Sunday, May 25, 2014

“We trust that the Board of Education intends to execute its duties in a transparent and equitable manner.”

Onward! 4LAKids4LAKids: Sunday 25•May•2014 Memorial Day Weekend
In This Issue:
 • 3 stories: “IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE CRITICISM, FIRE THE CRITIC!”
 • Opinion: L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT DOESN'T NEED MORE IPAD YES MEN
 • THE END OF “TEACHER JAIL” AS WE KNOW IT: In new LAUSD policy, ‘jailed’ teachers to serve time at home
 • L.A. UNIFIED HIRES RORY PULLENS AS NEW HEAD OF ARTS EDUCATION
 • HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
 • EVENTS: Coming up next week...
 • What can YOU do?


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The Board of Ed met on Tuesday and only had one possibly controversial item on its agenda (beyond the increasingly routine and personally tragic teacher firings and pupil expulsions) - and the controversy was of process over substance: They were set to hire a new Arts Education director. This was to be done in secret for secrecy’s sake – filling a job opening never posted with a candidate never publicly interviewed for a job description never disclosed …the done-deal done behind closed doors.

The good news is the secret candidate just might be the right guy for the job.
Q: Who knows?A: Superintendent Deasy knows! Q: What could possibly go wrong?

For the answer to the second question go to the link at the bottom of this article and watch the video. A 4LAKids correspondent advises to “Start it at 8:30, turn your volume up and pay more attention to the words and actions of the members who are OFF mic, rather than the ones who are ON-mic, right up to the point where Ms Galatzan says, ‘Jeff, I'm confused’."

The “receive+file” confirmation of the appointment of a parent volunteer to a District committee gone horribly wrong: The board overreaching/overreacting – the upstart volunteer publicly excoriated for daring to question the superintendent’s policy and the board’s infinite wisdom.

A bit of Machiavellian politics and just plain Schoolyard Bullying from the Boardroom played out by six boardmembers and their superintendent that proves Mark Twain’s edict: “First God created idiots; that was for practice. Then He created school boards.”

How dare he? He’s only an architect …he’s only a parent! 

It’s a pattern played out before. Picking+choosing the ‘right’ volunteers to serve on advisory committees – compliant folk who take-rather-than-provide-advice, dispensing with the troublemakers+questioners – sometimes ignoring and/or dissolving the committees themselves. Does the Title I District Advisory Committee ring a bell? The Parent Collaborative? The late lamented Focus on Student Achievement Council? It’s going on now with the Local Control Funding Formula Parent Advisory Committee. “Thank you for your service, your three minutes of parent engagement are up.”


HENRY II: "What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord? Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

Henry created a martyr; his attempt at reform was crushed - his place in history is stained with Becket’s blood.


THE BOARD MEETING STARTED AT 9AM. I was in Sacramento minding everybody else’s business at a PTA legislative confab. By 9:20 my phone was vibrating, the tweets were tweeting and text messages and emails abounded.

In quick succession:

1. After being moved by Ms. Garcia and seconded by Mr. Zimmer the board votes to reconfirm two Bond Oversight Committee members, as recommended by the superintendent. And moves to the next item, which is public comment. (The students who eventually get to address the board on hydration stations do a great job!)
2. Wait a minute! …what just happened? Ms. Galatzan changes her mind and changes her vote on the previous item – blaming the agenda paperwork - and proceeds to attack one of the BOC members she just voted to confirm – the architect – although she doesn’t know/remember his name.
3. Ms. Garcia agrees with Ms. Galatzan …she too was confused by the agenda, even though she moved the item:
_________
RESOLUTIONS REQUESTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT

Item #7. Reappointment of Members to the School Construction Bond Oversight Committee (Sup Res4)
(Postponed from May 13, 2014 Board Meeting)

Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District ratifies the reappointment of Mr. Stuart Magruder, representing the American Institute of Architects, and Mr. Barry Waite, representing the California Tax Reform Association, as Members to the School Construction Bond Oversight Committee for two-year terms commencing on May 8, 2014. The Board determines that Mr. Magruder and Mr. Waite are not employees, officials, vendors, contractors, or consultants of the District

________
(cont.)
4. Dr. Deasy helps Ms. Galatzan in identifying the name of the meddlesome architect: Stuart Magruder. Galatzan continues to complain about Magruder, alleging that he will only vote for projects that have “architectural services” attached to them – and further he questions issues of educational content upon which he is unqualified to opine. “We can find other people in our vast community who will be more open minded.”
5. Board president Vladovic leaves the chair and Mr. Zimmer takes over.
6. Mr. Zimmer attempts to clarify what is becoming a murky quagmire. Secretary Crain establishes that it is now a divided vote and the motion on the floor is to approve the second appointee, Barry Waite, only.
7. Mr. Kayser asks for more detail on the process of nomination and appointment.
8. Dr. Deasy begins to distance himself from the action – his recommendation was not an endorsement of the candidates. 
9. Mr. Zimmer states that it is his belief that proposed the board action is a ratification of another agency’s appointment, not an approval.
10. Dr. Deasy is unsure of who the appointing authority is, echoing Ms. Galatzan’s language of “Architectural Services”.
11. Dr. V returns to chair and says he doesn’t know what the issue is – but thanks Ms. Galatzan for ‘doing her homework’ – admits he hasn’t done his – sides with Galatzan and Garcia …and enthusiastically endorses Mr. Waite. 
12. The vote is taken: Galatzan, Garcia, Vladovic and Kayser vote Yes. Mr. Zimmer votes No – apparently in opposition to the divide+conquer. Ms Ratliff abstains – presumabaly reacting to the confusion. Mr. Waite is confirmed.
13. Mr. Crain says that Bond Oversight staff might be available at the end of the closed session to revisit the Magruder nomination. When the board returns from closed session BOC staff, their attorney and Stuart Magruder are present. They are not allowed to be heard.
14. A vote up or down on Mr. Magruder is never taken, his reappointment quashed – his term on the BOC ended.

• One can say that Ms. Galatzan and Dr. Deasy won on Tuesday. The most vocal critic of the ill-conceived Common Core Technology Project/iPad program has been effectively removed from the Oversight Committee. (Until this mischief played out I probably would have used the adjective “poorly-conceived” in the previous sentence; I now find myself inclined towards the metaphorical “bastard-stepchild”.
• One can also say that the concept of Independent Oversight lost on Tuesday. One can certainly say that the voters and taxpayers lost.
• Dr. Deasy told the press he is not taking sides.


The Bond Oversight Committee and the L.A. chapter of the American Institute of Architects are not going to accept this turn of events lying down; the Board of Ed has exceeded its authority under the law. This will not stand. The AIA/LA wrote in re-nominating Magruder: “When the passage of Proposition 39 in 2000 led to the provision of the Education Code that required that the Board of Education appoint all BOC members, we and the other stakeholders agreed to the Memorandum of Understanding between the District and the BOC that, while the formal appointment would be done by the Board as a receive and file, the Board would faithfully appoint the nominee of each stakeholder group. We trust that the Board of Education intends to execute its duties in a transparent and equitable manner.”

The vocabulary of conflict is unfortunately in play. Lines in the sand have been drawn. A battle between the Board of Education and the superintendent and the Bond Oversight Committee has been joined; unless cooler heads prevail this could escalate to war. If fought it will be over the future of the LAUSD building and modernization program and over the $7+ billion in school bonds remaining unspent. It will not be pretty.

IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Bond Oversight Committee.

I am the longest serving and most senior member. I have been an appointee of Los Angeles Tenth District PTA on-and-off – serving for over a dozen years. I was there when the Memorandum of Understanding - the operative agreement establishing the BOC and governing the relationship between the BOC, the District and the Board of Education - was negotiated with LAUSD and the Board of Education. The MOU clearly states that the appointing authority is the appointing authority – and that the Board of Education shall accept the appointment if the appointee is qualified – and those qualifications are that the appointee is not an employee, official, contractor, vendor or consultant of the District. 

The vote of the Board is to confirm the qualifications, not approve the appointment. 
“3.1.8. The Board shall appoint one member nominated by the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter.”

Much is ambiguous in contract law and in legal definition. But the meaning of “shall” is unchanged since Exodus. ‘Shall’ means you have to do it!

The independent appointing authorities are: The Mayor of Los Angeles, The City Controller, The County Auditor, PTA, a senior citizens group (AARP), a representative of a charter school group, a taxpayers organization, the Early Childhood Ed Coalition, the Chamber of Commerce, a representative from the general contractors, a representative from the building trade unions and a representative from the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Additionally the Board of Education gets to select and appoint two parents of LAUSD students. Some of these appointing authorities – like PTA and the taxpayers group - are stipulated in the State Law that governs school bonds. Others were established by the Board of Ed when they passed the first BB Bond and created the first Bond Oversight Committee in 1997. The make-up of the committee has changed slightly over the years by mutual consent of the board and the committee. 

The issue is that of Independent Oversight – and independence cannot/will not be maintained if the Board can approve or disapprove its overseers.

Independent Oversight was and continues to be the promise made to the voters and taxpayers and all the stakeholders from community members, teachers, district employees, parents and past, present and future students of the District - when we passed all the school facilities bonds from BB to K, R, Y and Q. 

Ms. Galatzan says Stuart goes too far in opining on instructional issues – and in other times and circumstances I might agree. But in the Deasy administration bond funds are being used to purchase instructional materials and therefore Stuart’s and the Bond Oversight Committee’s opinions are entirely relevant.

I do not agree with Stuart Magruder on some issues; I don’t have to. He is the appointee of the AIA/LA and as long as he has their faith and confidence he is their representative. 


THERE IS A LAY PREACHER WHO REGULARLY MAKES PUBLIC COMMENT AT BOC AND BOARD MEETINGS and preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he believes it – he forecasts everlasting damnation if we don’t change our ways. If he’s right, we’re toast. I’ve spoken with him, he’s a nice guy and he is genuinely concerned about my soul and Tamar’s and Dr Deasy’s and Stuart’s and all of us. We may not be listening and we may not be saved - but the National Cemeteries are filled - and battlefields around the globe are stained with the blood of those who gave their lives and/or sacrificed their youth so that he could say those things and the rest of us could ignore him.

“Happy Memorial Day” may be inappropriate; we should remember and teach our children that the happiness we pursue is a gift from others.

¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
 

VIDEO: The Open Part of the Closed Session Board Meeting of 20th (Click on Item #7)



3 stories: “IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE CRITICISM, FIRE THE CRITIC!”
►SCHOOL BOARD BLOCKS APPOINTEE CRITICAL OF iPADS
Posted on LA School Report by Vanessa Romo |http://bit.ly/1sU4iVd

May 20, 2014 4:00 pm :: What is normally a routine, no-questions-asked formality for the LA Unified School Board hit a snag today.

Board Member Tamar Galatzan opposed the reappointment of Stuart Magruder, an outspoken critic of the use of bond money for iPads, from the School Construction Bond Oversight Committee (BOC).

The board effectively blocked Magruder’s reappointment by removing him from a resolution. That will leave the 15 member BOC, an independent body formed to oversee bond money used to build and repair schools, with an empty seat.

“It’s not unprecedented but this doesn’t usually happen,” Jefferson Crain, LA Unified Board Secretariat, said of the board’s move.

[●● smf: It IS unprecedented!]

An architect, Magruder has served one term as an appointee nominated by the American Institute of Architects Association. Throughout his tenure, he has strongly opposed the use of bond funds for buying instructional materials including the district’s controversial and expensive iPad program.

Speaking out against Magruder, Galatzan said, “I just don’t think he’s the right person for that role. I think he’s overstepped his bounds…I think he’s overstepped his expertise on the Bond Oversight Committee.”

She told the board, who had just minutes earlier approved the reappointment, that Magruder often used his time during BOC meetings to expound on curriculum and instruction matters, and she urged her colleagues to rescind their support.

“I’m not going to be supporting him and I think we can find other people in our vast community who are a little more open-minded,” Galatzan said.

At a BOC meeting in March Magruder said, “We are spending roughly a $100 million on software for the iPads, which I guess is supposed to be a text book, which is actually not really being used very much as far as I can tell with my daughter’s experience at Palms Middle School.”

“That to me is really problematic,” he continued. “We’re throwing away $100 million on something that is not being used and is certainly not something we’re supposed to be paying for with construction bond funds.” (see video here)

Magruder’s term expired on May 8. However, a lawyer for the group suggested they are seeking alternatives for resubmitting Magruder for consideration.

In a 4-1 vote, the board agreed to reappoint Barry Waite, of the California Tax Reform Association to the BOC. Board member Monica Ratliff abstained while Board member Steve Zimmer was the only dissenting vote.

The board did not take any other actions during the board meeting.

_____________

OUSTED OPPONENT OF LA SCHOOLS iPAD FIGHTS TO REGAIN SEAT ON OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

By Annie Gilbertson | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC HTTP://BIT.LY/1JBGMXU

May 21st, 2014, 5:38pm :: The architect tossed off a Los Angeles Unified School District oversight committee Tuesday is fighting to be reinstated.

The school board voted to remove Stuart Magruder, an outspoken critic of the district's iPad program, from a list of renewal appointments on the committee that oversees how bond funds are spent. Those voter-approved bonds have been the principal funding source for Superintendent John Deasy's $1 billion one-to-one tablet initiative.

School officials have said bond funds can be spent on technology upgrades.

But Magruder said voters clearly meant for the $19 billion loans to be used to maintain and build schools, not to buy "the modern equivalent of pencils and paper." He said his ouster was political retribution.

"It drastically calls into question the independence of the committee," he said in an interview.

On Wednesday, the American Institute of Architects asked the school board — nicely — to reconsider his reappointment, given that the committee's founding documents give the institute to a guaranteed seat on the committee.

"According to the charter memorandum of understanding, the school board shall appointment one member nominated by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles chapter and our nominee is Stuart Magruder," said Nicci Solomons, the Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles chapter.

The lawyer for the Bond Oversight Committee said the school board has violated the contract. The Memorandum of understanding states the school board "shall" appointment the the institute's nominee after confirming the person has no conflicts of interest.

L.A. Unified officials said Margruder does not benefit financially from school building projects.

At a mostly closed school board meeting Tuesday, member Tamar Galatzan moved to have Magruder name removed from the reappointment list, voicing concerns about his employment as an architect. Board member Steve Zimmer was the only dissenting vote, and Monica Ratliff abstained.

“I believe Stuart Magruder has overstepped his role as the American Institute of Architects representative to the BOC, and I cannot vote for his reappointment," Galatzan said in a written statement emailed to KPCC Wednesday.

Zimmer did not return calls for comment.

In addition to his criticism of the iPad program, Magruder has called into question Galatzan's discretionary use bond funds.

He raised issue with her request for $290,000 for computers at specific schools in her district. Since 2011, school board members have spent about $4.5 million of discretionary bond funds on computers not related to the iPad program. Tw0-thirds of that money went to Galatzan's district, which represents the middle- and upper-class West San Fernando Valley.

Magruder argued the money would be better spent on building repairs, which officials estimate will cost $13 billion over the next fifteen years, much more than the remaining bond funds.

Magruder's position won him some fans, including teachers who formed a Facebook group called "Repairs, not iPads." They have protested the district's spending choices when schools still have to deal with broken toilets and leaky facets.

Matthew Kogan, the L.A. Unified teacher who heads the group, called Magruder's removal an exercise of "unchecked powers."

"I think it shows a disregard for our democratic institutions," Kogan said.

The group has taken to twitter to protest, posting a video documenting Magruder's critique of the iPad program made earlier this year.

_____________

L.A. UNIFIED BOARD REFUSES TO REAPPOINT MEMBER OF OVERSIGHT PANEL 
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/1pjc8aO

May 22, 2014, 901 PM :: The Los Angeles Board of Education this week acted against a critic of its controversial iPad program by refusing to reappoint him to a key review panel, the latest of several actions that could limit scrutiny of the project.

On Tuesday, a board majority removed Stuart Magruder as a nominee for a second, two-year term on the Bond Oversight Committee, which analyzes and votes on spending from school-construction bonds. The L.A. Unified School District is using more than $1 billion from these bonds to pay for providing a computer to every student, teacher and school administrator.

Board member Tamar Galatzan said she opposed Magruder because he overstepped his role.

"He's an architect and ... has made many forays into telling the instructional people how to do instruction," Galatzan said at the Tuesday meeting. "I think it's inappropriate. I don't think that's what his expertise is."
Galatzan confirmed later that she was referring to some of Magruder's challenges of the iPad project.

lNearly a year go, the board approved an iPad contract that was expected to expand districtwide. But the fall rollout at 47 schools was plagued by difficulties, such as inadequate wireless Internet and inconsistent policies on who was responsible for the costly devices. Early on, students at three high schools deleted security filters so they could browse the Web freely. Officials also have come under fire for misstating costs and terms of the contract with Apple, which makes the iPad.

In an interview, Magruder, 47, defended his inquiries, saying officials needed to justify the huge expenditure.

"They claim there's good pedagogical support for having iPads everywhere for all grades but they haven't been able to provide any support for that," he said.

"It is also clear to me that the district was not really prepared to launch this initiative and have it add value to the classroom," said Magruder, who has two children attending district schools.

Eventually, the district responded to critics by slowing down the districtwide expansion and by trying out laptops as an alternative to iPads in high school.

Galatzan also accused Magruder of voting against any project that did not use architects. Magruder denied that.

The oversight committee grew out of attempts, in the 1990s, to pass school-construction bonds for relieving overcrowding and repairing dilapidated campuses. They also can be used for technology.

The first bond election failed. On the next try, officials added the oversight committee to enhance voter confidence. That bond passed, as have several since. The 15 committee members are unpaid, and their votes are not binding on the district.

Certain groups have had the right to name a member to the panel, including the county Federation of Labor. Another organization with a seat is the local branch of the American Institute of Architects, which chose Magruder two years ago.

Until this week, the school board has never rejected a nominee from a designated outside group, said Tom A. Rubin, the consultant for the bond panel.

During the meeting, Galatzan proposed approving only a second nominee, Barry Waite, whose nomination by a taxpayer-rights group also was before the board. Monica Garcia voted with Galatzan without comment. Galatzan and Garcia were the staunchest backers of the original iPad plan.

Joining them was board President Richard Vladovic.

"I'm going to go with my colleague, who seems to be very knowledgeable," Vladovic said of Galatzan.
Bennett Kayser also voted with them, but only to support Waite. He said later that he also would back Magruder. Steve Zimmer voted no, objecting to the exclusion of Magruder, and Monica Ratliff abstained. The seventh board seat is temporarily vacant.

In denying Magruder, the board acted improperly, said civil rights attorney Robert Garcia, who chaired the oversight body from 2000 to 2005. He said district officials had signed a legally binding agreement to ratify the selections of the outside groups.

Galatzan said she was not aware of the earlier agreement.

"If we couldn't vote no, why else would it be brought to us?" she said.

L.A. Unified general counsel David Holmquist insisted that the board retains the right to reject nominees.

Current oversight chairman Stephen English is out of the country, but sent word that he intended to resubmit Magruder's nomination, said committee consultant Rubin.

The architect's group also is standing behind Magruder.

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy, who was frequently at odds with the panel over the iPads, said he is not taking sides.

District officials have taken other steps that critics said would limit public review of the technology project. In January, Vladovic announced the impending end of an internal technology committee headed by Ratliff. More recently, officials refused to release the findings of an internal investigation into the project.


“WE TRUST THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION INTENDS TO EXECUTE ITS DUTIES IN A TRANSPARENT AND EQUITABLE MANNER” Letter of reappointment of Stuart Magruder



Opinion: L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT DOESN'T NEED MORE IPAD YES MEN
• THE L.A. SCHOOL BOARD SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ASK TOUGH QUESTIONS• DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO USE LONG-TERM BONDS TO BUY EQUIPMENT THAT LASTS A FEW YEARS?

By Karin Klein, L.A. Times Editorialist in Opinion LA |http://lat.ms/1kAvp79

May 23, 2014, 1:02 PM :: The Los Angeles Unified School District needs more independent-minded people who question its initiatives, not fewer. The school board made a mistake with its refusal to reappoint a member of the Bond Oversight Committee who had opposed the use of bond funds to pay for iPads for every student.

There should be more people raising concerns about this sort of bond expenditure, though other school districts in the state have gotten away with doing the same thing. It’s completely justifiable to use bond money to upgrade schools for wi-fi capacity, which is where $500 million of the money would go. But there should be serious doubts in the public’s mind about using bonds to purchase computing devices that last a few years. Voters agreed to tax themselves on the understanding that the billions of dollars were to be used to build and repair schools, or make other capital expenditures that would last for at least a couple of decades, which is how long it takes to pay off the bonds.

Of course, as we all know now, the iPad program was so rushed, with too few of the important questions asked or answered, that it immediately ran into trouble. Some of those early problems have been fixed, or at least addressed. Among them was the higher-than-average price, and the district’s use of bond money to buy curriculum with its iPads, curriculum that hadn’t even been fully written when it was purchased. Bond funding is not supposed to be used for curriculum purchase. The price of the devices has since been reduced, with the curriculum no longer part of the package deal.

And the iPad purchase has been slowed, with a smaller buy-in at the start and a more purposeful build-up. That might involve a mix of devices instead of the original approach of an iPad for every student and teacher. High school students did not find the tablets as useful as laptops, for example.

These were the kinds of questions that Stuart Magruder, an architect on the Bond Oversight Committee, was raising when too many others were just going along. The board should have been glad to have a member of the committee doing exactly what the panel is supposed to do: carefully vet the use of bond money to ensure that it is properly and prudently spent.

Instead, the board refused a second term for Magruder, the first time it has refused to confirm a candidate from one of the outside groups that have been designated to nominate an oversight member. Magruder was the choice of the American Institute of Architects. In fact, it’s not entirely certain that the board was within its rights on the vote; some experts argue that the district signed a legally binding agreement to ratify these outside nominees. The district’s legal people say no.

But even if it wasn’t a legal mistake, it was a tactical one. Tamar Galatzan, who initiated the move to reject Magruder, has been the iPad program’s most enthusiastic supporter and has never asked the important questions about this planned expenditure of more than $1 billion. She and other board members should be glad that someone is asking. That's not to say Magruder is always right, or that he has framed his concerns in the most politic ways. The important point is that the district doesn't need more yes men. It should be grateful for the people who raise doubts; only by allaying those doubts with satisfying answers will it know that it's on the right path.


THE END OF “TEACHER JAIL” AS WE KNOW IT: In new LAUSD policy, ‘jailed’ teachers to serve time at home

by Michael Janofsky, Managing Editor , LA School Report |http://bit.ly/1grY1jk

May 22, 2014, 12:43 pm :: In a major policy shift, the LA Unified school district will no longer require teachers under investigation to report to so-called “teacher jails.”

Instead, teachers will be allowed to go home, with the understanding that they must remain there during their working hours unless they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation. The shift ends a controversial practice that required teachers facing an investigation to report to a district regional center or the downtown headquarters building and sit idle for hours in a room. The change will begin on May 27.

“We’ve done this a number of times with some teachers over the years, and it has worked,” the district’s chief counsel, David Holmquist, said in an interview. “We felt like the effort had not caused any problems so it was a good time to expand to all teachers on administrative leave.”

The policy change was done administratively and did not require school board approval. The issue has not even come before the board in recent meetings although member Tamar Galatzan suggested home housing in a March resolution to improve the process by which teachers are investigated.

Alex Caputo-Pearl, the incoming president of the teachers union, UTLA, called the change “positive in that it will ameliorate some of the horrible conditions that educators face in the actual ‘teacher jail’ rooms.”

“However,” he said, “we need LAUSD to move aggressively to restore stability to students and due process to educators by allowing the vast majority of educators currently housed, who are no danger to their students, to return to their schools.”

Caputo-Pearl takes over from Warren Fletcher on July 1.

Currently, Holmquist said, 251 employees are out of their schools and classrooms while the district investigates charges against them. In the past, he said, “about 10 to 15 percent” of teachers in “jail” have been allowed to remain at home.

The change in policy saves the district money in eliminating the need for personnel to supervise “jailed” teachers and in clearing space in rooms that can now be used for other purposes.

“Teacher jails” has been one of the most troublesome issues for the teachers union. During the recent union elections, all the presidential candidates were united in expressing disdain for them, calling for their end and for the investigations to be faster and more transparent.

Holmquist said school districts are generally an anomaly among government agencies in having employees on paid leave report to a building during an investigation. Most agencies, he said, have their employees remain at home.

“We share the union’s concern that investigations should be conducted more expeditiously, and we’re hiring more investigators to expedite the process,” Holmquist said, adding that for the change in policy, “Overall, we felt this was the best thing to do.”


L.A. UNIFIED HIRES RORY PULLENS AS NEW HEAD OF ARTS EDUCATION
By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/S4Ayt6

MAY 20, 2014, 6:15 PM :: The leader of one of the nation's top arts high schools has accepted the job of leading arts education for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Rory Pullens, 56, has served as head of school and chief executive at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Pullens had been recruited by the nation's second-largest school system for several years. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said he was "thrilled."

"He brings an extraordinary background in the arts along with a string of astounding successes in his previous posts," Deasy said.

Previously, Pullens had twice accepted a job heading L.A.'s flagship downtown arts high school but then backed out. One time he withdrew to deal with a family crisis. On the second occasion, he reconsidered after the Ellington school community made a concerted effort to retain him.

Besides running the Ellington school, Pullens spent more than a decade as an arts administrator in Denver, where he designed the first elementary arts school for the public school system there, according to his posted biography. He worked for nearly two decades as a writer, director and producer in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.

Pullens will receive a salary of $147,086 on a one-year contract plus a $10,000 moving allowance.

According to the district job description, Pullens will direct the entire arts education program at L.A. Unified "to ensure increased arts … opportunities" and to integrate arts into instruction. L.A. Unified made substantial cuts in this area during the recent recession, some of which are gradually being restored.

Earlier, when Pullens was recruited to head the downtown arts high school, philanthropist Eli Broad offered to supplement his salary. But a staffer with Broad's foundation said her organization was unaware of the LAUSD hiring.

Broad had encouraged L.A. Unified to bring in a nationally respected figure, such as Pullens, to lead the arts high school, which is named after former L.A.Unified Supt. Ramon Cortines.

Another high-profile arts school administrator, Kim Bruno, has since taken on the job and is finishing her first year at the campus. She had been principal at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York.
_____________________

Hiring Rory Pullens: EXCITEMENT, QUESTIONS AS NEWS OF LA SCHOOLS ARTS HIRE SPREADS ...but…

Mary Plummer | | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCChttp://bit.ly/1mkPXQP

May 22nd, 2014, 12:05am "I think this is great for arts education in Los Angeles County," said Arts for LA's Executive Director Danielle Brazell. She called him a "strong visionary."

In a passionate TEDx talk on education, Pullens touted the 98 percent graduation rate at his Washington D.C. arts school, Duke Ellington School of the Arts - and its famous alums, including comedian Dave Chappell. The school is well known and Pullens is a celebrity in the world of arts education. He's rubbed elbows with First Lady Michelle Obama.

But others questioned the district's process.

"We do not support the idea of inventing a new position and then just placing someone in the position," said Judith Perez, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents administrators. Perez said the board's closed-door approval Tuesday of Pullens to head the district's arts education efforts was the first she'd heard of the job.

"Is that the best use of that very limited funding, when our schools have been starved for programs and personnel?" Perez asked. Pullens will be paid a base salary of $147,086.

Marilyn Fuller, who oversees the human resources unit that helps select administrators for the school district, said her office did not post the position, but she couldn't say whether or not it had been posted by another section of the office. The district's communications office did not confirm whether or not the job had been posted publicly, but a representative said Pullens was recruited directly by Superintendent John Deasy.

In an email, Pullens said he was in Los Angeles Tuesday when the hire was announced and will return in a few weeks to continue the transition.

Pullens will be implementing "Arts at the Core," an October 2012 school board resolution that seeks to revamp arts education in the district and vastly increase access — but which has been largely ignored so far. 

Pullens will report to Gerardo Loera, the executive director of the district's Office of Curriculum and Instruction. 

The job description outlines that Pullens will "ensure increased arts education opportunities and integrated arts instruction" for students across the district. His duties will include managing the arts education program's budget and establishing and evaluating community partnerships that relate to arts instruction.

The job description also requires him to have a California Administrative Services Credential, which is standard for all administrators in certificated jobs, according to a district spokesperson. No credential was on record when KPCC checked Tuesday in both Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C., so presumably he'll have to jump through that procedural hoop.

This is the third time L.A. Unified has tried to hire Pullens. Twice it recruited him to head Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in downtown L.A., but the deals didn't go through. Instead, Kim Bruno — who was principal at the well-known LaGuardia Arts high school in New York City — was brought in for the job, which she began last fall. 

At the time, philanthropist Eli Broad had agreed to supplement Pullens's salary if he took the job at Cortines. A Broad Education Foundation staff member said neither its president nor spokesperson were available for comment Wednesday.

Art teachers in the district were surprised by the announcement. 

"We don't know whether this is going to be a good thing or not," said Eloise Porter, an arts teacher who is also the president of the Los Angeles City Elementary Schools Music Association. Porter said she wished teachers and others had been more involved in the hire.

"It's just really a big question mark," she said.


PULLENS’ TEDx TALK ...but isn't a TED Talk just a Worholian fifteen minutes and eighteen seconds of fame?



HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
QUOTE O' TH' WEEK: “Every student watches us every day,” Deasy said. “They watch how we solve our problems.” |http://bit.ly/1nk9VMI

• From the far side of the pond: EDUCATION’S CULTURE OF OVERWORK IS TURNING CHILDREN AND TEACHERS INTO GHOSTS
If schools slowed down and focused on a deeper kind of flourishing, they might be more productive http://bit.ly/auDNT3
• LAUSD SCHOOLS SHOULD HAVE FULL-TIME NURSES: Letters | http://bit.ly/1kAJ3Hs
• POLLS SUGGEST MCKENNA, JOHNSON HEADING FOR LAUSD ELECTION RUNOFF | http://bit.ly/1p5Tx4B
• PANELS OK $1.2B FOR COMMON CORE, PRE-K EXPANSION |http://bit.ly/1nhEaEe
Key legislative panels approved Thursday $1.25 billion for helping schools transition to the Common Core State Standards and another $650 million to support expanding pre-kindergarten to all low-income four-year olds. The actions, taken separately by budget subcommittees in both houses of the Legislature, are not binding but suggest that Democratic leaders are interested in spending a big share of the state’s unanticipated revenue on public school programs. S&I Cabinet Report
• LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD RACE: THE GEORGE MCKENNA STORY CONTINUES http://bit.ly/1otIobf
• HOW THE LAUSD POWERFUL SILENCE THEIR CRITICShttp://bit.ly/1nmmgT3
• LAWMAKERS OPEN TO BRIEF REPRIEVE FROM BIG PAYMENTS FOR TEACHER PENSIONS | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/TIil64
Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to immediately start paying off the $74 billion shortfall in funding for teacher pensions was, for school districts that would bear the brunt, the big May budget surprise. On Thursday, two key lawmakers responded to districts’ calls for total relief next year by urging legislators to meet them halfway. EdSource
• LAUSD AVOIDS PARENT-TRIGGER THREAT, AGREES TO $300,000 IN IMPROVEMENTS AT WEST ATHENS SCHOOLhttp://bit.ly/1vZwaLT -- Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy and elementary school parents in West Athens struck a deal to invest an additional $300,000 in personnel, heading off a potential use of a 2010 law that would have allowed parents to transform the campus into a charter school. Beau Yarbrough in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 5/24/14
• CALIFORNIA'S LATINO STUDENTS AMONG THE MOST SEGREGATED IN THE COUNTRY, SAYS UCLA REPORThttp://bit.ly/1h0Izv6
More than half of Latino students in California attend "intensely segregated" K-12 schools, or those that have a white population of 10 percent or less, according to a new report by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.Brenda Gazzar in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 5/23/14
• STEINBERG SCALES BACK CALIFORNIA PRESCHOOL PROPOSAL -| http://bit.ly/1jJXPLS
Senate leader Darrell Steinberg unveiled a modified version of his plan to offer free preschool to California 4-year-olds on Thursday, slashing the cost of the program to the state by more than two-thirds by focusing on children from the poorest families. Laurel Rosenhall in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 5/23/14
• [Tweet] Who is Rory Pullens - and why is he the answer to LAUSD's Arts+Music Education Program - or lack thereof? ...and who exactly says so?


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE – Tues. May 27, 2014
Start: 05/27/2014 1:00 pm

COMMON CORE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT COMMITTEE MEETING – Wed. May 28, 2014
Start: 05/28/2014 3:00 pm

SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND CITIZENS’ OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING
Thurs, May 29, 2014 10:00 AM-1:00 PM

All in the LAUSD Board Room

*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
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
Monica.Ratliff@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!.


Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?


Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
• FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
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Sunday, May 18, 2014

The elephant in the room since 1954

Onward! 4LAKids4LAKids: Sun•18•May•2014 Lawnmower Invented 1830
In This Issue:
 • U.S. MARKS 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN RULING THAT DESEGREGATED SCHOOLS - UCLA study notes that many schools remain segregated
 • “Dear Colleague”: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ED SAYS CHARTER SCHOOLS ‘MUST’ COMPLY WITH U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
 • The May Revise: IN REVISED BUDGET, GOV. BROWN DETAILS COSTLY 30-YEAR PLAN TO FIX TEACHER PENSIONS
 • It’s A Small World meets Godzilla v. King Kong: PEARSON CONTRACT FOR COMMON CORE TESTING FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE + smf’s 2¢
 • HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
 • EVENTS: Coming up next week...
 • What can YOU do?


Featured Links:
 • Give the gift of a 4LAKids Subscription to a friend or colleague!
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 • 4LAKids Anthology: All the Past Issues, solved, resolved and unsolved!
 • 4LAKidsNews: a compendium of recent items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, rants and amusing anecdotes, etc.
It slipped out as a rumor, was confirmed at a principal’s meeting and validated by Library Services staff.

In the newest revision of superintendent’s work-in-progress/moving target/ draft budget there will be staffed libraries at every school – centrally funded – NOT “Purchased” by the school.

It’s a return to the Way We Were in 2007-08 – before the cuts of (not-so) Great Recession. Part of the "happily-ever-after" promise of Prop 30.
• Library-Aides (what LAUSD calls elementary librarians) at every Elementary School, including affiliated charters.
• Teacher-Librarians in Secondary Schools.
• Eventually. See Dewey Decimal Classification: 398.2

For what we are about to receive let us be truly thankful – and we are. Repeat after me: “The Library is the most important classroom in the school”.

Of course nothing is ever that easy.

Library Aides were full time (6 hour a day) positions until 2009 when the great scythe came upon them…
•reducing their hours by half,
•their benefits by 100%, and
•began thinning their ranks by more than half.

• Today+tomorrow’s Library Aides are part time (three hour a day) jobs. 3 hour positions get no health benefits. There are currently many library Aide jobs funded-but-unfilled because the number of motivated, qualified and trained folks who will work those hours for no benefits and for the salary offered a few and far between.
• Library Aides are not the same as Classroom Aides or Special Ed Aides or Security Aides with their orange vest and rolls of visitor stickers. Like Math teachers and Biology teachers, Aides are not interchangeable. (LAUSD insiders are directed to Bulletin 60400) Previously Library Aides underwent 60 hours of training – the District currently offers 3 hours of training for the jobs. Three hours is not enough time to learn a job that entails operating a sophisticated computer database, learning the Dewey Decimal System, familiarizing oneself with the curriculum and standards and catalog of current juvenile literature, and taking responsibility -for -and-maintaining what averages to be a quarter-of-a-million-dollar inventory of library materials. L.A.s must professionally support classroom teachers in the instruction of schoolchildren ranging from pre-readers to consumers of the literature of Twain, Jane Austin, J.T. Rowling, Judy Blume, Dickens, etc., etc., etc. The Common Core insists on deep reading and research – who is going help the teachers learn and teach that on three hours of training?
• LAUSD tried to rid itself of Teacher-Librarians in the recent past (The Disgraceful Interrogation of L.A. School Librarians – L.A. Times http://lat.ms/ol6uJR) – always a morale-building strategy that makes the survivors feel warm and fuzzy and secure in their jobs. I haven’t yet seen the strategy or timeline for restoring T.L.s (who are credentialed teachers with a specialty in library science) to secondary libraries that haven’t been staffed in years. Questions remain to whether Middle Schools will be staffed by T.L.s or L.A.s (Spoiler alert: The correct answer is Teacher Librarians!) And what about Span Schools, like K-8s or 4, 5 or 6-12s – where the inventory is complicated? There is no bulletin or memo that defines the staffing of those schools.

Stay tuned.

AT TUESDAY’S BOARD MEETING THE BOARD OF ED CAME OUT IN SOLIDARITY with their union partners in support of Los Angeles hotel workers’ demand for a Living Wage – though there are many LAUSD workers who are not paid a living wage as defined by the city’s Living wage ordinance [http://bit.ly/1oBE7VJ]. (Although LAUSD was created by the City Charter, it is not governed by all city laws.) Dr Deasy argued that LAUSD’s lower paid salaried employees get paid benefits - as you read above that is neither universally true nor false. Some board members said it was right for the board to take the high moral ground; others argued that asking the J.W. Marriott to pay what LAUSD is not prepared to pay is hypocrisy. 4LAKids agrees with the latter.

SATURDAY WAS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION …and much has been written and spoken about what has and hasn’t happened since, some of which follows. California’s Mendez v. Westminster predates Brown by nine years – and former California Governor turned Chief Justice Earl Warren brought that experience – and his considerable political savvy to craft the Brown decision. General turned President Eisenhower brought the experience of the 1948 integration of the armed forces to Brown.

How hard could it be? How long could it take?

And yet as we read and live on we can see how what seemed to be a seismic shift was really been more akin to continental drift. And let’s be honest – it’s the socioeconomic failure of Brown to effectively level the playing field and separate the inequality that is the biggest component in the Achievement/Opportunity Gap/the School-to -Prison Pipeline/the mediocrity of a Nation at Risk/the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations. In a “Dear Colleague” letter to charter operators this week The US Dept of Ed/Office of Civil Rights announced “new guidance confirming that the same federal civil rights laws that apply to other public schools apply equally to public charter schools” - which lends new meaning to “separate but equal” and hints that the entire “Choice” movement is closer to being the problem and less the solution to the problem that is the Elephant in Room.

¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
 

U.S. MARKS 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN RULING THAT DESEGREGATED SCHOOLS - UCLA study notes that many schools remain segregated
• N.Y., ILLINOIS, CALIFORNIA CONSIDERED WORST FOR ISOLATING BLACK STUDENTS, ACCORDING TO UCLA REPORT.
• CALIFORNIA IS STATE WHERE LATINO STUDENTS ARE MOST SEGREGATED

BY Michael Muskal, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1gUkD70

May 16, 2014 | 1:44 PM :: As the nation’s first African American president and his wife commemorate the 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling that desegregated schools, the United States is still coping with the divisive issue of race and with schools that in many ways remain segregated.

The 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education opened the door to the civil rights revolution of the following decades as legalized segregation was ended. But according to a recent study by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, segregation of schools based on race and poverty remains after decades of efforts.

Today there are a variety of other factors that make for segregated schools. For example, birthrates among whites have stabilized while Latino birthrates have surged. School enrollment often depends on housing patterns, which in turn depend on affordability and job opportunities. Black and Latino students tend to be in schools with substantial majorities of poor children, the report notes.

The report, titled “Brown at 60: Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future,” found that the South, once the most segregated part of the country, is now the least segregated region for black students. There has been an almost 30% drop in white students and an almost fivefold increase in Latino students over the decades.

Segregation is far more likely in major urban centers such as New York, Illinois and California, considered the worst for isolating black students, according to the report, which says that California is the state where Latino students are the most segregated.

“Brown was a major accomplishment and we should rightfully be proud. But a real celebration should also involve thinking seriously about why the country has turned away from the goal of Brown and accepted deepening polarization and inequality in our schools,” said Gary Orfield, co-author of the study and co-director of the Civil Rights Project.

“It is time to stop celebrating a version of history that ignores our last quarter-century of retreat and begin to make new history by finding ways to apply the vision of Brown in a transformed, multiracial society in another century,” he stated.

SCHOOL SEGREGATION

It is hard for many to understand how deeply race cut into American society 60 years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to consider the legality of laws allowing students to be taught separately. It was an America where racial discrimination was largely condoned: Races could not legally intermarry in many places; entertainment, sports and other industries were often segregated on the field or stage, as well as in the audience; and the burden was on people of color to disprove the idea that they were inferior.

In the Brown case, which came out of Topeka, Kan., the nation’s highest court was asked to review a class action suit seeking to stop the practice of legally segregating students if comparable facilities were offered.

On May 17, 1954, the court unanimously overturned the separate-but-equal doctrine, finding that it violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The court technically overturned the 1896 case Plessy vs. Ferguson, and opened the door to a civil rights movement based on racial integration of institutions from schools to government.

It was a movement that would see years of additional court battles; new legislation such as the Voting Rights Act; and frequent, often violent, demonstrations.

President Obama was to meet Friday with families of the plaintiffs in the case as well as the lead attorneys from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which brought the suit and was instrumental in the legal battles to end segregation. The president has also issued a proclamation praising the decision for shifting “the legal and moral compass of our nation.”

Obama, a former community organizer, also noted that the court's decision did not destroy segregation by itself.

“Thanks to the men and women who fought for equality in the courtroom, the legislature and the hearts and minds of the American people” he wrote, “we have confined legalized segregation to the dustbin of history. Yet today, the hope and promise of Brown remains unfulfilled. In the years to come, we must continue striving toward equal opportunities for all our children, from access to advanced classes to participation in the same extracurricular activities.”

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. stressed the same themes in his comments to the NAACP group.

“Although Brown marked a major victory, like anyone old enough to remember the turbulence of the 1960s, I also knew – and saw firsthand – that this country wouldn’t automatically translate the words of Brown into substantive change,” said Holder, the nation’s first African American to be attorney general.

“The integration of our schools – a process that was halting, confrontational and at times even bloody – did not by itself put an end to the beliefs and attitudes that had given rise to the underlying inequity in the first place.

"The outlawing of institutional segregation did not by itself soften the enmity – and alleviate the vicious bias – that had been directed against African American people and communities for generations. And the rejection, in its clearest form by our highest court, of legal discrimination could not – by itself – wash away the hostility that would, for years, fuel new, perversely innovative attempts to keep ‘separate but equal’ in place,” he said.

First Lady Michelle Obama was traveling to Topeka, where she will visit the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site — formerly an all-black school — and address graduating seniors at the Kansas Expocentre. She had to cancel a Saturday appearance at a combined graduation ceremony in Topeka after complaints over the number of available seats.
___________

► Executive Summary: BROWN AT 60: GREAT PROGRESS, A LONG RETREAT AND AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE


Authors: Gary Orfield and Erica Frankenberg, with Jongyeon Ee and John Kuscera | http://bit.ly/1kdgy25

May 15, 2014 :: Marking the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education, the UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles assessed the nation's progress in addressing school segregation, and found that--contrary to many claims--the South has not gone back to the level of segregation before Brown. It has, however, lost all of the additional progress made after l967, but is still the least segregated region for black students. New statistics show a vast transformation of the nation’s school population since the civil rights era. The authors reveal that Latinos are significantly more segregated than blacks in suburban America.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Six decades of “separate but equal” as the law of the land have now been followed by six decades of “separate is inherently unequal” as our basic law. The Brown decision set large changes and political conflicts in motion and those struggles continue today.

New national statistics show a vast transformation of the nation’s school population since the civil rights era. Particularly dramatic have been an almost 30% drop in white students and close to quintupling of Latino students. The nation’s two largest regions now have a majority of what were called “minorities” and whites are only the second largest group in the West. The South, always the home of most black students, now has more Latinos than blacks and is a profoundly tri-racial region.

Desegregation progress was very substantial for blacks, and occurred in the South from the mid- 1960s to the late l980s. Contrary to many claims, the South has not gone back to the level of segregation before Brown. It has lost all of the additional progress made after l967 but is still the least segregated region for black students.

The growth of segregation has been most dramatic for Latino students, particularly in the West, where there was substantial integration in the l960s, and segregation has soared. A clear pattern is developing of black and Latino students sharing the same schools; it deserves serious attention from educators and policymakers.

Segregation is typically segregation by both race and poverty. Black and Latino students tend to be in schools with a substantial majority of poor children, but white and Asian students are typically in middle-class schools.

Segregation is by far the most serious in the central cities of the largest metropolitan areas, but it is also severe in central cities of all sizes and suburbs of the largest metro areas, which are now half nonwhite. Latinos are significantly more segregated than blacks in suburban America.

The Supreme Court has fundamentally changed desegregation law, and many major court orders have been dropped. Our statistical analysis shows that segregation increased substantially after the plans were terminated in many large districts.

A half century of research shows that many forms of unequal opportunity are linked to segregation. Further, research also finds that desegregated education has substantial benefits for educational and later life outcomes for students from all backgrounds (see research summary and sources in Appendix A).

We conclude with recommendations about how we might pursue making the promise of Brown a reality in the 21st century. Desegregation is not a panacea and it is not feasible in some situations.

Where it is possible-- and it still is possible in many areas-- desegregation properly implemented can make a very real contribution to equalizing educational opportunities and preparing young Americans for the extremely diverse society in which they will live and work and govern together.
____________


THE UCLA REPORT: Brown at 60: Great Progress, a Long Retreat and an Uncertain Future”



“Dear Colleague”: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ED SAYS CHARTER SCHOOLS ‘MUST’ COMPLY WITH U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
By Valerie Strauss, Washington Post | http://wapo.st/1hUccZu

May 15, 2014 at 9:58 am :: The Obama administration has just released through the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights what it says is “new guidance confirming that the same federal civil rights laws that apply to other public schools apply equally to public charter schools.”

For years, the administration has pushed states to allow the growth of charter schools through its Race to the Top funding competition. And for years, there have been complaints around the country that some charter schools have discriminatory practices in admissions, discipline, etc.

This week, a national organization called the Journey for Justice Alliance filed civil rights complaints with the federal government and asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to investigate “racially discriminatory school closings” in New Orleans. Furthermore, there is evidence that the growth of charter schools is leading to increasing segregation by race, ethnicity and income.

Finally, the Education Department is issuing its new guidance during the week in which the country is marking the 60th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that struck down the “‘separate but equal” doctrine. According to a release by the Education Department:

The new guidance highlights critical subjects that have arisen in charter schools, including the schools’ obligations to avoid discrimination in admissions practices and the administration of discipline; to provide a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities; and to take affirmative steps to assist English learners. The guidance also points to other OCR publications regarding additional civil rights principles that are equally applicable to charter schools. [Emphasis is mine]

(“Have arisen?” That makes it sound like the complaints are new. They aren’t.) The department release also quotes Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights, as saying:

“Charter schools play an important role in the educational landscape and are serving more and more students all over the country. Since our last guidance on the topic in 2000, thousands of new charter schools have opened. This guidance underscores that charter schools must satisfy the requirements of the federal civil rights laws.”

Now that the department says charters “must satisfy the requirements of the federal civil rights laws,” it will be interesting to see how it enforces the mandate. Here’s the guidance:


U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
May 14, 2014

Dear Colleague:

One of the fastest-growing areas of school reform is the creation of public schools through a chartering process. Since first appearing in the early 1990s, many charter schools have provided students with additional meaningful opportunities to receive a high-quality education. In communities throughout the nation, numerous charter schools are developing unique learning environments, spurring innovation, engaging parents and other stakeholders, and improving educational opportunities for students.

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is committed to supporting the establishment of high-quality public charter schools from which all students can benefit. Because many charter schools are newly created, it is understandable that charter school administrators are interested in information about the applicability of Federal civil rights laws.

Parents, teachers, community leaders, and charter school authorizers have also sought guidance as to charter schools’ legal obligations under the Federal civil rights laws.

I am writing to remind you that the Federal civil rights laws, regulations, and guidance that apply to charter schools are the same as those that apply to other public schools. For this reason, it is essential that charter school officials and staff be knowledgeable about Federal civil rights laws. These laws extend to all operations of a charter school, including recruiting, admissions, academics, educational services and testing, school climate (including prevention of harassment), disciplinary measures (including suspensions and expulsions), athletics and other nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities, and accessible buildings and technology.

The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces a number of Federal civil rights laws that apply to charter schools, including:

[READ ON] ...the letter continues for seven pages and 31 footnotes...



The May Revise: IN REVISED BUDGET, GOV. BROWN DETAILS COSTLY 30-YEAR PLAN TO FIX TEACHER PENSIONS
By John Fensterwald, Edsource Today | http://bit.ly/1jJu1iB

May 13th, 2014 :: Gov. Jerry Brown is predicting that the state will take in $2.4 billion more in revenue in 2014-15 than initially estimated, but highly expectant education leaders won’t get a piece of it to implement the Common Core state standards or make a down payment for universal preschool. They can count on the double-digit spending increase that the governor proposed in January – but not much more.

Instead, consistent with his philosophy of fiscal restraint and a commitment to pay down long-term debts, Brown is proposing in the revised May budget to make a down payment on the $74 billion shortfall in the pension program for teachers and administrators, the California State Teachers Retirement System, or CalSTRS. His proposed 30-year payment plan, subject to negotiation with the Legislature, would cost an additional $5 billion per year by the time it’s fully phased in over seven years. The bulk of it – $3.7 billion annually – would be the burden of school districts, potentially eating away between one-seventh or more of the increased funding they had expected under the Local Control Funding Formula (see Department of Finance summary of budget revision, starting on page 66).

In a press conference Tuesday, Brown made clear the state cannot duck this responsibility. Meeting pension obligations to teachers is part of what it costs to educate kids, Brown said, and must be paid for.

“The key point that is sometimes hard to grasp is that this is what it takes to educate our kids,” he said. “To get what they need, they need teachers. Teachers get what they need by having a pension. The pension has to be paid for.”

In January, Brown proposed that his administration and the Legislature spend next year negotiating a CalSTRS deal and then start funding it. But now he is proposing to start with the fiscal year that begins July 1, with an initial $450 million toward the unfunded liability. The state’s portion would be $73 million, with teachers paying $40 million more out of their salaries and districts kicking in about $337 million ­– equal to about a half of 1 percent of the projected $61 billion in Proposition 98 funding next year. Proposition 98, the primary source of funding for K-12 schools and community colleges, determines annual funding based on increases in enrollment and per capita state income or state revenue.

Jack Ehnes, chief executive officer of CalSTRS, said that closing the funding gap “can be resolved through gradual and predictable contribution increases, and the sooner those increases begin, the less risk to the state. Clearly, state policymakers understand this urgency, and … we are encouraged that a funding plan will be enacted this year.”

CalSTRS’ defined benefit program for its 860,000 members is funded through contributions fromthe state, employers (school districts) and employees, and returns on investments. CalSTRS lost about 40 percent of the value of its investments when the stock market plunged in 2008. Though the $183 billion value has now returned to where it was, the pension program is only about two-thirds funded to meet projected pension payouts over the next 30 years.

Contributions are determined as a percentage of employees’ pay. Teachers and administrators currently pay 8 percent of their salaries into the defined benefit program; the state pays 3 percent and districts 8.25 percent. Once fully phased in over three years, teachers would pay 10.25 percent of salaries and the state would pay 6.3 percent. Districts’ share, under Brown’s plan, would soar to 19.1 percent of employees’ pay, paid for out of Proposition 98 funding. The phase-in for districts would be seven years.

Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, chair of the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee, which is tackling the pension fund issue, called Brown’s proposal “a reasonable plan and a strong sign of progress” that is consistent with his committee’s principles of shared responsibility among contributors. “No one said it would be easy,” said Bonta, who plans a hearing soon to review the plan.

Dennis Meyers, Assistant Executive Director of the California School Boards Association, agreed with Bonta, calling the proposed pension contribution increases “daunting” at a time when school districts are recovering from the recession and phasing in the new funding system. He said his organization would take a hard look at Brown’s pension cost-sharing formula.

LITTLE CHANGE IN PROP. 98 FUNDING

In January, Brown proposed a near-record increase in Proposition 98 spending. That won’t change much, even with an additional surge in overall state revenue, because of the complex way that Proposition 98 funding is calculated and retroactively adjusted. More than half of the new state revenue will fund a rush in enrollment in Medi-Cal, the federal and state subsidized health care program for low-income families that was expanded under the federal Affordable Care Act.

For K-12 schools and community colleges, there will be $242 million more available under Prop. 98 than in January, but nearly all of that will be eaten up by increased enrollments (see Department of Finance summary of budget revision, starting on page 15).

The January state budget included a $10.5 billion increase in K-12 and community college spending. Brown is proposing to split the new money between one-time expenditures and more dollars for ongoing spending.

Brown would use the bulk of the money to pay off the remaining $6 billion in late payments to school districts, known as deferrals. Paying that off will clear the decks of that portion of what Brown calls the state’s “wall of debt.” It will also free up cash for districts while eliminating loans that some districts – disproportionately those serving low-income students – had to take out.

The remaining $4.5 billion would fund districts’ operating budgets under the Local Control Funding Formula – more than double the $2.1 billion increase this year. In a January analysis, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that overall per-student spending would rise about 10 percent, from $7,936 per student in the current fiscal year to $8,724 in 2014-15. Under the formula, which distributes extra money based on enrollments of English learners, foster youth and low-income students, the percentage increases would vary significantly among districts, however.

Josephine Lucey, a school board member from Cupertino and president of the California School Boards Association, said,“We are pleased with the continued commitment and investment in the Local Control Funding Formula … so school district and county leaders and board members can invest in programs to achieve academic success.”

Other education leaders vowed to take the case to the Legislature for additional money for Common Core and an expansion of transitional kindergarten, an extra year of kindergarten for some 4-year-olds.

“While we are pleased to see progress toward implementing the Local Control Funding Formula, we are disappointed to see the governor did not include additional funding for implementation of new content standards, and will urge him and the Legislature to reconsider,” Valerie Cuevas, interim executive director of The Education Trust-West, said in a statement.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, had made a $1 billion expansion of preschool his top priority but, so far, has come away empty-handed. Brown, in a press conference, said that the state has increased Proposition 98 funding substantially for kindergarten through community college. Adding a 16th year of education, he said, would require shifting money from the other 15 years.


The May revision does include some new and expanded education programs:

• $27 million to expand the capacity of the K‑12 High Speed Network, which provides Internet service to county offices of education and school districts. There will be grants for districts that need the most help preparing for the computer-based Common Core tests next spring.
• $50 million to boost career-training programs at community colleges to help expand course offerings and purchase new equipment. The money comes on the heels of $250 million provided this year for the Career Pathways Trust, a state grant program that will fund partnerships between K-12 and community colleges for career technical education. Community college officials cheered the funding proposal, which they said would restore past cuts. Yet other advocates were disappointed there wasn’t additional funding for career technical programs at the K-12 level.


It’s A Small World meets Godzilla v. King Kong: PEARSON CONTRACT FOR COMMON CORE TESTING FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE + smf’s 2¢
By Sean Cavanagh | Education Week | http://bit.ly/1iLDwZw

●●smf’s 2¢: Another blogger reblogged an earlier version of this story with the Godzilla v. King Kong allusion; that headline was, as Teddy Roosevelt said, ‘stolen fair-and-square’!

● A Beaudry insider – and frequent commenter on the goings-on within the Puzzle Palace - observes:

Pearson, of course, is the academic content subcontractor under the District’s CCTP agreement with Apple.
AIR is the firm that the District engaged to perform the CCTP Evaluation.
This specific dispute over work that is being awarded out of New Mexico is only one example of how these two compete – although, while AIR is pretty-good sized not-for-profit, it is a fraction of the size of Pearson.
This could raise questions of the independence of AIR in doing the LAUSD CCTP evaluation.

smf: Although the Bond Oversight Committee recommended it, The superintendent did not want the Inspector General to perform the CCTP evaluation.
_______

14 May 2014 :: A decision to give the education vendor Pearson a major, potentially lucrative contract for common-core testing is being challenged by a competitor that claims the award was made through a process that was unfair and biased in favor of the eventual winner.

The American Institutes for Research, a Washington-based organization that has a substantial place in the testing field, has filed a legal action in New Mexico state court that argues the contract was awarded in a process that was illegal, and structured in a way that wrongly benefited one company—Pearson.

The AIR initially filed a protest with New Mexico state officials six months ago, not long after the invitation for bids on behalf of a group of common-core states—those belonging to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, testing consortium—was issued. The state rejected that protest, saying it hadn't been filed within the required time window.

Now, the AIR is asking a judge to overturn the state's decision on its protest. It wants the court to declare as invalid the process for issuing the award, block the procurement from going forward, and order that the initial bid for testing work be restructured to correct problems with the solicitation.

The dispute over the contract represents a high-profile battle over work that is essential to ensuring that ambitious testing linked to the Common Core State Standards can be carried out. Sixteen states, plus the District of Columbia, are participating in PARCC, while 22 states are members of the other major common-core testing consortium, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

The contract awarded to Pearson, a commercial education provider with a worldwide reach, calls for the London- and New York City-based company to provide the development of test items, test delivery, reporting of results, and analysis of student performance for PARCC.

A Mississippi state official, part of the negotiating team on the contract, could not put a dollar value on the contract, but described its size as "unprecedented" by the standards of the U.S. testing industry.

The potentially huge scope of the work is described in the language of the New Mexico contract with Pearson. It says that anywhere between 5.5 million and 10 million students would be tested annually, with a projected per-student cost of testing in the new contract of about $24. That estimate is a decrease of more than $5 per student from the previous price tag.

FAVORITISM ALLEGED

New Mexico, a PARCC state, put forward the initial request for proposals for the PARCC testing work on behalf of the member states in the consortium in November.

In December, the AIR filed a protest with the state, citing several objections to the RFP put forward for the testing project. For instance, the AIR argued that the solicitation improperly tied assessment services to be provided in the first year of the tests with work in subsequent years, essentially creating a "bundling of work" that unfairly restricts competition.

The bundling of work favors Pearson, because it would rely on a content-delivery platform already developed by Pearson for the PARCC tests, the AIR said in a Dec. 11, 2013, letter to New Mexico's education department.

That arrangement meant that vendors other than Pearson would end up having to design an assessment system and estimate the costs of that work with only vague information, the AIR claimed in its protest.

As a result, Pearson would be allowed to "transform the advantage it enjoys as the year-one [content-delivery] platform vendor to an advantage for subsequent years of the program," the AIR stated in its protest.

In court documents, AIR officials say they would have submitted an official proposal to do the testing work if they thought the bidding process was fair, but they regarded it as flawed and biased, and so they decided not to bid.

In the end, Pearson ended up being the only bidder, a PARCC state official told Education Week.

The protest from the AIR was initially sent to an official at the state's department of education. But a little more than a week later, AIR officials said they were informed that their protest had not been put forward in a timely fashion, and was thus invalid, because it had not been sent to the state purchasing division. State officials said the correct process was made clear in the RFP.

In response, the AIR filed its appeal in state court, calling the rejection of its protest "arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with governing law."

AIR officials declined to comment in detail on the lawsuit. Jon Cohen, the president of assessment for the organization, said in a statement that the state's RFP, as it was drafted, was tied to work Pearson was doing in the first year of assessment, and would end up giving the company a "monopoly on completely different work for the next seven years."

A spokeswoman for Pearson, Stacy Skelly, said the company had no comment on the AIR's protest over the procurement process. Pearson was unaware of the subsequent legal challenge, she said.

HUGE SCALE

PARCC officials also had no response to the protest or legal action, said David Connerty-Marin, a spokesman for the organization. He directed questions to New Mexico officials, noting that the contract had originated in that state and was issued on behalf of a group of PARCC states.

Larry Behrens, a spokesman for the New Mexico education department, said his agency could not speak to the dispute directly, citing the pending lawsuit. But in an email toEducation Week, he said that because the court has not halted the procurement, the work on the testing project will go forward.

In their complaint to the state, AIR officials also argue that the partnership between PARCC and Pearson creates a potential conflict of interest. Specifically, AIR officials said that if the consortium competes for testing work being procured in other states, PARCC would have an incentive in New Mexico to award work to a contractor it intends to partner with—Pearson—because doing so would improve its ability to compete for similar work in other state markets.

Earlier this month, officials in PARCC states touted the deal as providing a number of benefits. One of the biggest is its price—the assessment cost will be $24 per student, state officials estimate. That's cheaper than an initial projection of $29.50.

James Mason, who helped negotiate the contract as part of a team of PARCC state leaders, said in an interview that he could not provide a dollar figure for the contract, because the price tag would depend on how many students and states end up participating, and whether they choose computerized or paper-and-pencil tests, among other factors.

But he described the contract with Pearson as one of "unprecedented scale, in terms of states coming together. It's a pretty significant event in a number of ways."

Despite Pearson being the only bidder for the contract, PARCC officials are convinced the process was sound and resulted in the best vendor getting hired, Mr. Mason said. The list of experienced subcontractors secured by Pearson, which include the Educational Testing Service, WestEd, Caveon, and Measured Progress, also gave PARCC state officials confidence, added Mr. Mason, who is Mississippi's state assessment director.

The $24-per-student price was reached after "very aggressive negotiating" between PARCC state officials and Pearson, a back-and-forth that lasted weeks, he said. He attributed the lower cost partly to economies of scale that can be achieved through having large numbers of states and students participating at once.

Gauging the total cost of the contract is not as simple as it is for a state charged with negotiating with a vendor, in which the state and vendor agree "we'll do it for X million," said Mr. Mason. By contrast, he said, figuring out the costs for multiple states in PARCC will depend on what they choose from an "a la carte" menu of testing options.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
This weeks’s news that didn’t fit is at: http://bit.ly/auDNT3

smf: Technology is supposed to be our friend but the automatic widget that’s supposed to update all this stuff isn’t…

• Op-Ed: HOW AN ECONOMICS PROFESSOR TAUGHT ME A LIFE-CHANGING LESSON …ABOUT LITERATURE
• HOLLYWOOD HIGH RECOGNIZED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
• CORE WAIVER VIDEO: The California Office to Reform Eduacation – or what if seven superintendents formed their own school board?
• From the AALA Update: GOV. BROWN PRESENTS MAY BUDGET REVISE + ACCA DECA NEWS
• UNPACKING THE MAY REVISE: Proposed pension fund fi...
• It’s a Small World meets Godzilla v. King Kong:
• First impressions: THE GOVERNOR’S MAY REVISE - 4 articles
• LAUSD AND THE RITUALISTIC KILLING OF SCHOOL: If the Los Angeles Unified School District were a used car, parents would be reading the fine print of California’s historic lemon law by the end of first grade.
¶The second largest school district in the nation is not the most well oiled machine, to put it kindly. It’s a labyrinthine of administrative fiefdoms whose goal seems to be to operate in an absolute vacuum and often at odds with other administrative arms.
¶Kids? Nowhere to be seen.
• LAUSD’s MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL WINS ONLINE ACADEMIC DECATHLON...
• LA SCHOOLS BUDGET DISCUSSION: More teachers, custodians, health services, technology
• STATE’S NEW COMPUTERIZED EXAM TRYOUT PLAGUED BY GLITCHES
• Duncan: “Achievement gaps among ethnic groups have not narrowed.”: NATIONAL REPORT CARD FOR HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS SHOWS STAGNATION IN MATH+READING + smf’s 2¢
• LAUSD DISTRICT 1 ELECTION AND BIG MONEY POLITICS 


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
● SPECIAL LIBRARY TASK FORCE – Monday May 19, 2014 8:30 AM – Beaudry Blue Room
● REGULAR BOARD MEETING – Tuesday May 20, 2014 (9:00 a.m.) including Closed Session items
Start: 05/20/2014 9:00 am Beaudry Board Room
● COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE – Tuesday May 20, 2014, 2:00 PM (A joint meeting of the LAUSD Bd of Ed and the LACCD Trustees on the future of Adult Ed in Los Angeles)
Start: 05/20/2014 2:00 pm Beaudry Board Room
● BUDGET, FACILITIES, AND AUDIT COMMITTEE – Thursday May 22, 2014
Start: 05/22/2014 11:00 am Beaudry Board Room
● EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND PARENT ENGAGEMENT AD HOC COMMITTEE – Thursday May 22, 2014
Start: 05/22/2014 2:00 pm Beaudry Board Room

*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700


• LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION & COMMITTEES MEETING CALENDAR



What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
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
Monica.Ratliff@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!.


Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them?


Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
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