In This Issue:
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YES, LOS ANGELES, IT’S CORRUPTION |
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THE TRIALS+TRIBULATIONS OF OPENING SCHOOL WITH MiSiS + DISPATCHES FROM THE MiSiS FRONT |
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BROWN CHALLENGER TARGETS TIES TO TEACHERS’ UNION + smf’s 2¢ |
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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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In Washington DC there is much complaining about the vacuum of leadership.
The saber rattlers and send-in-the-troopers claim that the president is
feckless and needs to grow a pair. Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran. Or
have the Iranians bomb ISIS. Or ISIL. Or the Islamic State. Convert ‘em
or kill ‘em. And let’s reheat some leftovers from the Cold War in
Ukraine while we’re at it.
Of course when the Prez shows some feck on immigration policy he needs
to be neutered and brought to heel. Speaker Boehner can’t control his
Tea Party allies. Harry Reid has a whiny voice. And a senator from Texas
who was born in Canada questions the Americanism of the president – who
was born in Hawaii.
It is the Dyson DC65 Animal of leadership vacuums in DC. We hunger for
the good old days when Cheney told W what to say and everybody followed.
No such thing here in LAUSD, everybody knows who runs the show. Who led
us into the iPad debacle? Who led us into the MiSiS Crisis? Who
engineered the Local Control Accountability Plan? Breakfast in the
Classroom? The CORE Waiver?
But now The Leader is under attack and we must rally around. He is
misunderstood, misquoted and misjudged. Gosh forbid …politics are in
play!
Or maybe we have been misled.
Let me suspend the humor here lest anyone think I am trying to be funny.
The General Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District
is being accused of rigging a contract involving not billions but
hundreds of millions of dollars. There are new emails that have surfaced
that suggest that this might be true and the Inspector General has, or
is about to, reopen an investigation into that contract. Grand juries
may be summoned. Where is Mike Wallace of Sixty Minutes when we need
him?
LAUSD policy requires that certificated employees (who have a credential
from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing) accused of
misconduct be removed and put on paid administrative leave and that they
have no contact with colleagues, students or parents while they are
being investgated. To be glib, this is called “teacher jail” or
sometimes “Deasy jail” – and certainly there is some irony here – but
the irony is not humorous. The policy is not intended to be humorous or
ironic. It is meant to protect the District.
The recent suggestion from UTLA that this policy be implemented re: the
allegation that the superintendent engineered the Apple/Pearson
procurement was fraught with irony – and
hint-hint/nudge-nudge/say-no-more! But I am being deadly serious here:
The Board of Education should place the superintendent on
administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
I hear that school board members are not afraid of the superintendent –
or that this crisis will work itself out in due course. That an exit
strategy will present itself at the right time. Maybe in the in the
magical time between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Board members: you should be afraid.
Damage has been done, is being done and continues to be done. Time is
being lost. Staff morale is at an all time low – and students and
parents witness this every day. The public trust is vanishing… vanished
…gone. And board members: You are the public trustees! In Due Course
and The Right Time never arrive at the door with a ring of the bell.
This is a crisis. You need to lead.
Public Education and public educators are driven by social justice; our
schools are the battlefields in the fight for social justice, equity and
civil rights.
John Deasy and all seven members of The Board of Education of the City
of Los Angeles wrap yourselves in the banner of social justice, but
justice is not being served in waiting for the perfect time.
When you assume the mantle of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Nelson Mandela
or RFK or Cesar Chavez or Mahatma Gandhi remember this: These were not
followers or waiters. These were leaders.
Someone needs to go into that meeting next Tuesday and say “We need to do something. And we need to do it now.”
Someone needs to lead.
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are
confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum
of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is
no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and
positive action.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
There was a headline in the LA Times last week that says it all: “L.A.
Unified exemplifies the forces that stifle public school reform.” Not
‘Reform with a ®’ …but the constant evolutionary change that is the very
nature of educating children. “But time makes you bolder / Even
children get older / And I'm getting older too” change.
Saturday there was a public celebration of Dr. McKenna’s election to the
Board of Education at the high school where he caught the public’s
attention: Washington Prep. Saturday was also Dr. McKenna’s birthday.
Present were a Who’s Who of the Los Angeles Black community – with the
notable exceptions being notable. Present also were the three so called
“progressive” school board members who supported McKenna’s election –
who with McKenna now form a majority on the board.
Congressperson Maxine Waters argued that this moment demonstrates the
victory of the Right Thing over Big Money …and also the triumph of the
collective/united “We” over the politics of “I". And, in a ‘Maxine
really didn’t say that, did she?’ moment: “The final triumph of We over
iPads!”
She had them all stand and addressed new majority directly: “You will
not always agree, you will not always vote as a bloc” – but she also
laid out the public’s expectation and marching orders: “We are tired of a
board that can’t get the job done.”
Sunday’s LA Times Op-Ed page’s headline “Yes, Virginia, it’s Corruption”
speaks of other official misbehavior –but the letters section one
column to the right (follows) lays out the public’s disgust with the
public corruption in LAUSD
I spoke on Thursday separately to three different school superintendents
from three distinct and different school districts in L.A. County - two
retired and one still practicing the craft – about their impression of
the fiduciary, legal, moral and ethical crises ongoing in LAUSD – and
the three principal challenges of the moment.
• The matter of the iPads and the Apple/Pearson contract
• The MiSiS Crisis
• The non-approval of LAUSD’s Local Control Accountability Plan by the L.A. County Office of Education.
All three advanced the word “ludicrous” into the conversation without
being prompted within the first thirty seconds – and I assure you I
never provoked anything in the way of word association or “What is the
first thing that comes to mind when I say LAUSD?"
The words “laughingstock” and “tragedy” also occurred spontaneously. Just not as soon.
It was the first time two of us had ever spoken, one I had spoken to
before. Our conversation was frank and on the record – though their
names are not. The serving supe - from a district in the San Gabriel
Valley - requires anonymity for obvious reasons – the other two work as
active consultant-coaches to districts and school boards throughout the
county.
All three are convinced that Deasy’s supertendency is flawed at best and
questioned the propriety – and good sense and haste – of the iPad
rollout as it was done …though all three spoke compellingly in favor of
1:1 computing and educational technology. When part of a comprehensive
plan with funding and training and – lest I seem redundant – long
term/in depth/visionary planning.
All three also questioned the haste with which the MiSiS System came on
line. “Grossly mishandled” “Gross incompetence” “Grossly negligent”
All three had questions about the LAUSD LCAP.
All three challenged the alleged ‘transparency’ claimed by LAUSD’s
leadership – with expressions like ‘fast-and-loose’ with the bond funds
and the Local Control Funding Formula money being common in the
conversations.
Mostly all three felt that LAUSD’s shenanigans were screwing it up for
LAUSD’s students – who deserve better - and for other
districts/superintendents/boards of education who might try to do
something big or brave. “Deasy has ruined it for the rest of us.”
One singled out Deasy’s CORE Waiver as a particularly egregious affront.
“He negotiated a waiver from NCLB for himself and a few friends …and
left the rest of us in the lurch. It was Every Other District Left
Behind!”
One superintendent described a 1:1 commuting roll-out he observed.
●First every teacher and administrator in the district received a
tablet, leased with general fund dollars. ● Every educator got 80 hours
of training on the device in the two weeks after school was out. ●Then
they were left with the devices for a year to familiarize themselves
with the devices and the software. Some started using them right away in
their teaching, some developed apps, others surfed the web and wrote
emails. ●It wasn’t until Year Two – when the student platforms started
to be delivered (also leased with general fund dollars) - that there was
any expectation that the devices would be used to take roll or make
reports or be actively used in instruction. In that time many teachers
had developed and shared curriculum.
There was vehement criticism of the developed-on-the-fly aspect of the
Pearson Common Core content – a concept called “vaporware” in the
software biz …but better called “dreamware” (as opposed to hardware and
software) by one of the supes.
As the serving supe said; “It is Good Teaching that is a civil right …iPads are only a tool.”
Returning to our theme: Leadership and the lack thereof.
I think I can say and be in agreement with most (if not all) of my
superintendents that the lasting damage being done in MiSiS – where the
software/database product was rolled out long before it was ready – far
exceeds that of the iPads and the misspending/mis-accounting of the
LCFF in the LCAP for last year. While the first may have involved actual
lawbreaking – and the second some very aggressive regulation bending –
MiSiS demonstrates the very serious and continuing gross error driven by
urgency that could’ve and should’ve been anticipated and ameliorated.
Not by coders or IT folk or the Chief Information Officer – but by the
superintendent himself. Dr Deasy’s quote that Student Information Data
Management “...is not my area of expertise”[http://bit.ly/1zqMJiV]
is not getting any respect. “I want a third party who is knowledgeable
about changing student information systems, to give insight into are we
making enough changes, are we
making our changes correctly.” Really? Isn’t two weeks after the
districtwide rollout a bit
late?
My serving superintendent gave me a musical lyric to add to the 4LAKids
playlist. The whole series of blunders reminds him of the little Texas
Sidestep that Charles Durning as the well-meaning-but-thoroughly-bent
governor sang+danced in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas:
Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't-
I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.
Now my good friends, it behooves me to be solemn and declare,
I'm for goodness and for profit and for living clean and saying daily prayer.
And now, my good friends, you can sleep nights, I'll continue to stand tall.
You can trust me, for I promise, I shall keep a watchful eye upon ya'll...
Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't-
I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.
- Words and music by Dolly Parton
¡Onward/Adelante! – smf
PS: last Sunday’s 4LAKids didn’t make it past the LAUSD email servers to
a couple of thousand subscribers with lausd.net addresses. Maybe the
servers were down, maybe the shields were up. There’s a lot going on.
Past issues are always available at http://4LAKids.blogspot.com
YES, LOS ANGELES, IT’S CORRUPTION
Letters to the Editor: LAUSD iPad fiasco a distraction from real issues | LA Times http://lat.ms/1ubUKJ0
Sunday, September 7, 2014
To the editor: It is astonishing that it has taken this long for the
"fervor and fury" over the Los Angeles Unified School District's iPad
debacle to emerge. ("Supt. Deasy's early and avid support of iPads under
intense scrutiny," http://lat.ms/1lPo4E4 | Sept. 4)
The shiny devices started rolling into the district before our children
and educators could brush themselves off from the devastating effects of
the recession. At the time of their rollout, schools in even the
wealthier neighborhoods of the district were not getting their most
basic needs met: Janitorial services were intermittent at best, school
nurses were scheduled once or twice a week, libraries were shut down and
construction paper became a prized possession.
Oh, and let's not forget the minor issues of teacher layoffs and class sizes.
Let's ensure that our children and teachers have their basic needs met
before the district goes on another shopping spree that wastes precious
resources and hurts the very students it was supposed to help.
Rebecca Rubin, Sherman Oaks
..
To the editor: The furor over tablets in L.A. Unified has focused on the
brand chosen. But the prior decision to divert major funding to
computing was equally flawed — or more so.
First, classrooms urgently need upgrades. We will not prepare students
for modern work by placing them at decaying desks and chairs in cheap,
"temporary" bungalows. It is shameful (and a betrayal of voters' intent)
that funds designated for construction were diverted to electronics.
More important, computer literacy cannot replace the need for literacy
in the most basic sense. Computing is important. But reading must come
first. It is and will remain the essential job skill.
Only when our students can read and write should we offer an apple to the teacher.
Richard and Carole Stein, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: After reading the front-page article, I was astonished to
see the headline, "Deasy under union attack over iPads," in the
LATEXTRA section.
Since when is it an "attack" to point out the gross inconsistencies
between the way teachers and administrators are treated when accused of
improprieties?
The Times itself points out that more than $1.3 billion is at stake
here. Shouldn't The Times support a teacher's proposal to insist that
those who may have wasted taxpayers' money step aside so an objective
investigation can take place?
Dennis M. Clausen, Escondido
..
To the editor: Missing from the iPad debacle is actual usage in the classroom.
High school students are notorious for not bringing their textbooks to
class. If half the class is without an iPad, what lesson do I teach?
Alternatively, perhaps teachers could store the iPads in the classroom.
But if I do that, it will take up to 20 minutes of each 53-minute class
to pass out and collect the iPads while checking serial numbers with
student names.
These iPads remind me of Hula Hoops and the tinny-sounding transistor
radios of the 1950s: They are a lot of fun to play with but have little
real value.
Bob Munson, Newbury Park
..
To the editor: The estimated cost of the iPad program is about $1.3
billion. An experienced L.A. Unified teacher with a master's degree can
expect to make about $60,000 a year. So, for the price of the iPad
program, several thousand teachers could be hired.
Mark Stephen Mrotek, Carson
THE TRIALS+TRIBULATIONS OF OPENING SCHOOL WITH MiSiS + DISPATCHES FROM THE MiSiS FRONT
from the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Weekly Update for the Week of 8 Sept 2014 | http://bit.ly/YihifD
AALA thanks a secondary administrator, who wishes to remain anonymous, for providing this article.
4 September, 2014 :: For years, we heard it was coming – an
integrated student information system. And then, suddenly, almost
without warning, we drop right into the middle of My Integrated Student
Information System (MiSiS), a system still in development. If MiSiS is
meant to be a test of our patience and perseverance as administrators,
it rose to the occasion.
The MiSiS journey begins with a delay in the start date, difficulty
accessing the log-in screen and limited user-access roles. To guide us,
we receive a quick, three-hour training, some job aides which often lead
us to screens still in production and a help desk with no access to
MiSiS.
When questions arise, we place calls to the help desk. The help desk
listens, empathizes and states that they will find an answer; the most
received answer – “try” this or that, we are not sure if it will work.
When no answer exists, personnel instruct us to send screen shots and to
create tickets – tickets which return weeks later stating the issue is
irresolvable or an enhancement for a later date. At times, we realize we
figure out more than the help desk and we are all working in the dark.
Yet, we cannot be beat and we persevere because of the students.
Counselors and administrators work tirelessly to enter student class
requests while fighting the “loading” wheel. Requests entered,
double-checked one-by-one, the master schedule ready for the scheduling
engine. No reports exist to support the process. Endless explanations of
the necessity of reports end in disappointment.
After months of trial and error and a scheduling engine that cannot
support the creation of a master schedule, we revert to the
“old-fashioned” way of paper and pencil. Out of desperation, as work
usually completed in May extends to July, we commit to a master with a
low percentage of students fully scheduled. Now, holes in schedules must
be filled. Staff work non-stop during summer to complete schedules,
hoping each day to avoid the spinning wheel of death.
New students begin to enroll. To transfer students to our school, we
contact other schools and hope they have time to release the students.
Stacks of new student enrollees’ paperwork mound desks. We spend one
hour per student entering all the necessary data only to click save and
to have all of the information erased. MiSiS says new enrollment
procedures will be implemented.
In August, simplified enrollment procedures make their debut. Yet, error
messages of missing parent information stop data from saving even
though the parent information is visible on the screen. Back to
square one and daily calls of distress to MiSiS to support the
enrollment of the growing number of new students. Lucky if we enter
three to five students a day, even with six people working on data
entry, we continue to persevere because of the students.
The system seems to work best at night. To prepare for opening day,
taking paperwork home to complete enrollment or to enter student
schedules becomes the norm. Working all hours, then coming to work to
watch the wheel just spin and spin. Each day is a guessing game. Will
you move past the log-in screen? Will you actually arrive at the
scheduling screen? Once you are at the scheduling screen, can you change
a schedule? Will the schedule you changed earlier stick or revert back
to the original schedule? Will all of the students’ classes remain or
will one, two or all six be missing?
Leading up to August 12, 2014, are endless months of frustration;
frustration that often boils into anger or descends into tears. Some
days, we can work only an hour a day. Everything must be documented by
hand and rechecked. Work that used to take minutes now takes hours, even
days. The students are in class but the problems continue. We create
hand schedules for students not in MiSiS. Teachers turn rosters in daily
to monitor enrollment numbers and class size. New issues stem from
classes inadvertently missing from student schedules, from reports not
accurately reflecting numbers, and from misinformation from MiSiS.
Top management says we will not remember the trials and tribulations of
MiSiS in a year. Even though, we continue to persevere, the new silver
streaks in my hair will remain an everlasting reminder of the MiSiS
crisis.
________________________________________
►DISPATCHES FROM THE MiSiS FRONT
4LAkids has obtained an e-mail report – an internal memo written by an
expert in student information systems working at a schoolsite who is
attempting to improve MiSiS so it becomes a better tool for students and
teachers:
A couple of high priority items came to the front today.
Today we had two students for whom we needed to call the paramedics. In
the past, as we had to today, we used SSIS to print a copy of ID01 or
ID38 in order to give emergency information and parent contacts to the
paramedics. We can't find any way to quickly do this in MiSiS. This is
a big priority! It should print straight from a web page since speed
is a premium. There must be a quick guide for this!
I was able to generate some Office Summons last night, but I had to wait until 10:00pm to get the report to run and complete.
The missing mark report doesn't work to show what grades haven't been
turned in. This needs to be fixed in the next couple of days.
When I look at the grade page for my 7th period class, I have 9
students. When I run verification rosters, it only shows 1. This needs
to be fixed in the next couple of days.
A student was killed in a hit and run several days prior to the start of
school on August 12. We immediately withdrew him, but his name keeps
appearing on teachers attendance lists. He's marked withdrawn, but he
shows up on roll sheets. Name available upon request. At least because
he is withdrawn, phone calls aren't going home to the family.
We have students who can't be enrolled because as soon as they are
withdrawn at their current school they seem to be automatically
re-enrolled. Clerks are on the phone with each other and they can't
seem to make this work. Name available upon request.
Several students who were enrolled or who had information changed around
the first week of school seem to have random parents/guardians and
telephone numbers assigned. Kids don't recognize the people on their
records. When we call or are called, they don't recognize kid. Name
available upon request.
As was our practice with ISIS, we marked our JV Football team absent
with reason of AT for their absences for away football games this
season. However, we found we could not change any of those classes if
an absence was marked in the future. AND we could not remove the
pre-excused absence. We should be able to remove the absence! We
should be able to change a class if there is a future absence marked and
that pre-excused absence should move to the new class. As with many
other things, this is creating more work for office staff.
When I printed a transcript for a xxx student, it featured:
A missing student name unless you chose "shrink to fit" when printing
An incorrect location code (for an academy we closed a couple of years ago that this student never was a member of)
A CEEB code of NA
A counselor who is not one of our counselors
No SSID# for a kid who went to our school last year
No zip code for the student address
When I printed a transcript for a xxx Magnet student, with all options available, it featured:
A blank location code
A CEEB# of NA
A CDS Code of 0
No principal
No counselor
A zip code for family
A SSID#
A fail on the CAHSEE ELA in 3/13 (student actually got a perfect score)
A fail on the CAHSEE Math in 3/13 (student actually got a perfect score)
A CAPA score on 3/13 (CAPA is taken by severely disabled special education students)
A CELDT score on 3/13 (test for EL students – student and parents are native English speakers)
A bunch of Migrant tests on 3/13 I don't understand but probably don't belong for this student
No GPA information although it was requested
These faults were also present on Aug 11 when the Transcripts were previously available.
The attendance listed for each kid in the grade window for teachers
seems to be totally inaccurate. The one regularly attending student
that showed A:14 I checked had that number of PERIOD ABSENCES IN ALL
CLASSES COMBINED when I looked in attendance at a glance from the office
manager role. Other teachers reported the A:14 number however.
When teachers look at their attendance screens, there are a number of
boxes meant to indicate to the teacher whether the student is in Special
Ed, has a 504, is an EL student, has a special health alert, etc. NONE
of these indicators is working for any student.
When teachers go to print 5 column rosters, they are presented with
every teacher at the school preselected. Teachers shouldn't be able to
print rosters for classes other than their own, let alone have the other
teachers already selected.
When teachers go to print verification rosters, they are presented with
every teacher at the school preselected. Teachers shouldn't be able to
print grades for classes other than their own, let alone have the other
teachers already selected.
If you select a comment and then decide you don't want to give a
comment, you can't remove the comment without canceling the entire page
and the work you have already done. There should be a "blank" option to
choose.
The comments, like many things in the MiSiS universe, are incorrectly
sorted. Although the comments are numbered, a simple text sort was
used, so the "2 - " comment came after 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,
17, 18, & 19. However you resolve this, please do it in a way that
teachers can still use the keyboard to quickly type in comments.
BROWN CHALLENGER TARGETS TIES TO TEACHERS’ UNION + smf’s 2¢
By Louis Freedberg | EdSource | http://bit.ly/1w4zya4
September 5, 2014 :: In the sharpest exchange of the first, and most
likely, only debate between the two leading gubernatorial candidates,
GOP challenger Neil Kashkari told Gov. Jerry Brown Thursday night that
he “should be ashamed” of himself for “fighting for the union bosses”
who have contributed to his campaigns rather than “fighting for the
civil rights of poor kids.”
“That makes no sense at all,” Brown replied. “That is so false.”
“It’s absolutely true, governor,” Kashkari retorted – three times.
That prompted the moderator, KQED’s John Myers, to step in. “Gentlemen,
gentlemen, I don’t think we are going to agree on this issue tonight,”
he said. “Governor, we must move on.”
The immediate target of the exchange was Brown’s decision last week to
appeal the Vergara v. California ruling that could upend key teacher
employment laws, including those determining the length of tenure, and
seniority laws that protect teachers from layoffs.
Kashkari, a former high-ranking U.S. Treasury official, is trying to
make Brown’s ties to the California Teachers Association a major issue
in the campaign. Kashkari is trailing Brown by 16 percentage points,
according to the latest Field Poll.
Brown vehemently defended his decision to appeal the Vergara ruling
issued by a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing that the state
constitution requires the Court of Appeal to invalidate the laws of
California.”
“As far as bad teachers, they have no place in the classroom,” he said.
To that end, he said signed Assembly Bill 215, which will make it
easier to dismiss teachers accused of egregious misconduct, and will
streamline other suspension and dismissal procedures. But he pointedly
pledged to do more on the issue if necessary. “If it is not enough, we
will do further next time.”
He conceded that tenure laws may help protect a small number of
teachers – the 1 to 3 percent of ineffective teachers described in the
Vergara trial – but suggested that a far greater problem are other
factors holding children back, including “the lack of language, lack of
income, the disproportionate funding in the schools.”
“Those are major factors,” he said.
Brown said the policies he had promoted were addressing those issues:
Passage of Prop. 30, the initiative approved by voters two years ago
that is generating billions of dollars of extra tax revenues for
schools, and the Local Control Funding Formula that is targeting
billions of state education funds to low-income students and English
learners. He described the funding formula as a “revolutionary education
reform that puts more money into those classrooms where challenges are
the toughest.”
Brown referred to his experience at the Oakland Military Institute, a
charter school he founded in 2001 when he was mayor of the city. It
serves mostly low-income students whom he said “come from homes where
they speak no English, are from homes with single parents who have
uncertain jobs,” and who face “gunfire on the streets.”
“Those kids were under stress,” he said. All these factors, he said, “obviously have some impact” on how students do in school.
The exchange came on the same day that Kashkari posted an eight-minute
online video labeled a “mini-documentary” that in addition to
criticizing Brown for his position on Vergara v. California, seemingly
blames Brown for all the shortcomings of the state’s public schools,
including the fact that it trails most other states in per capita income
support.
In a preview of his remarks during the debate, Kashkari charged that
Brown’s interests lie not with California, but with the “union bosses
that have been funding his career for 40 years.”
The CTA has endorsed Brown for governor in all his campaigns for
governor. In the video, Kashkari says, “in 2010 the CTA coordinated more
than $7 million in campaign contributions for Jerry Brown.”
The “Follow the Money” website of the National Institute of Money in
Politics shows that the CTA donated $62,900 directly to Brown between
2006 and 2010, out of just over $150 million it spent on all candidates
between 2003 and 2012.
However, a report by California Common Sense shows that the CTA
contributed over $6 million to independent expenditure committees that
supported Brown. Those contributions, along with over $30 million of
independent expenditures from other organizations, “partially offset the
$144 million that Meg Whitman donated to her own campaign,” the report
noted.
• John Fensterwald contributed to this report.
• Louis Freedberg covers education policy reform and is Executive Director of EdSource.
●● smf’s 2¢: I certainly don’t agree with Kashkari, but what was the
purpose/value/justification/authority for the Vergara lawsuit in the
first place – and the judge’s ruling – if, as Governor Brown says, “the
state constitution requires the Court of Appeal to invalidate the laws
of California”?
Was the whole Vergara lawsuit a “mulligan”? A try-out in New Haven? Or
one of the Feb. 2nd's Bill Murray lived in “Groundhog Day?”
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
4LAKids' Sunday (not so) Funnies: http://pic.twitter.com/tszxr3Ivq9
AFTER RUNNER-UP FINISH FOR SPI GUTIERREZ TAKES ON VLADOVIC - then repudiates statements re: willingness to fire Deasy| http://bit.ly/ZdHyYx
THE TRIALS+TRIBULATIONS OF OPENING SCHOOL WITH MiSiS | http://bit.ly/1rQafHL
CALIF. TEACHERS’ UNION SETS SIGHTS ON CHARTERS | http://bit.ly/
WILL COMMON CORE DOUBLE THE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE? + smf’s 2¢ | http://bit.ly/1xlVvmx
TEACHERS UNION SUBMITS INITIAL CONTRACT DEMANDS TO LA UNIFIED + UTLA’S INITIAL BARGAINING PROPOSAL | http://bit.ly/1o6G0p1
CELERITY EXA CHARTER SCHOOL SURRENDERS ITS CHARTER AFTER BEING CLOSED BY PASADENA FIRE MARSHAL + smf’s 2¢ | http://bit.ly/WlAkjh
LUDICROUS³: The consensus of opinion of serving and retired LA County superintendents on John Deasy’s superintendency|http://bit.ly/1lF8L0h
STATE OF CALIFORNIA AWARDS COMMON CORE TEST CONTRACT | http://bit.ly/YhSmoo
LETTERS PRO+CON AS UTLA ASKS DEASY TO PUT HIMSELF IN “TEACHER JAIL” | http://bit.ly/ZaIr46
Must read: ALL THE SUPERINTENDENT’S MEN by Martin Eden | http://bit.ly/1lLP1sl
"I assumed that the agenda was lifting students out of poverty. The agenda appears to be lifting Deasy out of LAUSD.” http://bit.ly/1lCiCUy
Q: Would he relieve the Bd of Ed of firing him by stepping down? Deasy: “I’m not prepared to answer that question.” http://bit.ly/1lCiCUy
Deasy: “I serve at the pleasure of the board. If the board is not pleased, they can get rid of me at their pleasure.” http://bit.ly/1lCiCUy
Deasy on his critics: CONSTANT ATTACKS ARE ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ | http://bit.ly/1lCiCUy
“This is a civil rights issue. My goal is to provide youth in poverty
with tools that heretofore only rich kids have had.” - Dr. Deasy
Kerchner: “Once you have played the civil rights card, which is sort of
like playing the race card, it trumps whatever else is on the table.“
LA Times: the story retold — SUPT. DEASY’S EARLY AND AVID SUPPORT OF iPADS UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY | http://bit.ly/1Aa6ziF
NEW ED ®EFORM GROUP DEBUTS: The revolving door revolves …and hits ex-Mayor Tony in the butt! | http://bit.ly/1oFSYcG
DEASY:“Dear LAUSD Family, I would like to speak to you personally...” but here are links to a memo sent yesterday | http://bit.ly/1rNrgTd
UTLA URGES “TEACHER JAIL’ FOR LAUSD CHIEF AMID iPAD, MiSiS PROBES | http://bit.ly/We1b12
Plunge in kindergartners' vaccination rate worries health officials LA Times September 2, 2014 8:50PM Californ… http://twishort.com/irsgc
Largest school district, highest litigation costs LA Daily News Guest commentary 09/02/14, 4:01 PM Los Angeles… http://twishort.com/Mqsgc
Debugging LAUSD's iPad deal LA Times Editorial-September 2, 2014 6:04PM There is no room for secrecy when it co… http://twishort.com/oqsgc
L.A. school board member Ratliff pushes for release of iPad report September 2, 2014 3:48PM Los Angeles school… http://twishort.com/lqsgc
L.A. SCHOOLS SUPT. DEASY DEFENDS HIS DEALINGS WITH APPLE, PEARSON http://bit.ly/1lI0Qj8
DEASYS NON MEA CULPA: “In view of the many false and misleading statements of fact that have been made public …” | http://bit.ly/1A66GM4
Pearson: INSIDE THE BELLY OF A VERY TROUBLED BEAST http://bit.ly/1r1MRkd
LAWMAKER CALLS FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO PROBE ‘SUSPICIOUS’ LAUSD iPAD ROLLOUT | http://bit.ly/1un4dwa
Teachers union to superintendent: “GO TO ‘TEACHER JAIL’” | http://bit.ly/1uAQdhG
Howard Blume @howardblume • Sep 2
The report, by L.A.Unified inspector general, has been treated as confidential. D.A. reviewed it & filed no charges.
Howard Blume @howardblume • Sep 2
Next week, L.A. school board member Ratliff will present resolution to
release confidential probe of iPad-contract bidding process.
UTLA calls on Deasy to report to teacher jail--during iPad/MiSiS investigations. UTLA News conf: Wed.6:30a-at LAUSD http://utla.net/node/5084
The revolving door revolves: NEW ED ®EFORM GROUP DEBUTS | http://bit.ly/1uujJFC
A TOUGH TEST FOR NEW GED http://bit.ly/1pm0Wrk
L.A.outperforms national average in keeping low-income students in class: 8% of LA 4th graders miss 3 days/ 22% US | http://bit.ly/1q7mfCz
ANALYSIS FINDS CALIFORNIA STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL MORE THAN U.S. PEERS | http://bit.ly/1q7mfCz
Why not L.A.?: FREE FLU VACCINES FOR 60,000 OAKLAND KIDS | http://bit.ly/Z5K6rK
Free+Reduced School Meals: POPULAR CHILD-POVERTY MEASURE GETS ANOTHER LOOK | http://bit.ly/1lwpL8X
LEG. ANALYST’S OFFICE PROPOSES PARADIGM SHIFT IN MANAGING CA DEPT OF ED - beyond compliance to effective oversight | http://bit.ly/1ClkuWY
'Principally’: SINGLE WORD AT HEART OF LCFF/LCAP REGULATORY DEBATE | http://bit.ly/W5ciZK
“People talk about truancy & absences through the prism of lost funding to schools. The true impact is lost learning.” | http://bit.ly/1A18bvf
CA. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S PACKAGE OF TRUANCY LEGISLATION PASSES STATE LEGISLATURE + THE COSTS OF CHRONIC ABSENCES http://bit.ly/1A18bvf
DEADLINE L.A.: Howard Blume explains iPadGate/AppleGate/The iPad Kerfuffle …or whatever it is! | http://bit.ly/1nQRbBW
Chicago librarians don't want to see school libraries just become places where books are stored and meetings are held. | http://bit.ly/Y7iylF
When Chicago schools stopped funding specific positions & let principals+councils decide, librarians missed the cut.| http://bit.ly/Y7iylF
LIBRARIANS ARE A LUXURY CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS CAN’T AFFORD | http://bit.ly/Y7iylF
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE PASSES STIFFEST LAW IN NATION TO PROTECT K-12 STUDENTS ONLINE DATA | http://bit.ly/Z5f2sc
THE MESSIAH @ LAST:"My responsibility is 2 lift kids out of poverty," says Deasy. "They have the right 2 technology." http://bit.ly/auDNT3
Vergara: GOV. BROWN APPEALS RULING THAT STRUCK DOWN TEACHER JOB PROTECTIONS | http://bit.ly/1lv7Saz
Investor Update: APPLE INC. ON WATCH OVER LAUSD ISSUES | http://bit.ly/1ozbJyi
iFail: WHY JOHN DEASY’S RISKY iPAD GAMBIT CRASHED+BURNED AT LAUSD | http://bit.ly/1nppbp4
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
SEPT 9
a. Regular Board Meeting - September 9, 2014 - 10:00 a.m. - including Closed Session items
Start: 09/09/2014 10:00 am
b. Regular Board Meeting - September 9, 2014 - 1:00 p.m.
Start: 09/09/2014 1:00 pm
SEPT 11
Budget, Facilities, and Audit Committee - September 11, 2014
Start: 09/11/2014 11:00 am
[smf: the above start time is from the Bd of Ed website, my copy of the agenda says it starts at noon]
*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
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!.
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