In This Issue:
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THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY ACTION SUMMIT IN LOS ANGELES from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics |
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“AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS: STILL UNEQUAL AND UNJUST" |
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FOURTH GRADERS CHANGE THE WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT HANDLES UNUSED FOOD |
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(notyet)LAUSD’S STUDENT PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM + ACCEPTABLE CHEATING POLICY |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up/Save the dates... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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“Why,” the youngest asks, “is tonight not like any other night?”
And so the story is told again. Of the oppressive pharaoh. Of the
plagues. Of the avenging angel and the flight and the miracles and the
covenant.
It is true, as Dostoyevsky wrote, there were many miracles in those days.
In later days the ritual was was repeated, for as it was written so shall it be.
“And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you,’What
mean ye by this service?’ That ye shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the
Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel
in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses’.”
“
“Thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence.”
The Rabbi from the Galilee told the story again and the tellers of his story added new metaphors and there were new miracles.
And there were more diasporas.
And other slaves took hope in the telling of the story.
Go tell pharaoh
Way down in Egypt’s land
Go tell pharaoh
To let my people go.
And every spring in the fifteenth day past the new moon of the equinox a
child asks :“Why?’ And with every retelling the story gets stronger
because the past goes back farther and the future stretches forward
forever.
The promise kept, the covenant renewed, spring sprung.
¡Onward/Adelante!
THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY ACTION SUMMIT IN LOS ANGELES
from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics
By smf for 4LAKids
April 7, 2011 :: The Hispanic Community Action Summit at Sotomayor High
School on Thursday ranged from the predictable to the genuine.
Thankfully it started as the first and ended with the latter.
It began with introductions and speechifying from Secretary of the
Interior Salazar and Councilman Garcetti and Mayor Tony – telling
stories of their family’s and/or personal all very American Dreamy
journeys. Salazar’s family has a history in America older than the
nation; Garcetti’s grandfather was a Mexican immigrant barber in the USC
community, cutting the professors hair – his grandson became a USC
professor himself. Antonio’s was the oft self-told tale of the boy from
Boyle heights who became mayor. Tony didn’t let his commitment to
education go uncommented-on by himself; he waxed poetic on the
importance of the school they were in being named for a Latina. And left
unmentioned that the biggest financial backer in his run for mayor
delayed the construction of that school for years and cost the school
district, and taxpayers tens of millions in political shenanigans and
toxic dumping. Not to mention thousands of students’ lost educational
opportunity.
And it being an election year, the wonderfulness and vision of President
Obama was never far from anyone on the payroll and/or looking for a
break, grant or support’s lips. (I am being cynical here, I believe in
the wonderfulness and vision for the most part – but the constant
reminder ends up reminding me that the President is also responsible-for
and a believer-in Arne Duncan.)
The most recognizable bigwig from LAUSD in attendance was Deputy
Superintendent for Instruction Jaime Aquino – but he left soon after the
politicos. In fairness to all in the LAUSD leadership it was Spring
Break.
As the politicos left a number of federal staff and officials were
introduced – worker bees from the Departments of Ed and Health and
Customs & Immigration and Labor and Commerce and Housing , etc. And
they and the Stakeholders soon broke out+organized into hour-long
sessions organized on the fly around discussion+action topics
of-the-moment.
And here, as the coffee became cold, the meeting became good.
I participated in two Education breakouts:
• One about ARTICULATING PRE-K +K-12 +ADULT ED (the president of the
Montebello USD Board participated in this …they are not eliminating
Adult Ed or EEC there!) and
• A session about COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEEDING INTO AND TRANSFERRING CREDITS to four years colleges and universities, and
• A session about the IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH EDUCATION that quickly
disintegrated into horror over the proposed demise of Health Ed in
LAUSD…. along with some very genuine “What can we do to help?” from the
private sector. Guaranteed Healthcare with no Health Ed makes no sense.
At first one may ask what any of this has to do with the Latino
community? But with schools in LA County serving 70% Latino Students –
and Education – from Preschool to Ph.D. – being the surest way out of
poverty ….what in LA doesn’t have to do with the Latino community?
Perhaps the largest lesson learned by me, brought up by a Latino
transfer student from Santa Monica College-to-UCLA – and reinforced by a
dean from SMC and confirmed by admissions folks from CSU Northridge –
was the tremendous record of success of SMC in transferring students -
including Latino Students - into Higher Ed because of an institutional
commitment and powerful counseling program by SMC. Now Santa Monica
College is being overwhelmed by their own success – fueling a tuition
crisis, the proposed (and now on hold | http://bit.ly/I8QvDW) two-tier tuition solution and leading to the pepper spray [http://ti.me/HpstJC] and front page news kerfuffle. [http://bit.ly/I68M4T]
Nothing succeeds like success/Nothing exceeds like excess.
►OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BRINGS HISPANIC COMMUNITY ACTION SUMMIT TO L.A.:
United Farm Workers icon Dolores Huerta among 500 people who attended
White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Los Angeles.
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/ KPCC | http://bit.ly/I5fyIa
Federal Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa and other public officials helped convene one-day White
House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday.
After Salazar and the other officials offered opening remarks, nearly
500 people picked one of 14 breakout sessions on topics that ranged from
education and nutrition to veterans issues. The topic at table one was
“Building Communication among Latino Organizations.” Civil rights leader
Dolores Huerta was one of the first to comment about the topic. “The
Latino caucus in Sacramento, we do not have any champions for education
in the caucus, who knew that?” She said.
Other participants included L.A. County area educators, environmental
activists, arts leaders, and L.A. City Hall staffers. They all wore
nametags labeled “stakeholder.” Across the auditorium, people at table
eight talked about “Support and Programming for English Learners.” L.A.
Unified theater teacher Suzanne Nichols told about three-dozen people
about her strategies to reach Latino students.
“I invite all of my parents to see their kids perform because it gives
me an opportunity to talk to them about what their kids are learning,
and it gives us that home – school connection that many of us talk about
is missing, and then the parents feel welcomed into a school, they
don’t feel like, ‘Oh just have to drop my child off and leave,’” she
said.
Moderator Roberto Rodriguez responded. “So parents must demand, I think
what I’m hearing is that parents must demand, they must create this
market demand for a well rounded education.”
Rodriguez is an Obama administration policy advisor. This type of
back-and-forth is what the White House Hispanic Community Action Summits
set out to nurture, says Jose Rico. He heads President Obama’s Latino
education commission that aims to improve Latinos’ achievements in the
nation’s classrooms and beyond.
“We comprise 50% of the population increase in our country and in the
next 15 – 20 years we’re going to comprise more than 60% of the work
force, labor force in our country. So it’s really important that our
community gets well educated, it’s really important that we prepare our
community to get the jobs of the 21st century,” Rico said.
Rico doesn’t deny that this kind of face time with White House
administration officials will burnish President Obama’s image among
Latinos. He does deny that the event is only about winning more Latino
votes in November.
“It does give the impression that it’s an effort to get Latinos to
support him again,” said environmental activist Luis Cabrales,
“especially Latinos, we are very cynical, and we always, always doubt
this type of actions.”
Even so, Cabrales says he’ll still vote for Obama. Summit organizers say
one of its goals is to convince people in every corner of the United
States that policies to improve Latino education are in the best
interest of all Americans, regardless of which political party occupies
the Oval Office.
►SECRETARY SALAZAR FOCUSES ON ENERGIZING HISPANICS
Posted byCNN Producer Stan Wilson http://bit.ly/HqHlnp
Los Angeles (CNN) - Given the growing influence of the Hispanic vote,
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar tried Thursday to seize on the
increasingly pivotal role they will likely play in helping President
Barack Obama's re-election prospects.
During a White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Los Angeles,
Salazar acknowledged the relative slow pace of economic recovery but
emphasized that the nation's steady job growth is benefitting Hispanics
across a broad spectrum of economic areas.
"Four million jobs have been created in this country over the last
several years, the last three months have seen job growth in the private
sector of over 200,000 jobs a month and we are on the way back,"
Salazar said during a news conference.
According to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for
Hispanics, Latino owned businesses generated $350 billion in revenue
over the past five years, a 55% increase.
But the gravity of the economic recession among Hispanics is reflected
in Department of Labor statistics which show the Hispanic unemployment
rate at 10.7%. Voter turnout, particularly in the Southwest, is likely
to play a crucial factor in the president's re-election strategy in
November.
With a population of 54 million, disaffection among Hispanic voters
remains high, especially on key issues like job creation, immigration
reform and education. Salazar said he hoped to change those sentiments.
"When President Obama became president of the United States, we had gone
to the point where the United States of America had fallen into what
was going to be the second great depression," Salazar said.
"We know we came out of a ditch but we feel good about where we are and
we recognize, the president recognizes, that we still have a long ways
to go," he said.
“AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS: STILL UNEQUAL AND UNJUST"
By Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund/ Child Watch Column | http://bit.ly/HppZJ1
April 6, 2012 :: Millions of children in America are denied the
opportunity to receive a fair and high quality education. In March, the
U.S. Department of Education released new information showing that
children of color face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous
course offerings, and are more often taught by lower paid and less
experienced teachers.
Inequities in funding and educational resources place poor children in
low-performing schools with inadequate facilities and often ineffective
teachers. Practices such as tracking, grade retention, out-of-school
suspensions, expulsions, and one-size-fits-all zero tolerance policies
continue to contribute to the discouragement, disengagement, and
eventual dropout of countless children in America to their detriment and
to all of us who need a competitive future workforce. Instead of
serving as “the great equalizer,” American public education is serving
as a portal to the cradle-to-prison pipeline for millions of poor
children of color, stunting their lives by school dropouts, arrests, and
incarceration. The struggle to make sure a quality education is
available to every child—and not just a privilege for a few—is the
unfinished and critical business before the nation for it will determine
America's future place on the global stage in a rapidly changing
competitive world.
The 2009-2010 Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection
survey, the most expansive of its kind, covered 85 percent of the
nation’s students and was the first release of this crucial federal data
since 2006 when it was suspended by the Bush Administration. The
results from the schools surveyed show public school systems where Black
students represented 18 percent of students but 46 percent of those
suspended more than once and 39 percent of those expelled. One in five
Black boys and more than one in 10 Black girls received an out-of-school
suspension compared to nine percent of Hispanic boys and four percent
of Hispanic girls and seven percent of White boys and three percent of
White girls. Disabled students were more than twice as likely to receive
one or more out-of-school suspensions. One in eight students in the
study reported having a disability and 18 percent of those students were
Black boys. Black and Hispanic students represented more than 70
percent of
those involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law
enforcement—an astonishing number that requires rigorous examination of
the reasons why and action to change unfair racial practices in the
application of
discipline.
Children of color were also at a disadvantage in access to academic
opportunities. Fifty-five percent of the low-minority high schools
surveyed offer calculus but only 29 percent of high-minority high
schools do. Similarly, 82 percent of low-minority schools offer Algebra
II compared to 65 percent of the high-minority schools. Black and
Hispanic students represented 44 percent of the students surveyed but
only 26 percent of students in gifted and talented programs and were
overrepresented when it came to repeating a grade. Across all grades,
Black students were nearly three times as likely and Hispanic students
were twice as likely as White students to be retained. More than half of
all fourth graders retained in the reporting districts were Black and
although Black students were only 16 percent of middle school students
surveyed, they were 42 percent of those who repeated a grade.
Teacher experience and salaries varied widely. In schools with the
highest Black and Hispanic enrollment, 15 percent of teachers were in
their first or second year in the profession compared with eight percent
of teachers in schools with the lowest minority enrollments. And
teachers in high-minority elementary schools were paid on average $2,251
less a year than their colleagues in low-minority schools in the same
district.
The Department of Education, and its Office for Civil Rights, is to be
applauded for reinstating this crucial data collection survey and
creating an extensive data tracking system. But that is just one crucial
step. It’s time for all of us to use these numbers as a spring board
for robust examination of and discussion about school discipline
policies and practices and how they are contributing to school dropouts
and the school to prison pipeline, and systematic and sustained action
where required.
We all must support strong, consistent and fair discipline policies in
our schools and classrooms where learning can occur for all children. At
the same time we must raise important questions about how to make those
policies work for children of color and all children, rather than
against them. Why are so many children being suspended for offenses that
used to result in a trip to the principal’s office? Do principals and
teachers have too much discretion in deciding who should be suspended or
expelled? Is there a need for rethinking and greater clarity about the
range of nonviolent offenses that can result in suspensions or
expulsions? Should children be suspended for nonviolent offenses like
truancy and tardiness? I have never understood what good it does to put a
child out of school for not coming to school. Are our young
inexperienced teachers getting enough training in classroom management?
Are teachers getting the cultural competence training needed to
understand and
address the behavior of all their children? Do policies require that a
child’s parent or caregiver be notified before a child is excluded from
school? Or is the child sent to the streets without the parents’
knowledge?
As Education Secretary Arne Duncan correctly said about his department’s
findings, “The power of the data is not only in the numbers themselves,
but in the impact it can have when married with the courage and the
will to change. The undeniable truth is that the everyday educational
experience for many students of color violates the principle of equity
at the heart of the American promise. It is our collective duty to
change that.”
FOURTH GRADERS CHANGE THE WAY SCHOOL DISTRICT HANDLES UNUSED FOOD
By Josue Barrios,Mayor, City of Cudahy in the Huffington Post | http://huff.to/HplwpX
4/ 6/2012 2:27 pm :: Two young ladies at Jaime Escalante Elementary
School in Cudahy, a city eight miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles,
have changed the way a school and a school district look at unused food.
When fourth graders Lesley Heredia and Paulina Sanchez saw how much
food was being wasted every day on their campus, these students took the
initiative to help those in need.
Working together with their Principal, Beth Fuller, they first set out
to provide a "common table," where unopened food is placed where
students can go for second helpings. "Students shouldn't be hungry; this
way, if a student doesn't get enough to eat, they can go back for
more," said nine-year-old Paulina Sanchez. The majority of the students
at Jaime Escalante are on the free or reduced lunch program, which
concerned Cudahy Mayor Josué Barrios: "When students are hungry, they
are not paying attention in class; in this tough economic climate, many
children aren't getting enough to eat at home." When they saw that there
was still plenty of leftover food, these creative fourth graders next
went to Los Angeles Unified School District to have them pass a
resolution which allows them to also donate unopened food to a local
food bank. "We shouldn't be wasting this much food with so many people
hungry in our community, I think," commented Lesley Hernandez.
"I'm really impressed with these two young ladies," Mayor Barrios
stated. "They went as far as to track not only how much food was being
wasted, but also what kinds of food were not being consumed as much. I
think we can all learn a lesson from these brilliant young students;
every school in the district should be doing this."
The school has teamed up with the Southeast Churches Service Center, a
local food bank that provides food and other services to roughly three
thousand people a month. The nonprofit agency will pick up the unused,
unopened food daily. In an area that has an unemployment rate of 16.8
percent, much higher than the county average of 12.3 percent, the food
goes a long way. Six other schools have since made agreements with the
food bank to collect the unopened food. Principal Fuller applauds these
young ladies and sees this as a great opportunity for the students to
know what it means to give back. "Children need to know they can make a
difference. They are both outstanding role models for all the students
at Jaime Escalante and already at a young age productive citizens that
contribute to our community."
Aside from being recognized by the Mayor and Cudahy City Council, these
two young ladies have caught the attention of California State Assembly
member and Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus, Ricardo Lara. Every
year, California Legislators pay tribute to women who have made a
difference in the district by honoring them with Women of Distinction
Awards. Assembly member Lara paid tribute to the two nine-year-olds as
recipients of the Community Action Award: "These young ladies have
taught that leadership, like compassion and kindness, transcends age and
gender. Their tenacity and vision at such a young age is to be
admired."
Lesley and Paulina's next goal is to raise enough money to start a community garden in their school.
(notyet)LAUSD’S STUDENT PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM + ACCEPTABLE CHEATING POLICY
By notyetLAUSD | http://bit.ly/I3rBsC
Thursday, March 29, 2012 :: notyetLAUSD is pleased to announce a new
incentive program to get students to take ownership and improve their
CST scores. notyetLAUSD is modeling this new program based on LAUSD’s
current system to promote excellence among its teaching and
administrative staff. LAUSD has seen a steady growth in student test
scores as a whole for several years. Steady growth year over year is
not easily achieved and if district policies for increasing test score
achievement are good enough for the teachers and administrators, lets
apply the same zero-tolerance/market driven policies to students to
accelerate their test score achievement.
Better than an oak tree, here is an example of how this will work.
Imagine you are a student in classroom where you see a kid cheat on a
test. Your teacher has shown that when one kid cheats, the whole class
will get an ‘F,’ what would you do?
And by the way at this school a single test counts for 75-88% the whole
class’s eligibility to stay in the school, if the whole class fails this
single test your whole class is kicked out of school and have to find a
new school.
Through a combination of zero-tolerance policies and market competition
we have created a perfect environment for students to achieve high
scores on the CST. We can ensure test scores soar by applying and
relieving pressure on key parts of the market.
1. We can further accelerate this growth by publicly releasing the
student growth scores that LAUSD currently calculates on every student
to make the teacher VAM scores. Consider students public employees
consuming vital public money to build their capacity, why shouldn't we
know their scores?
2. We can keep low achieving students from reentering the district by
ensuring that investigations of cheating are processed over the summer
when the student will be least likely to find another school within
notyetLAUSD.
3. We will write glowing letters to students who exceed the upper
ranges of growth on their tests. In VAM terms where the scale is from 0
to 5, we celebrate those that score 6 and 7 for great learning.
4. We will never initiate investigations of cheating on our own
unless we want that particular student out because they consume too many
resources. Overall schools will be encouraged not to investigate
cheating because losing a class of students looks bad for the whole
school and results in a loss of funding. When national news reports
come out finding evidence of cheating we will pose for another
installation to the museum of deafening silence.
for more see notyetLAUSD's Acceptable Cheating Policy
notyet LAUSD: LAUSD’S ACCEPTABLE CHEATING POLICY
by notyetLAUSD | http://bit.ly/HyrCzX
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 :: Another sun rise, another school cheating
scandal; Atlanta, Texas “miracle”, Washington DC, LAUSD. Lets look at
another place where cheating is occurring and being dealt with to get an
idea of how education will deal with it, baseball. BarryBonds and
Roger Clemens show how little we care about cheating. What Bonds and
Clemens do show is how we want to make an example of a few and ignore
the many. Everyone knows these are not the only two players to use
steroids. To keep our conscience clear we want an example to validate
“we don't accept cheaters”.
We do accept cheaters, its just normal: spouses, speed limits,
resumes. So many of us cheat and we know it, yet we want to punish
“cheaters” in a way that doesn't hit home. Think how much energy is
poured into talking about Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens character
defects. If we didn't have character defects established for Bonds and
Clemens, we might mistake these individuals as sharing a commonality
with us. With “defective” people being punished we can go to sleep safe
that our cheating is different because non-defective people, like us,
“misinterpret the rules.(video)” Maybe outside of education circles
people already feel a dissonance toward teachers. There is certainly a
lot of noise lately to create a dissonance around teachers who work in
and are committed to your local community.
NotyetLAUSD has a solution: LAUSD Acceptable Cheating Policy (ACP).
[See figure here: http://bit.ly/HpIDjY]
We hope this model will remove some of the stigma surrounding cheating
so we can integrate cheating into our expectations that come with high
stakes testing. We will use the same normalized curve (bell curve)
sweeping much of the education sector, like in VAM scores. By looking
at rates of cheating on standardized tests across the nation we can
create a reliable curve of cheating we can tolerate. Zero tolerance
policies are unrealistic, the data doesn't support a zero cheating
environment. ACP demands that 10% of teachers will be extreme cheaters
and 10% will be minimal cheaters and the rest will fall in a tidy bell
curve. Its not fair to compare the cheating of a tenured teacher at a
high API school to the cheating of a new teacher at a low API school. We
can control for factors like how much stress the teachers and
administrators are under to raise scores so we don't miss categorize a
teacher's cheating extremeness.
••smf: As a writer let me say that having to explain parody, comedy,
cynicism or satire is the kiss of literary death. That said, notyetLAUSD
is a passionate teacher and a passionate heart-on-his-or-her sleeve
believer in teaching who works in this school district – and a biting
satirist who believes, like I do, that if you can’t laugh at adversity,
stupidity, and dunderheadedness; if you can’t mock the clowns on the
24th floor and the smokers in the secret smoking cave at Beaudry+3rd St
-and all the other faces of ignorance/all the other Names of The Beast –
you lose your soul.
OK, the smokers are addicts …the clowns have no excuse.
Here is notyetLAUSD writing seriously if-still-anonymously last Monday:
notyetLAUSDApr 2, 2012 10:06 PM
1. PSC was based upon where your API was or how much you raised it in a
4/5 year time frame. Entire schools saw dramatic increases as
administrators were encouraged by the district and their own interests
to give an ever growing number of students the CMA (California Modified
Assessment) instead of the CST.
2. The districts own VAM system acknowledges that these schools are off
the charts 6.0 and 7.0 schools and teachers are clearly marked and sent
letters of congratulations and nothing else.
3. A teacher or school off the charts are acknowledged with a letter
from Dr. D. The school or teacher should be asked about how they do it
so other teachers could learn from them. The district never inquires
about successful practices at any school. The district knows these
scores are outside the realm of reason, and never launches an
investigation.
4. Are both options the best thing? A teacher does amazing, they are
given a confidential note and their expertises are not shared. A teacher
does amazing, but are not investigated for teaching.
5. At Virgil MS. A teacher was accused of cheating and the whole
school's API was thrown out. Why would a teacher ever report cheating at
their own school if they whole school is going to loose its API score.
6. At this point in LAUSD's experiment with its School Performance Frame
work under the School Portfolio Management model, CST scores make up
75% of a school's score. Can a school expect to continue it there is no
CST score?
7. If just 10% of teachers are cheating this would constitute 2/3 of the
spaces reserved for VAM scores of 4.0-5.0 (top teachers). This at a
time when the district wants to bring VAM into teacher evaluation
At summer trainings this past year every teacher I met representing
approximately 4 dozen school knew about the CMA fraud committed at one
middle school in LAUSD. These same teachers admitted to knowing about
cheating at their school sites.
What I don't want to see is more attacks on teacher who do shoulder a
fair share of the blame. Just as important is that the district knows
about the cheating or is painfully ignorant. Either way I want to see a
response to cheating start at all levels at the same time. No need to
worry about the past, just make 2012-13 a year without cheating.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not neccessariily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
THIS JUST IN:
DEFIANCE: Cause for suspension …or part of the job description of adolescents?
40% of school suspensions are for `willful defiance': Bill would replace
category with more specific behaviors. Refrain: “Why can’t they be
like we were, perfect in ev’ry way…..?”
By Christina Hoag, The Associated Press from the LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/HsPZRL
“Parent Trigger”: NO MAGIC BULLET FOR SCHOOLS
We're a long way from knowing whether "parent trigger" can improve
schools. No petition has yet been approved, and the options the law
provides are not that effective.
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/Hy2eh3
Deasy’s year on the job: L.A. SCHOOLS CHIEF PUSHES TO CHANGE SYSTEM’S CULTURE + smf’s 2¢
Some see John Deasy as a dynamic leader morally driven to give all
students a quality education. Others see a relentless taskmaster
intolerant of dissent. He admits impatience but otherwise has no
apologies.
By Teresa Watanabe and Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://bit.ly/I4FM22
______
LET THEM EAT GOALS: Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA Week of April 2-6, 2012 | http://bit.ly/I68M4T 4-06-2012 :... http://bit.ly/Io7bJF
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT PROVES NO EASY GOAL: By Sean Cavanagh, Ed Week Vol. 31, Issue 27, Pages 1,16-17 | http://bit... http://bit.ly/IkE0US
Surprise: PLAINTIFFS CLAIM EVALUATION LAW REQUIRES STUDENT DATA; MAYOR TONY AGREES.: First salvo in suit against... http://bit.ly/IcH3lx
NATIONAL PTA SEEKS TO REVERSE DRAOP IN MEMBERSHIP: By David Crary, Associated Press National Writer, from the L... http://bit.ly/I8SVCw
(notyet)LAUSD’S STUDENT PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM + ACCEPTABLE CHEATING POLICY: from notyetLAUSD | http://bi... http://bit.ly/IoqeA6
DETROIT HIGH SCHOOL PROTEST: Students Suspended After Demanding 'An Education': Huffington Post | http://huff.t... http://bit.ly/I72At5
Responding to Joel Klein & Condi Rice: GAMBLING ON NATONAL SECURITY: by John H. Jackson, President and CEO, The ... http://bit.ly/IaNpxJ
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL TAKES UP LAUSD REDISTRICTING/EL CONCEJO MUNICIPAL DE LOS ÁNGELES SE OCUPA DE LA REDISTR... http://bit.ly/HT5G8M
LAUSD OFFICIALS FILE POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST FORMS + smf’s 2¢: By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez KPCC Pass/Fail |... http://bit.ly/I2KivH
LAUSD DOWNSIZING ON THE BACKS OF OUR COMMUNITY & LATINO STUDENTS: “Is LAUSD helping Latino kids die young?”: fro... http://bit.ly/HUsDXR
ANGRY ADULT ED SUPPORTERS THREATEN RECALL OF LAUSD BOARD MEMBERS/MANIFESTANTES AMENAZAN CON DESTITUIR A LOS MIEM... http://bit.ly/I9Exs5
TWEET: smf+4LAKids is @HispanicEd #WHenCA at Sotomayor HS Good stuff!
EVENTS: Coming up/Save the dates...
ELEMENTARY FAMILY ARTS SUMMIT
The Arts Education Branch, in collaboration with the Parent Community
Services Branch and Special Education, will host an Elementary Family
Arts Summit on the morning of Saturday, April 28, 2012, at Cortines High
School. This summit will be to raise awareness of the importance of the
arts education in the education of children and to give parents
advocacy tools to strengthen the arts programs at their schools.
RAMON C. CORTINES HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING, VISUAL & FINE ARTS/ HIGH SCHOOL #9
450 North Grand Avenue, LA 90012 map: http://g.co/maps/juj42
PBS KIDS WRITING CONTEST
The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a national-local contest designed to
promote the advancement of children’s reading skills through hands-on,
active learning. The Contest encourages children in Grades K-3 through
communities across the country to celebrate the power of creating
stories and illustrations by submitting their own. http:// http://pbskids.org/writerscontest/
SCHOOLS FOR ADVANCED STUDIES STUDENT (SAS) APPLICATION CALENDAR FOR 2012 – 2013
The SAS student application schedule and timeline is as follows:
•Application opens April 9, 2012
•Application Deadline May 9, 2012
•Notification of applicant deadline June 8, 2012
(SAS transfers may be extended throughout the school year, as space permits)
For more information contact: LaRoyce Bell, Coordinator, at 213-241-6500 or laroyce.bell@lausd.net
On May 5, 2012, THE LAUSD FAMILY SUMMIT to be held on the
campus of the University of Southern California. The Summit will provide
families the information, tools, and resources necessary to support their
children's pathway to college and careers. With an emphasis on the Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, the Summit will be
interactive in nature and expose families to the importance of and
opportunities within STEM fields.
Who: Middle and High school students and their
parents/legal guardians
When: Saturday, May 5, 2012; 9:00am-3:00pm
Where: University of Southern California, 3551 Trousdale
Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Registration Closes: Friday, April 20, 2012
*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:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
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 Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these
thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE.
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!.
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