Sunday, February 28, 2016

Fixing it in Post: The Miracle on Beaudry Avenue



4LAKids: Sunday 28•Feb•2016
In This Issue:
 •  THE MIRACLE ON BEAUDRY AVENUE: 3 stories
 •  Vergara on Appeal: TEACHER TENURE BACK ON TRIAL IN CALIFORNIA
 •  WHERE'S THE COLOR IN KIDS' LIT? Ask The Girl With 1,000 Books (And Counting)
 •  SOLUTIONS FOR STRESSED-OUT HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS
 •  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:
 •  ► Friends4smf :: The GoFundMe campaign
 •  Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting
 •  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.
LAUSD’s adventures with A thru G have been - uh - adventurous. And now we go from adventurous to miraculous.

The A thru G Initiative was driven by so-called grass-roots community activists, spurred on by ivory tower education theorists and inside+outside LAUSD politicians looking for an issue – plus inner city parents who were promised that their kids would go to college as well as well-meaning do-gooders with the best of intentions.

Those selfsame best intentions that the Road to Heck is paved with.

Q: WHAT IF THE LAUSD GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS WERE THE SAME AS THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM?

A: THEN ALL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES (OF WHICH THERE SHALL BE 100%) – WHITE AND BLACK AND BROWN AND ASIAN; RICH AND POOR AND MIDDLE-CLASS, SHALL GO TO COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY!

The High School Diploma as a golden ticket to college!
“'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden chance to make my way
And with a golden ticket, it's a golden day.”
- Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, words and music by Leslie Bricusse
-
…and (as we all know). The Road to College (stretching the road metaphor far further than it should go) leads to a Great New Wonderful Tomorrow.

Never mind that some kids don’t want to go to college. Never mind that the UC/CSU systems couldn’t possibly accommodate all those students if they did graduate. Never mind that there were real issues that college prepared graduates who had met the A-G requirements were failing entrance exams, needed remedial courses and were not truly college prepared.

I remember sitting on various LAUSD A-G task forces back in the day eleven years ago – we discussed many roadblocks about A-G …but we never discussed how our surfeit of high school graduates could afford college.

Those task forces included truly qualified and committed folks: Senior LAUSD staff and the Chief Admissions Officer from the CSU system and mucky-mucks from the UCLA schools of Education and Social Justice. Dr. Jeannie Oakes from UCLA IDEA went on to become the Ford Foundation Director of Education and Scholarship; I can think of four task force members who went on to become superintendents at other districts.

We started meeting every other week, with encouragement from the superintendent and sandwiches and coffee and cold drinks. Then we went to monthly and then bi-monthly with cookies and water. We made concrete proposals and began designing plans for Individualized Graduation Plans and elementary-to-middle-school and middle-school-to high-school bridging programs – and robust summer school and intervention and credit recovery plans. There would be training and professional development for every teacher at every level. Parents were going to be involved every step of the way.

We debated but never resolved whether a “D” would qualify as a passing grade.

The programs proposed – like the sandwiches, coffee and parking validations – cost money. The economy went south along with the District’s focus+budget. And, after all, the implementation date was years away. Superintendents and Boards of Ed changed – and the commitment wavered and then waned. There were other crises and other shiny sparkly things. Small Learning Communities. Mayoral Control. Charter encroachment. Miramonte. iPads.

Binders full of plans were bound and shelved.
We would get around to it later. The plans went from shelves to the archives. And later got to be sooner. MLK said there’d be days like this: “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.


And it is All Hands on Deck and Emergency Room Triage and D-is-a-passing-grade. Credit Recovery v. Content Recovery. Online classes. Edgenuity. Quick fixes and Band Aids for a problem years in the making.

• KPCC discusses “…negotiating a contract with a teacher to change a student's grade, from an F to D…”
• The Times says LAUSD’s Chief Academic Officer stopped just short of saying that the academic rigor was completely undiluted.
• 4LAKids wonders where on the slippery slope between Social Promotion and Social Graduation we find ourselves.


LAUSD does its best work responding to crisis; if you don’t think so consider the Porter Hills gas leak and emergency relocation of two schools in three weeks.

And now the Graduation Crisis is fixed in one month.

It takes thirteen years for a student to progress from kindergarten to twelfth grade. And apparently, if something goes wrong, it can be fixed in the last semester of their senior year.

(In the showbiz we call that ‘fixing it in post.” They give an Academy Award for that, it’s for Best Achievement in Film Editing. Watch for it tonight.)

Who needs a plan when you have a Tiger Team?

Miracles? You gotta believe. W.C. Fields said; “Everybody has to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another drink.”

Sleep tight, gentle readers. Sweet dreams. And don’t let the bed bugs bite.

¡Onward/Adelante! – smf

_____________

A BLATANT APPEAL by Scott Folsom

My daughter, the lovely+talented Alana Folsom, has been the editor of the literary journal at every educational institution that would have her.

• She edited the literary journal at LAUSD’s John Marshall High School, Class of ‘08
• She edited Seeds, the literary journal at Bates College in Maine, Class of ‘12
• She is currently editing the literary journal for the MA/MFA program at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Actually, she and her English Major Graduate Student friends created the literary journal, 45th Parallel.

Alana and her OSU EMGS friends have big plans for 45th Parallel and will be hawking their journal at Association of Writers & Writing Programs [AWP16] Conference & Bookfair at the Los Angeles Convention Center & JW Marriott at the end of March/Beginning of April.

But before that they need to raise some money to actually print 400 copies of their journal …so they have a Kickstarter campaign. They need to raise $1500 (the truth is they already have) but, as they say, “…we’ve also made some ‘dream goals’ – goals beyond our base funding that we can only dream, dream, dream of having happen.”
“A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartache
Whatever you wish for you keep”

Become a Patron of the Arts! Click on the link; Alana, on video, will explain it better than I.


45th PARALLEL KICKSTARTER APPEAL



THE MIRACLE ON BEAUDRY AVENUE: 3 stories
Miracle on Beaudry Avenue: WHY L.A. UNIFIED'S GRADUATION RATE IS EXPECTED TO SOAR THIS YEAR
By Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1KSXK8s

Feb. 24, 2016 :: The beleaguered Los Angeles Board of Education had that rare moment Tuesday when it could celebrate good news that verged on the spectacular: The nation's second-largest school system seems headed for a record graduation rate despite more rigorous standards and despite fears — as recently as last week — that half of students would not make it into their caps and gowns.

Although this turnaround has raised eyebrows among outside observers, it was welcome balm at the school board meeting for officials accustomed to catcalls for the ills of the long-struggling school district.

Board member Ref Rodriguez was "thrilled."

"I'm encouraged," said George McKenna. "I'm really enthusiastically encouraged."

The projected graduation rate could rise as high as 80%, compared with last year's 74%, those presenting the update said.

"We're shooting for the stars," said Supt. Michelle King.

Doubts were few.

Monica Ratliff voiced hers almost as an afterthought, and only because McKenna, who chaired the meeting, asked her if she had anything to say before he gaveled it to a close.

"I love the progress that has been made," Ratliff began. But "are these credit recovery courses really rigorous [college-preparation] courses? How do we know? What is our evidence? How do we make sure the … diploma is the same for everyone?"

Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson stopped just short of saying that the academic rigor was completely undiluted. In an interview after the meeting, she noted that these efforts to get foundering students quickly back on course through online classes and other means are overseen by L.A. Unified teachers.

"It's still L.A. Unified teachers working with L.A. Unified students," she said.

In other words, the standards should be comparable to those of the teachers who flunked these same students in required classes not so long ago.

Former school board member David Tokofsky saluted the urgency but questioned how much students were learning as they crammed to make up course credits.

"Credit recovery is not content recovery," said Tokofsky, who coached a championship academic decathlon team at Marshall High School.

The potential crisis was years in the making.

In 2005 district officials, under pressure from community groups, decided that all students, starting with the class of 2016, would have to pass the courses needed to qualify for a four-year state college. To be eligible to apply, students also would have to earn at least a C in each class.

But students were not hitting those marks. And last year, the school board lowered the standard to a D for the college-prep classes. About half of students weren't hitting this target either as recently as December.

Instead of backing down from the requirements, district educators from the top down began what Gipson likened to "emergency-room" triage.

At Tuesday's meeting, Gipson and other senior administrators went through a long list of efforts being made, including having emissaries from district offices travel to each school to ask about individual students and what special programs they are taking part in.

Online classes were a key part of the formula. They require at least 60 hours of seat time — and passing unit tests — to get credit for a semester of work, Gipson said.

Schools had varying approaches. Verdugo Hills High School was allowing students to finish course work on computers at home but noticed that some students were getting stuck at night. So the school assigned a teacher to work evenings, someone who could be contacted for help.

Another novel method at many schools is negotiating a contract with a teacher to change a student's grade, from an F to D — if the student takes on additional work that would have resulted in a D had the student done the job the first time.

Board President Steve Zimmer said he's concerned that students who are back on track could still slip off again before June. And he wants to be sure the district sticks with students who have no hope of a June ceremony.

But he, too, was pleased.

"It's evident we're changing the way we work," he said. "And that's really positive for the families that need us the most."

______________

►Miracle on Beaudry Avenue: WHY LAUSD'S PROJECTED GRADUATION RATE SHOT UP 9 POINTS IN 1 MONTH

By Kyle Stokes | KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1KSTPJ5

February 23 2016 :: When second semester classes came to an end in January, barely half of the 32,000 seniors in Los Angeles Unified high schools were on-track to graduate at the end of this year.

Now, six weeks later, 63 percent of L.A. Unified seniors are on-track to earn diplomas, a district memo shows — and another 17 percent are only one or two courses behind.

But what looked like a sudden shift in the numbers is the result of what district officials described Tuesday as part of a year-long, district-wide effort to ensure off-track high school seniors earn the credits they need to get their diplomas.

Specifically, the updated numbers include for the first time students who made up credits during the fall semester. Some even finished their credit recovery work over winter break, said L.A. Unified Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson.

But only 43 percent of this year’s seniors are currently on-track to graduate with a C average or better — a bar students must clear to be eligible for admission at University of California or California State University campuses.

Superintendent Michelle King has set a goal that 100 percent of L.A. Unified students graduate on-time, but efforts to increase the number predate her time in the district’s top job.

Last August, the district “decentralized” its efforts to ensure all students met all of the so-called “A-G requirements,” giving local school leaders the autonomy to determine how to meet students’ credit recovery needs in their differing neighborhoods, Gipson said.

And starting in mid-January, counselors began sending certified letters to parents of every student in the Class of 2016 who was off-track.

"It’s evident we’re changing the way we work,” L.A. Unified school board president Steve Zimmer during a Tuesday meeting.

Preliminary figures showed 74 percent of L.A. Unified's Class of 2015 graduated on-time. On Tuesday, district officials and school board members expressed cautious optimism that the Class of 2016 might top that mark, but Gipson did not want to make any predictions.

“Credit recovery’s like the emergency room and we want to attend to that and make sure [the student is] healthy and well,” Gipson said. “It’s about the health of our education system and making sure we have rigorous instruction, quality instruction.”

Students who’ve fallen behind are recovering lost credits in a range of ways, district officials said Tuesday. Since August 2015, L.A. Unified students had enrolled in more than 11,900 courses through an online credit recovery program called Edgenuity; they'd completed more than 2,900 semester courses.

But the district also offers more traditional face-to-face instruction that helps students make up those credits. Gipson said her team is still sorting through the data to determine the breakdown of how many students are enrolled in online, classroom-based and blended credit recovery courses respectively.

Students who end up in credit recovery programs often are among a school’s most vulnerable or at-risk, said Jessica Heppen, who directs research on teaching and learning technology at the American Institutes for Research.

Heppen conducted a study on ninth graders in Chicago who had failed a first semester Algebra course, comparing how these students fared in face-to-face and online credit recovery courses. The results of her study were mixed; while students in face-to-face courses recovered the credits at somewhat higher rates, students in online courses appeared to have taken away somewhat more content knowledge.

But either way, "we don’t have a lot of evidence that they really had a launching point in order to be more successful in mathematics going forward,” said Heppen.

While expressing optimism at the numbers district officials discussed Tuesday, L.A. Unified board member Monica Ratliff closed Tuesday’s session by raising similar questions:

“Are these credit recovery courses really rigorous A-G courses? How do we know? What’s our evidence?"

______________

Miracle on Beaudry Avenue: ARE LAUSD STUDENTS REALLY READY FOR COLLEGE?
The Times Editorial Board | http://lat.ms/24uvYpc

Feb 26, 2016 :: In a burst of optimism, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted in 2005 to require all students in the district to pass a full set of college-prep courses in order to graduate high school. Recognizing that it would be difficult and time consuming to prepare for such a change, the board announced that the rule wouldn't take effect for 12 years. That time is now up; beginning this school year, every student who hopes to graduate must for the first time earn a grade of D or better in a set of courses that includes four years of English and three years of math.

But it was a poorly conceived mandate from the start. It wasn't a surprise to most observers that this ruling from on high didn't magically improve instruction, curriculum or learning. Nor was it terribly surprising when the district announced in December that because of the new rules, it expected to face a huge dip in its graduation rate this year — from the 74% it had reached after years of trying, down to a gloomy 54%. And it would have been a lot worse than that if the board hadn't previously dropped an even more onerous requirement that students get a C or better in all those courses, which would qualify them for admission to the California State University system.

That was where things stood until last week, when the seemingly magical happened. Although there have been only a few weeks of school since the December report, L.A. Unified announced that suddenly the expected graduation rate is up to 63% and might go as high as 80%.

How did this come about? Thanks largely to the online “credit-recovery” courses that students were allowed to take in order to pass courses they previously had failed. And though the district probably had no choice but to allow this lest its own bad policymaking unfairly rob students of a diploma, some legitimate questions are now being raised about whether all these students have truly mastered the material that had previously eluded them.

Probably no one frets about dropouts more than Russell Rumberger, director of the California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara, and he takes a skeptical view of online credit-recovery programs. Not that there aren't good ones, he says, and he acknowledges that there are online courses that suit the learning styles of some students. But there are also quick-fix models that do not impose the kind of rigor and standards that students would find in a classroom. He's seen online English courses that conferred an A grade after requiring a single book and about 12 hours of computer work, as opposed to the five books and more than 100 hours of instructional time that a regular English class would have required.

L.A. Unified says that's not what's happening and that it has done quality control to ensure that its credit-recovery classes are meaningful. Students spend about 60 hours on the courses, officials say, and must pass unit tests to get credit. Students are overseen in their work by teachers.

Still, there's some apparent concern even on the board about the speed with which the district turned the numbers around.

“I love the progress that has been made,” said board member Monica Ratliff at a meeting this week. But “are these credit-recovery courses really rigorous courses? How do we know? What is our evidence?”

Setting high standards for graduation is a fine idea, but they must be achievable or else they can be counterproductive. And once they're set, students must be helped to meet them fair and square. Not through shortcuts or last minute brush-ups. That means building a solid scaffold of curriculum, instruction and other programs that improve actual learning, which was supposed to be the goal all along.


Vergara on Appeal: TEACHER TENURE BACK ON TRIAL IN CALIFORNIA
THE RATIONALE BEHIND TEACHER LAYOFFS IS ONCE AGAIN AT STAKE IN THE GOLDEN STATE.

By Lauren Camera | US News and World Report | http://bit.ly/1QE46oh

Feb. 24, 2016, at 4:33 p.m. :: A California appellate court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a case that could dramatically shift the state's education landscape.

In 2012, a group of nine California students filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that its teacher tenure, seniority and layoff policies resulted in unequal student outcomes and therefore violated the state's constitution.

The case, Vergara v. California, garnered national attention and was just the latest in a slew of suits that took aim at teachers unions.

The students argued that, among other things, California's two-year time period for anointing a teacher with tenure is too short; its procedure for dismissing ineffective teachers is too difficult; and its layoff policy, which is based on seniority and often called "last in, first out," doesn't take into account how effective teachers are.

Last year, a judge ruled in the students' favor, but delayed the actual banning of the policies pending appeals – a process that begins with Thursday's arguments.

On Wednesday, the two national teachers unions sought to get out ahead of the case, issuing statements castigating the students' suit.

"The Vergara v. State of California lawsuit is an example of using our court system for political goals," said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union. "Due process policies such as tenure are an important job protection that teachers value highly. These policies don't prevent bad teachers from being fired; they prevent good teachers from being fired for bad reasons."

The American Federation of Teachers chimed in as well.

"In reality, rather than trying to recruit, support and retain teachers – particularly for the students most in need – it aimed to strip teachers of basic job protections," said Michael Powell, a spokesman for the union. "The suit is wrong, on both the law and the facts."

However, new survey data from Teach Plus, an education advocacy group, show that a majority of principals in California agree with the plaintiffs when it comes to teacher layoffs.

_____________
●●smf NOTE: from the New York Times by Sam Dillon | http://nyti.ms/1QE4S4R

May 21, 2011 - INDIANAPOLIS — A handful of outspoken teachers helped persuade state lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies. They testified before the legislature, wrote briefing papers and published an op-ed article in The Indianapolis Star.

They described themselves simply as local teachers who favored school reform — one sympathetic state representative, Mary Ann Sullivan, said, “They seemed like genuine, real people versus the teachers’ union lobbyists.” They were, but they were also recruits in a national organization, Teach Plus, financed significantly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

For years, Bill Gates focused his education philanthropy on overhauling large schools and opening small ones. His new strategy is more ambitious: overhauling the nation’s education policies. To that end, the foundation is financing educators to pose alternatives to union orthodoxies on issues like the seniority system and the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers. [article continues…]

______________

Out of more than 500 principals from across the state, 69 percent said they are dissatisfied with the state's current teacher layoff system, while only 11 percent reported being satisfied.

What's more, 71 percent of principals who had been at their schools for five or more years reported losing teachers due to layoffs. And when those principals were asked whether they had lost a teacher even though he or she was better than another teacher with more seniority, 72 percent said such a scenario had occurred.

The most common complaints about the current policy included principals' inability to create a strong teaching staff and an overall feeling that the system reflects negatively on the teaching profession.

"Seniority-based layoffs are what holds our profession back from respect and progress," one principal commented in the survey. "We are doing a great disservice to our students and communities when we honor tenure and seniority above doing right by our kids."

Indeed, 63 percent of respondents said they think a layoff system based on a teacher's seniority is viewed negatively by people considering joining the profession, while only 11 percent of respondents think it's viewed positively.

"The seniority system makes education look unprofessional when compared to other professions," a different principal said.

Still, both principals and teachers aren't in favor of completely negating the importance of seniority.

"Our teachers deserve to be honored for their years of commitment, dedication and cumulative expertise," one principal responded.

Principals indicated they'd prefer teacher layoffs be determined 69 percent by a teacher's performance and 31 percent by seniority. Notably, a 2015 Teach Plus report involving a survey of more than 500 California teachers found that on average, they were in favor of a system that weighted performance and seniority equally.

Principals also are worried about superintendents using a layoff system that incorporates effectiveness to dismiss high-performing senior teachers over high-performing but less experienced teachers purely for budgetary reasons, since senior teachers are typically paid the most.
Another common concern was that current teacher evaluation systems need to be strengthened before moving toward a layoff policy that incorporates teacher performance.

"There needs to be a common performance tool created that can truly measure a teacher's performance over a period of years," one principal wrote. "Then, and only then, can we successfully weigh a teacher's performance and decrease the need to [lay off] by seniority."

Teachers unions have harped on this point for some time now, arguing that evaluation systems that use student test scores – which many states adopted in the wake of the Obama administration's Race to the Top grant program and No Child Left Behind waivers – have proved unreliable so far as states continue to refine and change their testing regimens.

In Powell's statement Wednesday, he said that instead of layoff policies, the teaching profession would be better suited by focusing on improving hiring practices, especially in the midst of a nationwide teacher shortage.

"With enrollment in teacher training programs plunging, a high percentage of new teachers leaving the profession in the first five years and the retirement of large numbers of seasoned educators, it's irrational to try and further deplete their ranks or make teaching an unattractive profession," Powell said.

In the wake of the original ruling, teacher unions have also pointed out that states with the highest academic performance actually have some of the strongest seniority protections for teachers, including Maryland and Massachusetts, and that multiple studies show two-thirds of the factors contributing to student outcomes are actually issues that occur outside the classroom, like poverty, family background and inadequate housing.

Meanwhile, civil rights groups – including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Education Law Center, the Southern Poverty Law Center and others – have underscored that the real culprit in depriving students of a quality education, especially low-income and minority students, is inadequate school funding.


WHERE'S THE COLOR IN KIDS' LIT? Ask The Girl With 1,000 Books (And Counting)
NPR Morning Edition | http://n.pr/1S8DPUG
Listen to the Story: 3:41 | http://n.pr/1pfTbLD
Published February 26, 20165:14 AM ET

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Marley Dias is 11 years old. She loves reading. But she noticed that a lot of the books at school were about white boys. Or dogs. Or, like the award-winning children's novel, "Shiloh," they were about white boys and their dogs. We asked Marley to elaborate on what bothered her.

MARLEY DIAS: Basically, it was the lack of diversity in my fifth-grade class. We were only reading books such as "Where The Red Fern Grows," "Crash," the "Shiloh" series and "Old Yeller." So I noticed that. Then I was frustrated because I was never reading books about black girls or any different type of character so I went home and I told my mom, and she said, well, what are you going to do about it? So I decided to start a campaign in which black girls are the main character and then give those books to various schools.

GREENE: Wow. You're 11 years old, and you just decided, this is a problem and I'm going to take it on myself.

MARLEY: Yes, yes I did.

GREENE: And just tell me why it was important to you and why you think it's important for 11-year-olds, you know, to be reading books that have more diversity?

MARLEY: Well, I think it's important in general for kids to be reading books with diversity. When you read about character that you can connect with, you'll remember the things that they learned. So if I like hair bows and the character I'm reading about likes hair bows, I will remember what he or she learned in that book because I have something in common with them.

GREENE: And so it was not a matter of you wanting books to be about black girls, you just wanted the characters to be people who you could relate to more.

MARLEY: Yeah, I just - I think that it was definitely about access. At home, I could read those books and I could read as many as I wanted, but when I came to school it wasn't really available for me to read.

GREENE: OK so you take it upon yourself and you start collecting books that have more diverse characters in them. Where were you getting these books? Were you buying them, or, what was happening?

MARLEY: No, we weren't buying them, we were getting donations from people who saw the campaign on social media. And I think that it's a lot better when they give books because then they know where their money's going. We did get some money donations, which is definitely helpful for us when we travel, and we had to hire people to help log books because there's so many.

GREENE: Were you sort of the boss? Were you kind of giving them instructions on how you wanted this to be done?

MARLEY: Yes, I am, but because I have school I can't spend, like, the day helping opening books all the time, but I try my best because I don't want to just be the boss and be the representative. I want to be a part of every aspect of the work that I created. I just don't want to be, like, the big boss who doesn't do much.

GREENE: I love that. That seems like a very good lesson to learn in life very early on. What's been the most memorable moment so far since you've started doing this?

MARLEY: That's a tough one. Well, of course when we reached 1,000 books, which is so big of a deal, it was really awesome. And then when I went on the "Ellen" show - I've never been on TV or done anything, like, that made me famous or anything in any respect. It's just - all of it really is super important and super special.

GREENE: So the bottom line - you were trying to collect a thousand books and give them away, and you kind of blew right through your goal and have collected a lot more, which is awesome. Do you have a new goal now?

MARLEY: We don't have a new goal, but I do have a bigger idea now that we've reached the goal. It's that we have school boards assigning books where it's very diverse and it's not just one type that they're trying to focus on, it's all different characters, all different races, all different genders. So that's definitely one of the big things that I want to achieve because I know that I'm definitely not the only kid or student out there who's experiencing this problem.

GREENE: Marley, you've probably heard this before - you're a very impressive young woman.

MARLEY: Thank you.

GREENE: Best of luck to you, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us about this.

MARLEY: No problem.

GREENE: She is only 11 years old. That's Marley Dias, and you heard her on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.


►The thing NPR Ed wanted to know? Her take on a subject she now knows well: books about black girls. Here are her top five picks.

BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson

Age level: Grades 6-8

Genre: Autobiography

Why Marley recommends it: "It's definitely one of my favorites, mainly because I am a very avid reader and it was one of the first books I ever had a challenge reading. I know that sounds not really good because then you couldn't understand it. But it was like the first time that I ever fully had to wait and think through something and take my time, which I think is definitely something important because you have to be patient.

"It's also a poetry book and I think that poetry is cool even though I don't really write poetry that much. I do think it's cool to read it. And it's a very important book and there's a lot of themes in the book. There's a lot of ways to interpret it, but it's about the '60s and '70s and Jim Crow laws in South Carolina and New York and how a girl talks about her family and racism and how they experience it."

• ONE CRAZY SUMMER
by Rita Williams-Garcia

Age level: Grades 3-5

Genre: Historical fiction

Why Marley recommends it: "The black girls that I know ... thought that this was one of the best books about black girls. I haven't finished reading it yet. I know it's kind of disappointing that I haven't read one of the most popular books that we've been getting. It's about three girls who go to see their mother, who they haven't seen ever since they were babies. So, they go to visit the summer with her and they have a whole giant adventure."

• PRESIDENT OF THE WHOLE FIFTH GRADE
by Sherri Winston

Age Level: Grades 3-5

Genre: Fiction

Why Marley recommends it: "It's about a girl named Brianna Justice who runs for fifth-grade president." Marley explains that the main character is following in the footsteps of her role model, "who's a cupcake baker from the same town in Michigan that she's from. So, it's about her whole journey to become president of the whole fifth grade. It's a series and there's President of the Whole Sixth Grade as well."

• ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
by Mildred D. Taylor

Age level: Grades 5-8

Genre: Historical fiction, classic

Why Marley recommends it: "I like this one because it's a classic book in general and it's one of the most famous black girl books ever. The main character, she's very independent. She's very strong. She's very family-oriented and she protects her family. So, that's definitely one of the main things that the book is popular for. It has a very important life lesson: to be protective of the things you have, even though you might not be 100 percent grateful for it, and to always stand up for what you believe in, even if you're the only one. So, I think those are definitely good themes that could help girls — and boys — learn how to represent their voices when there's a problem."

• PLEASE, BABY, PLEASE by Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee and Kadir Nelson

Age level: Ages 2-5

Genre: Comedy

Why Marley recommends it: When it comes to books for little kids, Marley has a tie: Please, Baby, Please and Please, Puppy, Please. "They're really funny and sweet little books about a baby who is being a little troublemaker and then about a dog who's being a little troublemaker. They're funny and they're sweet and kids enjoy them."

Marley continues to accept donations. You can send books to:
59 Main Street, Suite 323, West Orange, NJ 07052


SOLUTIONS FOR STRESSED-OUT HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS
WITH GROWING EVIDENCE THAT STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING FROM THE INTENSE COMPETITION FOR COLLEGE ADMISSION, SCHOOLS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE RETHINKING EVERYTHING FROM TESTS TO CLASSES TO START TIMES

By NIKHIL GOYAL | Wall Street Journal | http://on.wsj.com/1QEfccV

Feb. 12, 2016 1:28 p.m. ET :: Last year, at the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District in central New Jersey, superintendent David Aderhold decided that students had had enough. District staff had recommended mental-health assessments for more than 120 middle- and highschool students for depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts—a pronounced increase from the previous year. In a letter to parents last fall, he wrote, “I cannot help but think that we may be failing [our students] by reinforcing an educational system that perpetuates grades at the expense of deep and meaningful learning.”
Mr. Aderhold isn’t alone in questioning the high-pressure environment at many schools.

With growing evidence that students are suffering from the intense competition for college admission, schools around the country are rethinking everything from tests to classes to start times.

Mr. Aderhold, whose district near Princeton University includes 9,800 students, has enacted reforms. He abolished midterms and final exams and instituted a no-homework policy during breaks and some weekends. It hasn’t all gone smoothly. Some parents have complained, worried that the changes will leave their children unprepared for elite colleges.

Other schools are making similar changes. Last year, the board of education of Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, Md., one of the largest and highest-ranking districts in the U.S., voted to eliminate high-school final exams and to replace them, starting next fall, with in-class projects and tasks. Some schools have scrapped Advanced Placement classes, saying that they contribute to academic pressure.

Others are aiming to give students more opportunities to explore their passions, work on real-world projects and collaborate and learn from other students of all ages. The idea is that education must be for life and “school needs to stop getting in the way of curiosity,” said Ira Socol, an educator at Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville, Va.

The Albemarle district has added music studios and spaces for hackers and “makers” to its middle and high schools in the past several years so that students can take charge of their own learning and do interdisciplinary, hands-on work. At one middle school, students built tree houses in the cafeteria, learning problem-solving and technical skills along the way. Students can now sit in the tree houses to eat lunch, congregate and relax. The schools have also begun to gravitate away from traditional exams and toward portfolio-based assessments.

To deal with the problem of sleep deprivation, some schools have adopted later start times. In 2014, researchers at the University of Minnesota examined data collected from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming that had made this shift. The study found that when schools started at 8:30 a.m. or later, teenagers reported lower rates of depression and substance use, fewer car crashes, less absenteeism and tardiness, and higher test scores. In November, the Seattle School Board voted to require city high schools to move start times from 7:50 to 8:45 a.m., making it one of the largest districts in the country to implement the change.

College and university administrators have started to take notice as well. In January, a report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education called for a fundamental reimagining of college admissions. Endorsed by more than 80 college presidents, deans, professors and high-school administrators—including every Ivy League admissions dean—the report argued that colleges must value ethical and intellectual engagement, “deflate undue academic performance pressure” and “redefine achievement in ways that create greater equity and access for economically diverse students.”

The recommendations included: discouraging students from overloading on AP or International Baccalaureate classes; asking candidates for admission to describe only two or three meaningful extracurricular activities on their applications, to show that the colleges value quality over quantity; and evaluating whether the SAT and ACT standardized tests should be optional.

The reformers hope that these steps will ease the high-stakes achievement culture. As Mr. Aderhold of West Windsor-Plainsboro told me, “We’re not producing widgets. We’re producing citizens of the world.”

—Mr. Goyal is the author of “Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice,” to be published Feb. 16 by Doubleday.


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ABOLISHED HOMEWORK? THIS. - LA Times
http://lat.ms/1N8eSS5

VERGARA LAWSUIT, CHALLENGING TEACHER JOB PROTECTIONS, GOES TO APPEALS COURT- LA Times
http://lat.ms/1LnF0Ol

HOW TO RAISE HAPPY TRANSGENDER KIDS - LA Times
http://lat.ms/1XT1fO2

JOE THE PLUMBER TAKES ON PUBLIC EDUCATION
http://bit.ly/1KTBgUW

SOLUTIONS FOR STRESSED-OUT HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS
http://bit.ly/1TGHGbs

Tuesday morning, March 1st: SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS TOWN HALL MEETING IN PACOIMA
http://bit.ly/1KIs99C

April 4th/Save the Date|YOUR FEEDBACK IS NEEDED: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MEETING ON THE FUTURE OF HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM
http://bit.ly/1PXcOkg

MOODY'S ASSIGNS Aa2 TO LAUSD GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS; OUTLOOK IS STABLE


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• Tuesday morning, March 1st 8 a.m.: SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS TOWN HALL MEETING IN PACOIMA
http://bit.ly/1KIs99C

• March 1, 2016 - 10:00 a.m. - CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY COMMITTEE MEETING | Agenda:http://bit.ly/1LNJ7yc

*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:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-8333
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@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 the Superintendent:
superintendent@lausd.net • 213-241-7000
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state legislator, 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. Volunteer in the classroom. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child - and ultimately: For all children.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• 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 was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 13 years. He currently serves as Vice President for Health, is a Legislation Action Committee member and a member of the Board of Directors 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 "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors 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. 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.
• To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-mail smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.


Sunday, February 21, 2016

No more croaking



4LAKids: Sunday 21•Feb•2016
In This Issue:
 •  DESPITE NEW REQUIREMENTS, L.A. UNIFIED'S PROJECTED GRADUATION RATE SOARS
 •  COMPLAINT ACCUSES MAGNOLIA CHARTERS OF ILLEGAL USE OF FUNDS
 •  COURT'S MOVE TO GIVE TWO NONPROFITS ACCESS TO STUDENTS' PERSONAL DATA IGNITES PRIVACY DEBATE
 •  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:
 •  ► Friends4smf :: The GoFundMe campaign
 •  Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting
 •  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.
In my geezerhood I spend a lot of time in doctor’s offices. Not PhDs or EdDs like any self-respecting education activist, but MDs.

While I was seated on an exam table wearing one of those drafty robes I was explaining to a doctor’s assistant – who had asked what it is I do - that I am a mucky-muck with the PTA. She was surprised; they don’t have PTA at her kids’ school.

“Do they still have the PTA?” she asked?

This didn’t call for my elevator speech. She was being paid. I had a captive audience. I could give her The Full Monty: My Founders’ Day Speech.

One hundred nineteen years ago last Tuesday, on Feb. 17th, 1897, two phenomenal women invited a bunch of the similarly engendered and inclined (plus a very few men) to a conference in Washington DC – to a Congress of Mothers.

One of the women, ALICE McLELLAN BIRNEY was an activist for Universal Free Kindergarten – a radical cause at a time that was rampant with radical causes like Women’s Suffrage, Free Silver, Organized Labor and Prohibition.

The other woman, PHOEBE APPERSON HEARST was the wife of a U.S. Senator and the mother of an only child – William Randolph Hearst, the upstart newspapaer publisher who the very-next-year would lead the U.S. into a war with Spain.

It would be easy to say that Mrs. Birney was the brains behind the enterprise and Mrs. Hearst was the money – but they were both very smart and influential women.

Mrs. Birney: “I asked myself: How can the mothers be educated and the nation made to recognize the supreme importance of the child?”

The word went out, nationwide. Two hundred were expected and over two thousand attended that first Congress of Mothers. This at a time when women stayed home and managed domestic affairs and rarely if ever traveled alone – let alone venturing cross-country to attend conferences and conventions.
The First Five Causes of that first Congress of Mothers are laid out in the agenda and call to action:
1).The creation of Kindergarten classes
2).The creation of child labor laws
3).Hot Lunch programs
4).Juvenile Justice System
5).Mandatory immunizations

That first congress led the formation of local congresses and Children’s Study Circles across the nation.

The Los Angeles Federation of Mother’s Clubs was started by 1900 – and soon began a nursery and free milk program for poor families working in the downtown factories and sweat shops. They worked with the LA City Schools and – to the great credit of both organizations – created the first school-based health clinics in the nation.

By 1899, the third Congress of Mothers was addressed by the President of the United States. That 3rd Congress is generally acknowledged as the moment when pediatric medicine and children’s public health were born, as scholars, academics and the public became engaged around the issues of the well-being, education and health of children.

The turn of the twentieth century was not as progressive and enlightened as we (or Mrs. Hearst+Birney) – would like it to have been. Schools were segregated – and so was the organization that became PTA.

The Congress of Mothers soon included fathers and teachers as partners – but persons of color, especially in the South: Not so much.

Another truly outstanding woman, SELENA SLOAN BUTLER formed the Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers in Georgia in 1911. That organization became a national organization also- and it was not until 1970 (16 years after Brown v. Board of Ed) that the two organizations merged to form National PTA.

Mrs. Butler went on to serve in the Hoover Administration, advising on children’s issues and during World War II formed a cadre of nurse volunteers. After the war she went England to form nursery schools – and died in Los Angeles in 1964.

In the interim PTA became the largest and most respected children’s advocacy organization in the nation, promoting universal kindergarten, extension of free public education beyond the eighth grade to include public high schools, an independent juvenile justice system, child labor laws, the school lunch program, seatbelts and car seats and school nurses and sex ed – and advocated the administration of the polio vaccine in schools – eliminating that disease in the U.S.

Our Founders, Mrs. Birney, Mrs. Hearst and Mrs. Butler, got us started down a strange and wondrous journey, advocating for our kids and in so doing, for all kids. The coda says we speak for All Children with One Voice.

As we did in 1897 and as we do in 2016.

Mrs. Birney said: “To be better you must be different” and “Let us have no more croaking as to what cannot be done; let us see what can be done, and above all, see that it is done.”

She spoke of the things we hold dear – but don’t call by those names anymore: “The National Congress of Mothers, irrespective of creed, color or condition, stands for all parenthood, childhood, homehood.”

There still is a PTA, and our work is not done.”


NOTHING QUITE SAYS ‘THERE IS AN ENGAGED ADULT LOOKING AFTER YOU’ THAN A REGISTERED LETTER FROM THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SAYING YOU MIGHT NOT GRADUATE. In the past few weeks there has been a brouhaha over seniors who might not graduate (“All Hands on Deck”), alleviated by an “all clear” message this week.( “Despite new requirements, L.A. Unified's projected graduation rate soars”) This is a turn-around of totally unexpected speed+precision, a type of maneuver usually impossible on the Good Ship LAUSD. It is easy is be suspicious of the scorekeeper/cheerleaders –we hope it is true!

The CAHSEE is gone; if ‘almost overnight’ A-G is no longer the problem then we need only occupy ourselves with whether graduating seniors have met the Service Learning, P.E., Arts and Health Education Requirements. Stay tuned.


THE PORTER RANCH GAS LEAK IS OVER, The LA School Report says LAUSD has no plans when to return students to their schools, the LA Daily News says they do. Go figure.


NO ONE IS QUITE SURE what the impact of Justice Scalia’s death will be on Friedrich’s v. CTA.

AND SOME FACELESS BUREAUCRAT at the City of LA’s own BONC+DONE (¿a vaudeville act/a C&W duo/a pair of zany drive-time DJs?) seems intent in preserving the bureaucracy’s freedom to be bureaucratic at all cost!


I WAS HEADED INTO MY LOCAL MARKET to buy coffee yesterday and there was the inevitable seasonal card table o’ Thin Mints, Do-si-dos and attendant Girl Scouts – with sashes and badges and change-for a-twenty. I stopped to peruse the wares and noticed that the packaging+labeling was slightly different than the ones purchased at the Beaudry Building last week.

I mentioned this to the Cadette in charge – and she looked at me sympathetically – the sad elderly victim of cruel fraud.

“Those,” she said – slathering on the vitriol (Who knew Girl Scouts did vitriol?) “…were Orange County cookies!”

¡Onward/Adelante! - smf


DESPITE NEW REQUIREMENTS, L.A. UNIFIED'S PROJECTED GRADUATION RATE SOARS
By Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1TyKI2q

Feb. 20, 2016 :: For years, Los Angeles school officials have suggested that miracle academic turnarounds would be unsustainable and even suspect, and that real and lasting gains for the academically lagging school system would be a step-by-step journey.

On Friday, that gospel changed.

L.A. Unified now claims it has, almost overnight, averted a looming graduation crisis and could be on the path to its most diplomas ever.

"We've made dramatic gains," said Frances Gipson, the district's new head of instruction.

The early grim news had arrived in December. At the time, only 54% of seniors were projected to graduate based on stiffer requirements that took effect for this year. The figure would represent a free fall from last year's 74% rate — despite more than a decade of preparing for the higher standards.

Then came the seeming impossible. As of the beginning of February — after a three-week winter break and one month of school — the estimated graduation rate rose to 63%. And officials say they are optimistic the rate will rise much higher, perhaps to 80%.

"We continue to break new ground, as we prepare our first graduating class to meet the new requirements," said a report sent Thursday to the Board of Education. "The LAUSD family has 'all hands on deck,' and has rallied around our graduates with providing supports needed to ensure their success."

The district set aside $15 million for a variety of programs and strategies, but one clear star of the effort is online courses. Students are logging on and quickly earning credit for classes they flunked in the past.

"This does raise questions about the integrity of the system," said UCLA education professor Pedro Noguera. "A number of school districts around the country are using online classes for credit recovery. It's partially responsible for the increase in the national graduation rate that everyone from the secretary of education to the president has been celebrating."

"It's still kind of an unknown," he added. "Obviously, you're not doing kids a service if you just graduate them and they're not prepared."

Gipson said the district has worked to make sure that academic rigor has been maintained.

At least one measure, from outside the district, shows that this year's seniors were not soaring academically when they took state standardized tests as juniors. On the English language arts test, only 45% met the state's learning goals. In math, the number was 19%.

The district's new graduation standards long have been a source of debate. This year's seniors are the first who must pass the series of classes that would make them potentially eligible for a four-year state college. In these classes, the district mandates a passing grade of D or better.

The standards have come under attack from factions with almost opposite views on how to make sure students' academic coursework is meaningful.

Some insist the standard is too lax because students need a grade of C or better in these courses to be eligible for admission to the UC or the Cal State systems. The new district standard falls short of that.

Others are concerned that the new standard is too demanding. For example, students must pass intermediate algebra. The state requires California high school graduates to pass only beginning algebra.

Some critics also are concerned that the focus on a college-prep curriculum will limit the opportunity for students to take electives, such as calculus or photography.

"I think that the requirements were excessive and, apparently, the district is finding ways to work around them," said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. "Given the terrible cost of dropping out, I don't think that this is a bad idea for the present."


COMPLAINT ACCUSES MAGNOLIA CHARTERS OF ILLEGAL USE OF FUNDS
by Karen Wolfe | PSConnect | http://bit.ly/213e1z4

February 16, 2016 :: A public school teacher and a parent in Orange County, California, filed a legal complaint today against Magnolia Charter Schools accusing the charter organization of violating state and federal law by improperly using state and federal funds, maintaining poor internal controls and financial accounting, and utilizing nepotistic vendor selection.

The complaint describes a revolving door between the Magnolia board and its vendors, and even shared business addresses. The complaint asserts that the California Department of Education has “failed to take meaningful action” despite its own findings of misdeeds.

“It's like the state screaming, 'Come and get this money that's supposed to be for our schools. We’ll look the other way while you spend it on other things,’” said complainant Tina Andres, a Santa Ana teacher. “It just invites corruption and fraud. That’s not what charter schools are supposed to do.” Andres’ son attends a charter school in Orange County.

Andres joined Jose Moreno, an Anaheim parent, and Amsterdam & Partners LLP law firm on the complaint which was filed with the California Department of Education under the Uniform Complaint Procedure process. It can be viewed following.

The complaint calls for a comprehensive investigation by the State Department of Education. It cites findings made last year by the state in an audit of Magnolia including that 69% of Magnolia's financial transactions were unaccounted for; that Magnolia routinely awards large contracts to vendors that have overlapping connections with their own employees and board of directors; and that Magnolia has illegally used hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to pay for visas for Turkish nationals.

The complaint states that all three of these activities are hallmarks of Gülen charters. Magnolia has denied ties to Gülen, an organization under investigation by the Turkish and United States governments.

Magnolia is headed by Caprice Young, former president of the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and founder of the powerful lobby, the California Charter Schools Association. Under Young's leadership, Magnolia runs 11 schools, including eight in LAUSD, and recently submitted petitions for eight more schools in Anaheim, LAUSD, Garden Grove, Fremont, and Oceanside. The complaint states that if all eight charter schools were to be approved, the cost to the state of California would be in the billions of dollars.

The complaint presses the regulatory authorities to take immediate action before Magnolia's additional charters could be approved.


To download a PDF of the original complaint, please click here



COURT'S MOVE TO GIVE TWO NONPROFITS ACCESS TO STUDENTS' PERSONAL DATA IGNITES PRIVACY DEBATE
By Pat Maio | San Diego Union Tribune/reprinted in the LA Times | http://lat.ms/1RVG1i9

Feb 21, 2016 | San Diego :: School districts throughout the state are warning that students' personal data will soon be accessed by two nonprofit organizations as part of a federal court case involving special education services, sparking an outcry from parents and lawmakers over privacy rights.

The data — including Social Security numbers, mental health records and home addresses — has been sought by the California Concerned Parents Assn. and the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Assn., which is suing the state Department of Education.

The groups allege that the state is not providing a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities, as is required by law.

School districts began notifying parents this week that the data would be provided to comply with a recent court ruling in the case.

"I was literally out of my mind," said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat who serves the 80th District in southern San Diego. She learned of the court ruling over the weekend.

"They don't need all of this information."

Parents can object to the data dump by April 1 via the Education Department's website, cde.ca.gov, or the California Concerned Parents Assn.'s website at californiaconcernedparents.org.

Peter Tira, an Education Department spokesman, said it's unclear whether objecting would prevent a student's data from being released.

"It's up to the court to make that determination," he said. "Nothing has been turned over."

Representatives of the California Concerned Parents Assn. could not be reached for comment, but a statement on the group's website said the nonprofit is "very concerned about the privacy of all students in the state."

"We would like parents to understand that we had offered to mediate a settlement with the California Department of Education many times and have offered to receive the information" with fake names, the statement said. "The attorneys for the CDE refused, which forced the judge to make this ruling."

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento imposed several measures designed to protect the information, including that fewer than 10 people be allowed to search student records and that attorneys and consultants will have access only to records through judicial overseers.

Still, parents, administrators and state officials said that's not enough.

Gonzalez joined Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) and Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) to introduce legislation designed to ensure that personal information such as Social Security numbers are protected at the school district level.

"It's time to clean up some of this stuff," she said.

The San Diego Unified School District has posted information on its website about the order and how it might affect the district's 128,000 students, spokeswoman Linda Zintz said.

"At this point, we're asking schools to let parents know about the ruling," she said. "We'll look at other strategies to make sure all parents are informed."

Sue Kroncke, director of special education with the Escondido Union High School District, said officials are trying to determine who must comply with the ruling and how it will be handled.

"We are still trying to make sense of this," said Kroncke, adding that uncertainty remains on whether the order affects all 8,000 students in her school district or only the 800 students who are classified as having special education needs.

She said that she previously thought that such data was protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

"We operate in good faith that we will keep information private," she said. "This ruling was quite a surprise to all of us in education."


HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources
MOODY'S ASSIGNS Aa2 TO LAUSD GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS; OUTLOOK IS STABLE
http://bit.ly/1oCxPrK

DISENFRANCHISING PARENTS, HECKUVA DIRECTIVE, DONE …or the continuing (mis)adventures of DONE+BONC!
http://bit.ly/1UcuknI

COMPLAINT ACCUSES MAGNOLIA CHARTERS OF ILLEGAL USE OF FUNDS
http://bit.ly/1TqIH7m

smf tweets: Does all this half-off candy at the supermarket represent sad broken hearts and lost love?
Or just a happy bargain on chocolate?

¡Not so fast all you pundits!: DID THE TEACHERS UNIONS PIN THEIR HOPES ON ANTONIN SCALIA GOING ROGUE?
http://bit.ly/1OcAxZD

George Skelton: WHY VETERAN TEACHERS AREN'T SURPRISED YOUNG PEOPLE ARE SHUNNING THE PROFESSION
http://lat.ms/1KlCLLo

Dan Walters: SCALIA'S DEATH LIKELY SAVES TEACHERS UNIONS IN DUES CASE | The Sacramento Bee
http://bit.ly/20WywgE

A FRAGMENTED SYSTEM FOR CHECKING THE BACKGROUNDS OF TEACHERS LEAVES STUDENTS AT RISK
http://bit.ly/1PNaWbH


EVENTS: Coming up next week...
Tues., February 23, 2016 - 2PM | COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - http://bit.ly/217wUAI

Thurs., Feb 25, 2016 | 10AM Februray Meeting of the Bond Oversight Committee | http://www.laschools.org/bond

Thurs., February 25, 2016 4PM | MIDDLE GRADES COLLABORATIVE - LEARNING GROUP SESSION #1 - “4:00-5:30pm.
Location: Nightingale Middle School Auditorium 3311 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, 90065 | http://bit.ly/1oVwjRE

*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:
Scott.Schmerelson@lausd.net • 213-241-8333
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Ref.Rodriguez@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@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 the Superintendent:
superintendent@lausd.net • 213-241-7000
...or your city councilperson, mayor, county supervisor, state legislator, 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. Volunteer in the classroom. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child - and ultimately: For all children.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE at http://registertovote.ca.gov/
• 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 was Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and has represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for over 13 years. He currently serves as Vice President for Health, is a Legislation Action Committee member and a member of the Board of Directors 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 "WHO" Gold Award and the ACSA Regional Ferd Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award - honors 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. 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.
• To SUBSCRIBE e-mail: 4LAKids-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com - or -TO ADD YOUR OR ANOTHER'S NAME TO THE 4LAKids SUBSCRIPTION LIST E-mail smfolsom@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" AS THE SUBJECT. Thank you.