In This Issue:
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BIG MONEY DOESN’T BUY MUCH IN L.A. SCHOOL RACES + somebody else’s 2¢ |
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APATHY
v.2.0: Election officials were stunned when 16% of voters cast ballots.
They couldn't believe that many people knew there was an election. |
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ASSEMBLY
ED + ED FINANCE COMMITTEES QUESTION COMMON CORE TESTING PLAN AND
FUNDING FOR ADULT, EARLY CHILDHOOD AND CAREER TECH ED PROGRAMS |
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STUDENT
PANEL OFFERS EXPERT ADVICE TO LAWMAKERS ON EVALUATING SCHOOLS:
“Ultimately, every student deserves to have a voice in their own
education.” |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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I am a little – or maybe a whole lot – compulsive
about writing these weekly essays – but I am asking your permission to
not go there this weekend. It’s not that I don’t have opinions and
issues re: the goings-on, for I surely do. But my mother passed away on
Saturday after a long life and a short illness. She went to sleep and
slipped away unafraid– but I need to be alone in my thoughts for now.
I don’t ask for your sympathy or words of solace, only for this space –
and that you cling to your families and hold them dear, that you cherish
the moments and raise children that value the things that are
important.
That is a lot to ask, so I add “please”.
And say “thank you”.
EverOnward/SiempreAdelante. - smf
BIG MONEY DOESN’T BUY MUCH IN L.A. SCHOOL RACES + somebody else’s 2¢ [updated]
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA'S PAC RAISED NEARLY $4
MILLION, MUCH OF IT FROM OUTSIDE INTERESTS, ON BEHALF OF THREE SCHOOL
BOARD CANDIDATES. BUT IT SECURED ONLY ONE SEAT.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/XVL7NP
March 6, 2013, 8:15 p.m. :: Outside interests poured money into Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa's war chest for this week's school board elections
in an attempt to influence education reform here and nationwide. But
when the votes were tallied, the group could count only one clear
winner.
The mayor's political action committee, which amassed more than $3.9
million on behalf of three candidates, secured just incumbent Monica
Garcia's seat.
In the other two races, the Coalition for School Reform lost its bid to
unseat incumbent Steve Zimmer, who was backed by the teachers union. The
group's other favored candidate, Antonio Sanchez, is headed for a May
21 runoff.
The results were "a loss for the mayor and the future of reform in the
district," said former state Sen. Gloria Romero, who is generally allied
with Villaraigosa's education agenda.
But American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten summed up
Tuesday's election this way: "Big monied interests — most of whom live
far away from Los Angeles and virtually none of whom have children in
LAUSD schools — were rebuked by parents, teachers and the community."
The costliest race was between Zimmer and attorney Kate Anderson in
District 4, which spans the Westside and west San Fernando Valley.
There, the mayor's group spent more than $1.5 million on Anderson's
behalf. The coalition campaign portrayed one-term incumbent Zimmer as an
L.A. Unified insider who voted to fire thousands of teachers and
approved a hugely expensive new school.
Taking on Zimmer was "an odd choice," said Charles Kerchner, a professor
at Claremont Graduate University. Overall, Zimmer has been the most
independent current board member and a "bridge builder," Kerchner said.
Zimmer and the union could not keep pace with the coalition's
fundraising, but he was able to turn the tables on the opposition's
attack ads.
"Our message is very simple," Zimmer wrote in an email blast just before
election day. "Don't believe the lies of March." He exhorted supporters
who "have joined our students and their families in resisting this
takeover of the board and this assault on our democracy."
Zimmer, who claimed 52% of the vote, said Wednesday that "the
willingness to win by any means necessary makes me very sad…They really
did try to buy a seat and were pretty brazen about it."
He added that he still intends to cooperate with Supt. John Deasy and Villaraigosa. "This election hasn't changed me."
The coalition's clear victory was in Garcia's District 2, which
encompasses downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. The two-term
incumbent received 56% of the votes. The teachers union had hoped to
push Garcia into a runoff but devoted few resources to that goal.
In all, campaign committees affiliated with United Teachers Los Angeles
spent close to $1 million, according to the City Ethics Commission. That
included $150,000 from the American Federation of Teachers.
The coalition's coffers included $1 million from New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, about $340,000 from the California Charter Schools
Assn., $250,000 from an organization led by former District of Columbia
schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and $250,000 from a New York-based
subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Sanchez and Garcia also benefited from financial support from employee unions other than UTLA.
Sanchez, running for the open District 6 seat, in the east San Fernando
Valley, finished with 43% of the vote. He'll be in a runoff with Monica
Ratliff, who tallied 34%. The teachers union sat out that race.
Voter turnout was low, ranging from 13.5% in District 6 to 17.5% in District 4, according to preliminary figures.
Former school board member Marlene Canter said that the teachers union
managed to divert attention from its own history of using funds to sway
school board elections.
"Most of these so-called outsiders have a long-standing interest in
improving education and personally stood to gain exactly nothing from
the outcome," said Canter. "Their participation simply helps level the
playing field."
A debate over the policies of the superintendent — including the use of
student test scores as a significant portion of a teacher's evaluation —
never really reached voters through the campaigns.
"Most voters never heard about those priorities from [Anderson's]
campaign," said Dan Schnur, director of USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute
of Politics. "By drawing her into a more typical political shooting
match, Zimmer was able to make the race more about her money than her
ideas."
Schnur's brother Jonathan is an education adviser to Bloomberg, but
Schnur said neither of them had a role in the New York mayor's L.A.
campaign donation.
Deasy said he's ready to move on. He said the contentious election was never an issue between him and Zimmer.
"He and I talk every day," Deasy said. "I didn't experience a divisive relationship whatsoever."
• Times staff writer Stephen Ceasar contributed to this report.
__________
•• smf: The following from an anonymous commenter was forwarded by a 4LAKids reader, who writes:
[ UPDATE: * subsequent publication of this same material in the AALA Update credits the original poster as Alan Warhaftig, an accomplished educator at Fairfax High School.]
“This was put together by a good friend. It tells the tale what is
happening in this country, though it relates to a minor election of our
LAUSD school board.
“It is a continuing saga of the efforts of our mayor in his efforts to
take over the school district and the efforts of the Walton types who
want to privatize public education.”
A very cool overview of spending for last night's election from the L.A. City Ethics Website: http://bit.ly/WC6erf
The money from Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch, Michelle Rhee, Eli
Broad et al went into Mayor Villaraigosa's Coalition for School Reform.
• $1.542 million in Independent Expenditures (most from the Coalition,
some from the California Charter Schools Association) supported the
candidacy of Kate Anderson or opposed the candidacy of Steve Zimmer.
• $1.08 million in Independent Expenditures (most from UTLA and SEIU)
supported the candidacy of Steve Zimmer or opposed the candidacy of Kate
Anderson.
• Advantage: Anderson by $462,000.
In regular contributions (limited to $1,000 per donor)
• Anderson received $250,925
• Compared to $82,307 for Zimmer.
• Advantage: Anderson by $168,618.
• The total money advantage for Anderson was more than $630,000.
• Anderson raised a total of $1,912,385.80 ($64.75 for each of the 29,537 votes she received).
• Zimmer raised a total of $1,042,794.60 ($32.45 for each of the 32,137 votes he received).
• The differential: 2:1.
The District 6 election in the Valley, which will have a runoff, is even more interesting.
• $1.18 million in Independent Expenditures (most from the Mayor
Villaraigosa's Coalition, with big contributions from AFL-CIO and SEIU)
supported the candidacy of Antonio Sanchez, a Villaraigosa staffer.
• UTLA chose not to spend any money on this race, so there were no
Independent Expenditures backing the candidacy of Monica Ratliff.
• Advantage: Sanchez by $1.18 million.
• In regular contributions (limited to $1,000 per donor), Sanchez received $54,688.53
• Compared to $14.797.69 for Ratliff (of which $1,996.23 was contributed by Ms. Ratliff herself - skin in the game).
• Advantage: Sanchez by $39,891.
• The total money advantage for Sanchez was more than $1.2 million.
• Sanchez raised a total of $1,236,225.40 ($94.46 for each of the 13,087 votes he received).
• Ratliff raised a total of $14.797.69 ($1.43 for each of the 10,351 votes she received).
• The differential: 66:1. Wow.
[•smf:
• Mónica Garcia and her backers raised a total of $1,798,879.71, or $117.82 for each vote she received.
• Her opponents in District 2 raised a total of $94,115.77 – or $7.86 per vote.]
The outside money didn't buy much last night, but it made an impression
that is impossible to ignore. Can UTLA afford to stay on the sidelines
for the runoff? The billionaires certainly won't.
APATHY v.2.0: Election officials were stunned when
16% of voters cast ballots. They couldn't believe that many people knew
there was an election.
L.A.’s WALKING DEAD: Most Angelenos couldn't summon
the energy to cast a ballot. That doesn't have to continue.
Steve Lopez
By Steve Lopez, LA Times columnist | http://lat.ms/15FPfF4
March 6, 2013, 6:45 p.m. :: Mark the date, remember the day.
On March 5, 2013, Los Angeles redefined apathy.
A measly 16% of the city's registered voters — or perhaps around 20%
once all the mail-in ballots are counted — turned out in an election
with the following things at stake:
How much we pay in sales tax, who controls the nation's second-largest
school district, who might fill nine City Council seats and three
community college board positions, and who will serve as city attorney,
city controller and mayor.
This is late-night TV joke territory, as in:
"Election officials were stunned in Los Angeles on Tuesday when 16% of
the city's voters cast ballots. They couldn't believe that many people
knew there was an election."
You could spin it, I suppose, and say it's not that we're disengaged,
we're just laid back. A whole metropolis of Big Lebowskis, dude.
But being laid back is a lifestyle that takes some thought, as well as
the right sneakers. Blowing off an election is just plain lazy. Mail-in
ballots are available to one and all. You can vote without ever getting
off the couch.
What to do?
One idea would be to time mayoral elections so they're on the same
ballot as presidential elections instead of a few months later. It seems
to me that a mayor has more impact on our daily lives than a president,
but national elections draw a lot more Angelenos to the polls.
Or we could switch to an instant runoff system in which you vote for
your first and second choices for mayor. That makes the stakes higher
and delivers a winner without the hassle of a separate runoff election.
Or we could do our voting at Starbucks and probably triple the turnout,
especially if Starbucks offers a civic duty discount on your caramel
macchiatto.
One problem is that polls suggest most people get their news from local
television stations, which devote far more time to covering the weather —
which is exactly the same 320 days a year — than to local politics and
government.
If I were to jump into the mayor's race as, say, a write-in candidate,
the first thing I'd do is hijack a car, plaster it with "Believe in
Steve" signs, and lead police on a very slow televised chase.
Some slackers try to go high-road on you to explain their civic
indifference. They're in the know, see, and they're not going to waste
their time voting for ideologically indistinguishable characters like
Eric Garcetti or Wendy Greuel, both of whom are neck-deep in City Hall
dysfunction and equally unlikely to shake things up.
Some truth in that, sure. But one's a man, the other's a woman. One's a
lefty at heart, the other was once a Republican. One's a Silver Lake
city boy, the other's a working suburban mom in the San Fernando Valley.
One is endorsed by public employee unions, the other by Jane Fonda and
Salma Hayek.
And one of these candidates is about to become the mayor of nearly 4
million people in one of the world's most loved and hated cities, a
Pacific Rim Ellis Island with staggering riches and overwhelming
challenges. One of them will make decisions on traffic, public safety,
housing, economic development, and dozens of other issues that will have
a direct impact on you, your kids and your grandchildren for years to
come.
Speaking of which, I'd like to have a word now with the candidates.
Mr. Garcetti? Ms. Greuel?
If you're out of breath from the primary, I don't know why, because
neither of you had much to say. Spare us the prattling in the runoff,
please.
Eric, stop telling us that although the recession and the crazy
contracts you and Wendy handed to city employees got us into trouble,
you jumped into the fire to beat back the flames while others stood on
the sidelines.
Wendy, we know you've convinced yourself, if no one else, that you've
found $160 million in waste, fraud and abuse as city controller. But you
don't seem as eager to explain how the city's fiscal problems were
hatched when your were a council member.
Both of you, please quit telling us what you did or didn't do, because
we'd rather hear about what you're going to do to ensure we don't die
from a heart attack while the Fire Department offers six explanations
for slow response times.
Measure A tanked, as both of you said it should. So now's a good time to
explain how we pay for city services without the extra $200 million
that half-cent sales tax increase would have generated.
You also both said you'd back killing a business tax that brings in more
than $400 million a year? Time to show us the math on that trick, too.
Eric, we don't need consensus-building as much as head-cracking. Wendy, I
beg you once again to stop telling us everything's on the table. It's
time to throw things off the table and tell us where you stand.
And although there's no acceptable excuse for not voting, I want the
candidates to know they should be ashamed of all the sensational,
distorted, beside-the-point, lowest-common denominator crapola in their
campaign fliers and TV ads. Whether those ads were independent
expenditures or came from the campaigns, they stank from Pacoima to
Pedro.
It's time for some adult conversation about your focus, your plans and
your vision. Class things up, and maybe you'll motivate a few slackers
to tweet their friends and find out where to vote.
Hey, I'm back where I started.
Stop with the excuses, non-voters. Cynicism is acceptable, surrender is
not. Read the paper, for crying out loud. Educate yourself. If we pull
together in the runoff, a 25%-30% turnout is possible.
ASSEMBLY ED + ED FINANCE COMMITTEES QUESTION COMMON
CORE TESTING PLAN AND FUNDING FOR ADULT, EARLY CHILDHOOD AND CAREER
TECH ED PROGRAMS
►COMMON CORE TESTING PLAN LEAVES ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE SKEPTICAL
By Kimberly Beltran | SI&A Cabinet Report – http://bit.ly/WQJXRl
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 :: A key legislative panel undertook
Wednesday its first look at the challenges the state faces in bringing
the new common core curriculum standards into California classrooms.
And, committee members expressed a lot of doubt the transition can be
accomplished by the fall of 2014.
“I know I sound skeptical – because I am,” said Assemblywoman Joan
Buchanan, chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee. “It’s not the
standards themselves and the direction we want to go. It’s just our
ability in the next year and a half to make sure that the districts are
prepared to actually deliver that high quality curriculum.”
The hearing, first of the year by a legislative oversight committee on
common core implementation, focused on the steps that still must be
taken to provide students instructional materials aligned to the new
curriculum goals, train teachers and access technology that will be
needed to administer the new testing.
State schools chief Tom Torlakson provided the Legislature a detailed
transition plan in January aimed at beginning the first testing tied to
the common core by the spring of 2015.
Although the hearing was organized as a fact finding mission, Buchanan,
as well as other committee members, seemed dazed by the challenges.
“So you’ve got the end of this year and one more year and then you’re
going to start testing kids,” she said at one point. “I just feel like,
with the public, are we really being honest?”
One key issue that the panel focused on was ensuring teachers are properly prepared to instruct in the new content goals.
“School districts now, many of them, don’t even have the three days of
in-service they had at the beginning of the recession,” said Buchanan.
“Some of them under this proposed formula won’t even get up to their
pre-recession levels of funding until after 2020. And we say, well, if
they want to they can redirect funds here or there – they may want to do
a whole lot but the reality is they’re probably not going to be able to
do it.”
While no one has yet put a price tag on how much will be needed for the
professional development piece of common core implementation, it has
been estimated that training, along with new instructional materials and
needed technology, will be in the billions of dollars.
It has been suggested that lawmakers consider at least a one-time
allocation of funds to districts specifically for common core and
assessments.
Members of the panel were also concerned about the lengthy testing
window CDE plans to allow for the new assessments, and they wondered if
and how the assessments indicate a student’s readiness to enter the
workforce.
CDE has said it plans to give schools a 12-week period to assess
students simply because most don’t have enough computers for each pupil
to be tested all at once. Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford education
professor and chair of the Teacher Credentialing Commission, said that
in California, the student-to-computer ratio is five-to-one.
This is a concern, panel members said, because students will not have
had an entire year of instruction if testing must begin three to four
months prior to year’s end.
Darling-Hammond also said, however, that it is likely most districts
will need much fewer than 12 weeks – maybe as little as four – to assess
all of their students.
_________________
►ASSEMBLY EDUCATION FINANCE COMMITTEE FEARS FUNDING OUTLOOK FOR ADULT ED, ECE AND CTE PROGRAMS
By Kimberly Beltran | SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/13M4y0G
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 :: Worried about the fate of adult, early
childhood and career-technical education programs across the state,
members of a legislative panel on education finance said Tuesday they
will be taking a hard look over the coming weeks at the impact Gov.
Jerry Brown’s proposed school funding formula could have on those key
offerings.
Both the K-12 education system and the state’s preschool and early
childhood learning programs have sustained major cutbacks over the five
years since the onset of the national recession. While the passage of
Proposition 30 last November helps restore some of the funding to K-12
districts, Brown’s 2013-14 budget plan contains no new revenue for pre-K
programs, nearly decimated by cuts last year.
“Study after study and nation after nation and state after state has
said – and now we can add the president to that list – that the money is
best spent in high-quality early childhood education,” said Concord
Democrat Susan Bonilla, chair of the Assembly’s education finance
committee. “To ignore what all the data says about putting money into
the early years would be foolhardy and, frankly, kind of flies in the
face of what everyone in the educational world has accepted as very
positive and productive.”
The governor’s budget also includes his plan to restructure the way
schools are funded by the state. Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula
would deregulate spending restrictions on money previously reserved for
special programs, including career-technical education. In addition, the
new formula would shift responsibility for adult education programs
from the K-12 system to community colleges – a move both state schools
chief Tom Torlakson and the non-partisan Legislative Analyst said they
oppose as currently proposed.
“I do not think it would be an effective move to move adult education to
the community colleges. They have a different mission,” Torlakson said
on Tuesday. “For the community colleges, with their own budget
challenges, they would have a difficult time launching a whole new
program and making contracts to have local access.”
Bonilla and several of her colleagues on the panel also expressed
concerns over the potential loss of career-technical education programs,
since school districts, still underfunded compared to other states and
pre-recession years, would be able to use those funds for any
educational purpose.
Assemblyman and newcomer Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, pointed out that a
successful career technical education program, operated through a
joint-powers agreement between six districts in his home district, is
planning to dissolve if the governor’s funding plan is adopted as
proposed. The Southern California Regional Occupation Center, created in
1967, serves 10,000 students a year and employs 120 teachers, all of
whom have received layoff notices, Muratsuchi said.
Torlakson’s legislative affairs director Erin Gable, however, said the
superintendent’s office believes the governor’s funding formula can be
tweaked to ensure the continuation of CTE programs.
“We believe that there’s room to work within the proposal to include
some sort of add-on for high school base grants around career-tech
education to ensure that there’s a strong infrastructure that remains in
place; that’s there’s no loss of program offerings at the local level,
and that goes into each of the CTE programs that have been very
successful and continuously underfunded statewide,” Gable said.
Sharon Scott Dow, representing Molly Munger’s Advancement Project, also
suggested that the committee consider one-time funding allocations to
help school districts implement the new common core curriculum standards
as well as new assessments based on those standards. The state adopted
common core in 2010 but they have yet to be implemented due to a lack of
funding.
Since the national recession began in 2008, California has grappled with
a decline in state revenues that in turn has negatively impacted state
funding for education. However, with the passage of the Schools and
Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012 (Proposition 30), schools
were spared billions of dollars in mid-year trigger reductions.
The governor’s 2013-14 budget estimates a Proposition 98 minimum
guarantee for schools of $56.2 billion, $2.7 billion above the current
year funding level and a 5 percent increase year-over-year.
Proposition 98 funding growth is greater for community colleges (10
percent) than for K-12 education (4 percent); however, about half of the
additional increase for the community colleges is related to the
governor’s proposal to restructure adult education.
STUDENT PANEL OFFERS EXPERT ADVICE TO LAWMAKERS ON
EVALUATING SCHOOLS: “Ultimately, every student deserves to have a voice
in their own education.”
By Kimberly Beltran, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/10t6Qkd
Thursday, February 28, 2013 :: If the state wants an accurate
accounting of how its schools are performing, it should find a way to
include student input in its Academic Performance Index, said those
perhaps closest to the issue – the students themselves – at a state
hearing Wednesday.
California should also create a statewide database where teachers can
share and learn best classroom practices from each other. To curb the
high drop-out rate? Promote programs in schools that combat bullying.
And, finally, to help cut down on the number of injuries and deaths
caused by teens texting while driving, officials should incorporate
preventative education in high school health classes.
These were the recommendations made to a Senate education panel
Wednesday by an advisory group of high school students as part of an
annual report to lawmakers.
Their interest in changes to the school accountability system comes in
the wake of legislation adopted last year that restructures the API –
now calculated solely on standardized test scores – so that other
factors, such as school culture and environment, may be taken into
account in evaluating school performance.
An advisory commission to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson, saddled with turning the legislative goals into a workable
system, has been struggling to find indicators outside of assessments
that would provide reliable and consistent information to make up 40
percent of the API.
Members of the California Association of Student Councils’ Advisory
Board on Legislation in Education suggested Wednesday that the state
incorporate student input as part of the API by including them on local
review panels that are contemplated in the restructuring legislation and
also supported by Gov. Jerry Brown.
“Ultimately, every student deserves to have a voice in their own
education,” said Jakleen Lee, a student at Fullerton’s Troy High School
and a member of the council. “If students know that their opinions
matter and are taken into account when evaluating their school, students
will become empowered to learn and utilize their full potential in the
classroom.”
In their recommendations on improving school accountability, the student group also proposed:
• Allowing students to suggest questions to the local review panel prior to school visits.
• Evaluating the responses from the interviewees based upon a
standardized criterion and rubric that assesses the academic composition
of the school.
• Standardized evaluation criterion could include: teacher
attitude and enthusiasm, organization of curriculum structure, returning
tests and homework in a timely manner.
While lawmakers said they were intrigued with the ideas, there wasn’t much consensus on how to proceed.
“This is a very controversial and very important topic – probably the
most – and we as a Legislature have dealt with it and the entire
education community has dealt with it for many, many, many years,” Sen.
Mark Wyland, vice chair of the education committee, told the students.
“I love the idea of a student voice. I don’t know how you would do it. I
don’t know how you would select the students, but I think that would be
good at all high schools.”
Senators on the panel, chaired by Carol Liu, also were supportive of the
student group’s suggestions for looking at ways to combat bullying in
schools to help lower the state’s dropout rate – so much so that Sen.
Loni Hancock suggested a separate legislative hearing on the topic.
“We have lots of problems in schools, and some of them are related to
money, but this one isn’t,” Hancock said. “Kindness is cheap. Reaching
out a hand to somebody else doesn’t cost money.
“It’s what the school climate is, and it’s how we do something that I
suppose you’d call character education,” she continued. “And how do we
begin to infuse that in our schools. I would suggest to the chair that
we might want to have a hearing on bullying at some point.”
While the student group reported finding some studies from other states
looking at a correlation between bullying and the dropout rate,
California could take the lead by adding the category “bullied” to the
subgroup units in its Annual Report on Dropouts, a state analysis of
high school dropouts required under SB 651 (Romero), to ensure a state
investigation on the link between bullying and dropout rates.
Once the data has been verified, the students said, the state should
create a legislative committee to identify specific problems pertaining
to bullying and eventually offer possible solutions with input from
student representatives.
At the least, the students said, officials should consider incorporating
questions pertaining to bullying in the California Kids Survey,
conducted by the California State Board of Education, to better
understand the motives of potential high school dropouts.
“There are many factors contributing to high school drop-out rates in
California,” said Sara Castro, a student at the California Academy of
Mathematics and Science in Carson in Los Angeles County. “But as a
group, we decided that bullying was one of the major causes of high
school dropouts that we’ve experienced. I myself was a victim of
bullying and I wanted to dropout because of the environment I was in.”
Two other priority topics brought forward by the student advisory group
were the establishment of a central system for educators throughout the
state to share best classroom practices, and the incorporation of a
lesson on the dangers of texting and driving into school curriculum.
Currently, the students said, there is no effective way for schools,
teachers and students to receive and share best practices with each
other. Teachers with great practices have no statewide outlets for these
ideas, and similarly, teachers desiring great practices do not have a
reliable source to draw from.
Also, while other states have begun to include texting while driving
education in their schools, California has yet to do so. Health classes
now include curriculum on the dangers of drinking and driving; however,
there is no curriculum on the consequences of texting and driving, the
students reported.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
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Mar 9 Scott Folsom Scott Folsom @4LAKids
ASSEMBLY EDUCATION FINANCE COMMITTEE FEARS FUNDING OUTLOOK FOR ADULT ED, ECE AND CTE PROGRAMS: By Kimberly Bel... http://bit.ly/14EgHR2
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Mar 9 Scott Folsom Scott Folsom @4LAKids
COLLEGE AND CAREER: Can this Marriage Succeed?: Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/X5tQ8l 0... http://bit.ly/X5upPi
HIGHER STANDARDS COMING FOR STATE’S INTERN TEACHERS: By Kathryn Baron | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/10juUCt ... http://bit.ly/X5seeM
If Eli Broad approves: ART MARRIAGE MAY YIELD L.A. MEGA MUSEUM: LACMA makes a preliminary offer for taking over... http://bit.ly/Y2jOkX
STRICTER STATE CONTROLS PLACED ON TEACHING INTERNS: Action by California credentialing panel seems to settle a... http://bit.ly/Y2jOkQ
FWD: @davidtokofsky: Every teacher in United States should send Monica
Ratliff 5 dollars to run for school board against the Billionaire $$$...
STATE’S FIRST CAREER-TECH CENTER FACES POTENTIAL DEMISE: By Susan Frey – EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/WxbLP ... http://bit.ly/14z7WI5
PARENTS ALLEGE MASSIVE ENROLLMENT FRAUD AT CARPENTER COMMUNITY CHARTER IN STUDIO CITY + smf’s 2¢: By Barbara J... http://bit.ly/VLycPO
BIG MONEY DOESN’T BUY MUCH IN L.A. SCHOOL RACES: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's PAC raised nearly $4 million, mu... http://bit.ly/14yKkTV
APATHY v.2.0: Election officials were stunned when 16% of voters cast ballots. They couldn't believe that many... http://bit.ly/WYjVRM
TEACHERS vs. TESTS: Letters: to the editor of the LA Times | http://lat.ms/13HXWA6 Re "School policymakers fa... http://bit.ly/WYjUgN
LAUSD BOARD OF ED ELECTION: The dust clears …what does it mean?:
unofficial election results from the la city clerk + 2¢ from LAKids... http://bit.ly/Zc39wt
NUESTRA INICIATIVA: White House Initiative on Education Excellence for Hispanics: by email from The White Hous... http://bit.ly/XPZiUI
BEWARE THE LIES OF MARCH: A Note from Steve Zimmer Friends, In less than 12 hours the polls will close on... http://bit.ly/Z7KC4y
TRUST HIM, HE’S A DOCTOR: In L.A. Unified, however, Supt. John Deasy has said that any increased funding would... http://bit.ly/14pvD5s
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE IN BETTER SHAPE, OFFICIALS SAY. Not so fast, other officials say.: A state re... http://bit.ly/Z7kaYE
THE POLLS ARE OPEN: Go do it!: …and thank you. ¡EverOnward/SiempreAdelante! http://bit.ly/Z7kbvT
Q: WHAT DO MONICA GARCIA, KATE ANDERSON & A PAGE 3 GIRL HAVE IN
COMMON? A: They have all been bought & paid for by Rupert Murdoch...
http://bit.ly/Vyu2ux
RUPERT MURDOCH: From the wonderful billionaire who brought you the phone hacking scandal in the U.K.: $250K fo... http://bit.ly/VykO1B
THE IMPERFECT STORM: Bloomberg gave a million; here are my two-cents on why – and how – we need to vote tomorr... http://bit.ly/XH1ZYH
WELCOME TO THE SEQUESTER: For Teachers, March is Pink Slip Month: Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA, Week of Feb... http://bit.ly/14kKyhi
Testing, testing: STANDARDIZED TESTING BECOMES THE GREAT DIVIDE IN SCHOOLS POLICY– an issue playing out in L.A... http://bit.ly/XFyiad
CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR TAKE DIFFERENT TACKS ON EDUCATION: Eric Garcetti has the backing of the teachers union an... http://bit.ly/Z24shx
Federal Aid to K-12 Ed is supposed to be Supplemental …but watch how #Sequester cuts affects basic core programs!
#Sequester #LAUSD officials work Monday on $37Million/5% of annual Federal aid program cuts | http://bit.ly/13AjTAW
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:
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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