creative solutions that benefit all students" while saving jobs of teachers, administrators and employees. They are intent on rightsizing – pushing the decision making authority on saving jobs out to the 900 school sites.
• The March 10th Board of Ed meeting – the first reading of the district budget – was held with no public witnesses, broadcast by a single TV camera controlled by the board from am undisclosed location behind locked doors, inaccessible to the public — in extremely dubious compliance with the state's open meeting law.
• At the next Board of Ed budget hearing on March 31st Dr. Vladovic recused himself – removing himself from the process – citing a conflict of interest. His son was subject to layoff under the proposed RIF proposal.
• Absent consensus, under pressure of the District's congressional delegation and in deference to the public the board voted to postpone to a certain time (the regular April 13th meeting) the motion on the floor (the budget resolution).
• Immediately prior to the April 13th meeting a special meeting was held and Dr. Vladovic's son and 1995 other teachers were removed from the RIF list. Dr. Vladovic did not participate in the special meeting.
• At the April 13 regular meeting – at which the budget resolution was reconsidered as amended – Dr. Vladovic was recorded at the opening roll call as absent. Whether he was ever recorded as present is unclear. From time to time he came and left. At no time did he announce he was no longer recused.
• When the final vote was taken there was a 3 to 3 tie; Dr. Vladovic not being present. In a tie vote the motion would have failed – but the vote was left open pending Dr. Vladovic's return
• When Vladovic returned he explained his absence as illness (…with perhaps more detail then was required!) Asked for his vote he made an inquiry of counsel: [LATimes: "He then asked for a legal opinion on whether the district could spend more restricted money to save jobs. The district's top lawyer warned against it." — this in itself is parliamentarily questionable, no further information should be provided during a vote], He got a reply and recorded an Aye vote. 4 to 3 the motion carried.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW:
• Questions arise as to whether Dr. Vladovic's participation was correct in light of his:
1. previous recusal on a continued motion,
2. absence at the roll call and
3. absence at the vote – which was understood by some witnesses as his continued recusal.
• There is also question as to whether the decision to save the 1996 elementary positions was engineered to secure Vladovic's participation.
• 4LAKids questions what the intended and unintended consequences of saving the 1996 elementary teachers will be. The initial RIF was proposed to facilitate class size increase; now 2000 more teachers are available but the class size increase mandate was not addressed in the budget. What exactly will those teachers are doing?
• How School Site Councils – charged under this budget with determining which RIFed teachers and staff will be rehired — and untrained and unprepared for this fiduciary and ethical responsibility – will function when they are likely to be composed of RIFed employees and their co-workers – and by parents whose children will be served by impacted employees.
• The composition of SSCs is statutory, they are elected bodies and their makeup is formulated to create equitable representation of employees, administration, parents and community, and in secondary: students. Wholesale recusal would disturb the equity
• SSC meetings, normally open, will be closed as they would be discussing personnel matters. This creates both the appearance-of and actual conflicts of interest of biblical proportions with little or no transparency, accountability or oversight. Stay tuned.
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IT ISN'T ALL ABOUT THE BUDGET AND THE BOARD: Last week the UTLA Board of Directors - the teacher's union leadership - recommended to the House of Representatives, UTLA's representative assembly - a YES vote on the proposed new contract negotiated with the school district. That recommendation was voted down by something like a 40%-60% split according to some reports. The contract now goes to the entire UTLA rank-and-file with a NO vote recommendation and popular sentiment for a strike "as long as pink slips remain on the table."
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TUNE IN AND WATCH: The April Board meeting will be rebroadcast Sunday, April 19, 10:24 AM on KLCS/Channel 58 - CHANNEL 58.1 Check your cable listings for which channel it is carried.
$3.1-BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS WINDFALL OFFERS A CHANCE TO REFORM CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, TOP EDUCATION OFFICIAL SAYS
STATE SUPT. OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION JACK O'CONNELL CALLS ON TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS TO WORK TOGETHER
By Seema Mehta and Howard Blume from the Los Angeles Times
April 18, 2009 - As California received billions of dollars Friday to stave off widespread teacher layoffs, the state's highest elected education official pledged to reform schools, aligning academic standards with other states, rewarding teachers who work in the most challenging classrooms and improving student assessments.
"If we are going to do right by our kids and take advantage of this wave of change, then everything must be on the table, and we need to bring both teachers and management to that table to come up with creative solutions that benefit all students," state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a speech at an education conference in Irvine.
O'Connell's proposals came the same day the federal government announced it was releasing $3.1 billion in economic stimulus funding earmarked for education to California, money that could help save the jobs of some of the more than 30,000 teachers, administrators and others who have received preliminary layoff warnings in the state's school districts.
California was the first state in the nation to receive the funding.
O'Connell said the funding provides a watershed opportunity to create dynamic transformations in the state's schools.
Obtaining billions more in stimulus money will depend on the state embracing calls for education reform by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
O'Connell walked a fine line, echoing some of their ideas but with less strident language that avoided directly mentioning those issues that are most deeply opposed by teachers' unions and others.
"If you come at this in people's faces, you turn people off," said Rick Miller, O'Connell's deputy superintendent for policy and public affairs. "It's about being collaborative."
Paying teachers based on their performance has been among the most controversial aspect of the administration's education agenda.
O'Connell called for ensuring that teachers are receiving appropriate training and mentoring, and for rewarding teachers who work in the state's most challenging schools.
The state could use stimulus money to create pilot programs in selected districts.
"What he's alluding to is the need to put differential pay on the table: to pay teachers more money if they're willing to take assignments that are deemed more challenging," said Ken Futernick, an expert on teacher retention and school redesign who works for the San Francisco-based nonprofit WestEd.
Duncan has gone further, alluding to "pay for performance," which, Futernick said, O'Connell elected neither to mention specifically nor to rule out: "Maybe it is some signal to the feds that he is willing to play along with their agenda to promote pay for performance," a positioning that could result in California receiving additional federal funding.
Los Angeles teachers union President A.J. Duffy said filling jobs at schools that are hard to staff is not about pay.
"The primary issues are a safe, clean, healthy environment, administrative backup and support, and student discipline," he said. "You get those four elements in any school and you will get people to go to those schools."
O'Connell also spoke about a push to create national standards, which he said are inevitable and ought to be "state-driven" and voluntary.
"We can either be a leader in the conversation and work to ensure the results closely align to our current standards or we can stand on the sidelines and watch it happen to us," he said, noting that the state's existing standards, though rigorous, must be strengthened to keep up with global competition.
Miller said many states have already begun to have discussions about forming alliances. Possible partners for California would be Massachusetts, which has equally rigorous standards, or states such as Florida and Texas that also have a high number of English learners.
These students are a key concern for O'Connell, who said California must show leadership in ensuring that new standards take their language development needs into account.
Educators and others worried that a move away from state-based standards could lead to loss of local control.
"The very next step would be a national test and that's something we're very wary about in California," said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn.
Williamson Evers, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University who helped write the state's math standards, said he fears rewriting the standards could weaken them.
"California already has international benchmarked standards," he said. "There is no need to be tweaking or modifying or rewriting California standards."
Evers did agree with O'Connell's call to improve use of assessments to help struggling schools and students.
"We cannot let them fail, hit them with sanctions, and sit on the sidelines," O'Connell said.
But the state has never used some of the sanctions at its disposal under the federal No Child Left Behind reform law, such as restructuring or taking over a failing school.
Miller said there has been little point in "blowing up" a school without having a thoughtful, systemic plan for what to do afterward.
Economic stimulus money, he said, could be used to develop such plans.
One tool that would be useful for all these proposals -- measuring school, student and teacher achievement -- would be an improved data system. Creating a top-line version for California schools would cost up to $60 million, which could be partly funded through competitive grants in the stimulus package, state officials said.
Analysts said the policies and efforts O'Connell puts behind his words will be key to the reform proposals' success.
Some said Friday's speech was short on specifics, while others praised O'Connell for thinking beyond short-term goals.
"It is encouraging that Mr. O'Connell is sketching a bold reform agenda, not simply using Obama stimulus dollars to reinforce the status quo," said Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC Berkeley.
NY Times’ Los Angeles Journal: GIVING LESSONS IN TRAFFIC SAFETY AT MIDDLE SCHOOLS
by Jennifer Steinhauer | New York Times
April 10, 2009 — LOS ANGELES — At 2:58 each weekday afternoon, the adults brace for traffic chaos at Florence Nightingale Middle School.
The bell sounds, and children dash to the left and right. Some bounce basketballs as they make their way to waiting cars — some parked illegally — backpacks swing perilously from side to side, and many pile into Metro buses idling two lanes deep. School administrators in bright orange vests move their charges gingerly through a crosswalk as the children try to hurl themselves toward burger joints across the street.
“You guys stink like moldy cheese,” barked Mitchell Summer, the dean of students, as he struggled to move the masses across a busy intersection with a broken traffic signal. “Come on, let’s go, let’s go!”
Among the many worries of Los Angeles parents who pack their children off to school each day, traffic dangers have been looming larger in recent years.
The number of serious traffic incidents involving schoolchildren across the 900 Los Angeles public schools has significantly increased, particularly around middle schools, which are not staffed by crossing guards, school administrators and law enforcement officials say. Last year, two eighth-grade girls in Wilmington, near the Port of Los Angeles, were hit by vehicles near school, and one girl was left partly paralyzed.
The traffic dangers have become so widespread that the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office will soon begin training parents for volunteer traffic control and safety duty.
“The problem is that there are not enough resources,” said Michelle McGinnis, a prosecutor in the office. “And those resources are diminishing.” Financing for crossing guards has decreased steadily over 15 years, and there is a lack of applicants for the jobs, school district officials said.
From January to November 2008, there were 153 traffic-related injuries around schools, which Los Angeles public school officials said was much higher than five years ago, though they could not provide data for prior years.
In recent years, traffic has become among the top three safety concerns in schools, said Michael Hopwood, the central operations coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Increased traffic around schools has vexed other major cities, too. Nationwide, roughly 21 percent of morning traffic is generated by parents driving children to school, said Raquel Rivas, a spokeswoman for Safe Routes to School, a national organization formed to encourage walking and bicycling to school.
Traffic patterns around schools in Los Angeles have become clogged and often dangerous because of a large growth in student enrollment and an increase in the number of parents who ferry their children to and from school out of fear for their safety, Mr. Hopwood said. Especially in high-crime areas, parents are reluctant to let their children walk.
“It’s getting worse and worse each year,” said Brad Smith, an environmental health and safety officer at the school district, “because so many parents feel that they need to drop their kids at the front entrance of the school because they are concerned about harm.”
A school bus driver, Michelle Coleman, says middle schools are her biggest nightmare. “The parents park right here where the buses need to be,” Ms. Coleman said the other day outside Florence Nightingale, northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Luz Bunacaba conceded that she was part of the problem. But with bus fare of $5 a day and the distance too far for her 15-year-old son to walk, Ms. Bunacaba parks in the bus lane. “I have to,” she said, “it’s the only way.”
Part of the problem is that schools lack enough crosswalks, so students cross in the middle of the block, Mr. Hopwood said.
“We have sidewalks that are too thin,” he said. “At one high school, there are over 5,000 students on the sidewalks, and they get impatient with one another. We have lots of parents double parking. There is just not enough room, and there have been lots of incidents of students getting hit.”
Some parents try to intervene, sometimes though a school district program that trains them how to manage car-pool lanes during drop off. But unless parents are trained, that can lead to problems, Ms. McGinnis said.
At one middle school downtown, she said, parents stood on a corner for hours, studying officers for tips on directing traffic, and then tried to emulate them. But they did not have proper training or equipment, and ended up drawing the unhappy attention of the police themselves.
In studying the safety problems at the middle schools, the Los Angeles city attorney’s school safety prosecutors were surprised to see that traffic was a pressing problem at nearly all of the nine most troubled schools.
So the office, using Los Angeles Police Department officers, came up with a training program and bought traffic safety equipment — bright vests, traffic cones — to try to “professionalize” parents and other volunteers.
The city attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, is also pressing the Police Department to enhance enforcement of traffic laws around schools. “It’s a small investment with a big return,” said Mr. Delgadillo’s spokesman, Nick Velasquez. “Making do with less in tough times.”
LAYOFFS WOULD HIT VILLARAIGOSA'S SCHOOLS ESPECIALLY HARD
● CAMPUSES THE MAYOR CONTROLS HAVE LONG SUFFERED FROM HIGH TURNOVER, AND THE CUTS WOULD BOOST INSTABILITY. 'I CAME TO DO WHAT I CONSIDER MISSIONARY WORK,' SAYS A WATTS PRINCIPAL WHO COULD GET BUMPED.
By Howard Blume | From the Los Angeles Times
April 16, 2009 -- Principal Tim Sullivan could lose nearly half his teachers at Markham Middle School in Watts even though they want to stay. They've received layoff notices as a result of sweeping budget cuts approved this week by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In fact, under seniority rules, Sullivan couldn't remain either: He'd almost certainly be bumped out by an administrator with more years of service.
The result is that efforts to improve Markham could, in essence, have to start over. Except this time, the school's next principal and many new teachers would have landed in gang-plagued Watts through an involuntary transfer, which doesn't bode well for future progress.
Especially hard hit would be schools under the stewardship of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Seven of the 10 campuses, including Markham, could lose their first-year principals, more than three-fourths of assistant principals and more than 20% of teachers.
"It would be horrendous," Sullivan said. "I need every one of my staff members to return. These children need a continuum of people who care. Losing these teachers would permeate into the belief that no one cares about Watts."
The Board of Education acted Tuesday to close a $596.1-million budget gap by moving forward with plans to lay off about 3,500 teachers who have not yet earned tenure protections. Some are expected to lose jobs because of increasing class sizes. Other teachers and administrators could be displaced by employees with more seniority, including those bumped out of other schools and district offices.
Campuses such as Markham won't necessarily face lower funding; they'll receive substantial federal stimulus dollars aimed at schools serving low-income families. So there's a chance that the number of Markham teachers won't shrink. But these schools won't be able to keep scores of teachers and administrators who want most to be there.
Instability has been commonplace at Markham and myriad other low-performing, long-struggling schools. The mayor's schools confront a particular dilemma because so many started with new administrative teams. These schools have long suffered from high turnover, and some developed reputations as dumping grounds for problem employees.
In 2007, Markham was forced to take an assistant principal whom police suspected of child molestation. Steve Thomas Rooney was arrested months later on molestation-related charges involving two Markham students; he has denied wrongdoing and is awaiting trial.
Last year, the revolving door spun again when a promising school improvement program led by Deputy City Atty. Michelle McGinnis exited just as the mayor's team was entering to take charge. More than 40% of the staff and most administrators departed as well.
The mayor's team scrambled to fully staff the school, with Sullivan arriving in August.
Anecdotal reports from the mayor's schools are mixed this year, but Sullivan insists that real strides have been made at Markham. He points to a committed staff, an expanded college-prep program and a soon-to-launch homework and community-forum website.
Math and science coach Ricardo Esquivel, in his fifth year at Markham, said the school has a newly intense focus on academics. Breaking up the staff, he said, "would take us back a couple of years."
First-year Principal Sherri Williams at 99th Street Elementary in South-Central L.A. said that losing her six new teachers would be like losing a limb "because we are so interwoven and unified."
The mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools has invested at least $2 million of its own funds and about $2 million in district money in staff training at its schools, officials said.
Some schools got a boost when Supt. Ramon C. Cortines decided he could afford to remove permanent elementary teachers from the layoff list.
That spares seven of the 10 endangered teachers at the Partnership's Ritter Elementary in Watts, which has a staff of 20.
Still, year-round Santee Education Complex, south of downtown, would lose nearly all of its math teachers on the academic track that begins July 1. Overall, if the school can't find 55 willing replacement teachers, some classes might begin with substitutes.
For the sake of students, the district must avoid all teacher layoffs, said Marshall Tuck, chief executive of the nonprofit organization that manages the mayor's schools.
There's no potential solution, he added, that solves the problem just for the mayor's schools; that's one reason why Tuck and Villaraigosa are advocating districtwide solutions, including a concerted push for more flexibility with federal money, which could save more jobs.
And instead of letting a displaced senior administrator bump out a good principal, Tuck suggests creating "co-principals" at low-performing schools. They would join rather than replace quality principals until jobs opened elsewhere. Similarly, Tuck wants displaced veteran teachers to add to a staff rather than to force out dynamic, less-experienced colleagues.
But such moves would require additional cost cutting and most likely salary concessions from employee unions, Tuck said.
One way or another, Markham's principal wants to stay put.
"I came to do what I consider missionary work," Sullivan said. "I hope and pray I get an opportunity to return."
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources
THE TWO MAJOR CALIFORNIA TEACHERS UNIONS AGREE THAT THE STATE OWES EDUCATION BILLION$, CTA Goes to the Ballot Box, CFT to the Courts
Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:43 PM
The latest on California politics and government Posted by Kevin Yamamura, SACBEE April 16 - The California Teachers Association has pumped $5 million so far into a campaign to pass Propositions 1A and 1B, with the carrot of $9.3 billion in total additional education revenues starting in 2011-12 under 1B. But the California Federation of Teachers believes there's a different way to get that
L.A. ACADEMY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST PROPOSED LAUSD TEACHER CUTS
Saturday, April 18, 2009 12:57 PM
by Nadra Kareem | Contributing Writer The Watts Times April 16, 2009 -- Lamar Queen considered applying to three school districts in Southern California upon graduating from Louisiana’s Grambling State University. In the end, the math teacher settled on the Los Angeles Unified School District. “They had a nice incentive program for new teachers who were going to teach math, so I went with
YouTube: CTA’s YES ON 1A & 1B COMMERCIAL
Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:16 AM
4LAKIDS unenthusiastically recommends YES votes on 1A, 1B & 1C. We don’t like any of them, but they are the best we are going to get in this economy with politics-as-unusual in Sacramento. 1D and 1E hold early childhood education and mental health programs temporary hostage for education, if you can accept that – vote YES. 1E is a no brainer. Familiarize yourself with the measures
NY Times’ Los Angeles Journal: GIVING LESSONS IN TRAFFIC SAFETY AT MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Thursday, April 16, 2009 5:18 AM
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER | NEW YORK TIMES Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times - Mitchell Summer, the dean of students at Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles, helps students cross the street April 10, 2009 — LOS ANGELES — At 2:58 each weekday afternoon, the adults brace for traffic chaos at Florence Nightingale Middle School. The bell sounds, and children dash to the left
5000? 5400? 6850? THE NUMBERS OF LAUSD LAYOFFS LIKE THE SIZE OF THE BUDGET DEFICIT AND THE SIZE OF THE FEDERAL STIMULUS REMAINS UNKNOWN. BUT HOWEVER MANY OF THEM THERE ARE THEY ARE LIKE, SO FIRED! OR NOT.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:17 PM
Update 4/15 | 3pm: Before yesterday’s vote to “save” 1996 elementary school jobs Reduction in Force/RIF/layoff notices had been sent to 10,571 employees. The final vote technically authorized 8,541 layoffs, Superintendent Ramon Cortines and Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said the district would route state funding to individual schools, allowing them to
“DO THE RIGHT THING FOR KIDS …AND THE RIGHT THING IS NOT TO PROCEED WITH THIS BUDGET”
Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:48 PM
“You have heard from Jackie Goldberg and John Mockler; you have heard from teachers and parents and student. Listen to them.”
smf to the Board of Ed at the April 14th Meeting: Members of the Board of Education, I speak today as Vice President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTA and I bring the greetings of Thirty-first District. Together we represent the entirely of PTA in LAUSD. I am here in
LABOR ORGANIZES AGAINST BUDGET MEASURE 1-A + Strange 1A fellows move their beds closer together
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 8:10 AM
By Kevin Yamamura | Sacramento Bee Monday, Apr. 13, 2009 - A powerful California public employee union formed a campaign committee Monday with two other labor groups to oppose Proposition 1A, a May 19 ballot measure that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have said will solve future budget problems. Service Employees International Union's California State Council, which says
COALITION OF LAUSD UNIONS & H.O.P.E PARENT COALITION TALKING POINTS
Saturday, April 11, 2009 10:34 PM
Spend the Stimulus monies to ensure a future for the kids & Deny the District’s self-defeating and rash cuts. Guiding Principle From 4/6 Meetings Public Interest Message of Hope· Maintain level of consistency of instructional and operational support.· Equity.
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Wednesday Apr 22, 2009
Bell Education and Career Center
Project Introduction/Pre-Design and CEQA Scoping Meeting
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location:
Ellen Ochoa Learning Center
Multipurpose Room
5027 Live Oak
Cudahy, CA 90201
Wednesday Apr 22, 2009
Valley Region Maclay ES Addition: Construction Update Meeting
Time: 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Location:
Sara Coughlin Elementary School
11035 Borden Ave.
Pacoima, CA 91331
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
SPECIAL EDUCATION WORKSHOPS AT THE PARENT SUMMIT
Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Free Parking (enter on Cherry Avenue)
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For more information on the Parent Summit, visit http://parentsummit.lausd.net
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JANET AND WALTER JACKSON - "Changing Attitudes to Change Outcomes"
A workshop to help parents read and understand their teen’s behavioral style and gain tools to effectively communicate for cooperation without nagging, lecturing, and putting them on guilt trips. Parents will find this workshop especially helpful to eliminate conflicts and supporting their child to become self-motivated.
Session I - 10:05 - 11:05 a.m. - Room 504
DINA GARCIA - "People Matter"
An inspirational workshop on how to survive and thrive with a disability. Dina began her speaking career at the age of three when she was chosen as the poster child for United Cerebral Palsy. Since then, Dina's graduated from Cal State Northridge, married, and had a son. Come hear a remarkable young woman tell her own story.
Session II - 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Room 503
DAVID WYLES - "Parent's Guide to the IEP -- Tips on How to Make Yours More Successful"
David Wyles is a writer and the father of a teenage son with autism. David is also Co-Chair of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Los Angeles Unified School District, an organization which represents the interests of parents of the over 82,000 children with special needs in the District.
He's here today to pass along information about how to have a more successful IEP for parents of children with special needs.
Session III - 2:30 - 3:30 p.m - Room 504
KEVIN MOTTUS - "Strategies to Address Emotional Issues for Students
with Learning Problems"
Kevin Mottus, LCSW, is the founder of the Learning Differences Training Program, School Mental Health Program, Los Angeles Unified School District. He has been presenting full time to parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators on topics related to learning differences/ADHD across LAUSD for 4 years. He is proud to be an individual with Dyslexia and ADHD himself.
This is an interactive, three-session workshop for parents of children with learning differences and/or ADHD.
Sessions I, II, and III - 10:05-11:05, 11:15-12:15, and 2:30-3:30 -
Room 518
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
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• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-893-6800
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383
Marlene.Canter@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Julie.Korenstein@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • 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.
• Register.
• Vote.
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