Getting what we want/need

4LAKids: Sunday 15•May•2011 In This Issue: • A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES • LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts proposed • TUESDAY'S ELECTION: For your voting consideration • THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS • HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources • EVENTS: Coming up next week... • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404 • PUBLIC SCHOOLS: an investment we can't afford to cut! - The Education Coalition Website • 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. News story: TEACHERS RALLY AGAINST CUTS IN LOS ANGELES by Daisy Nguyen, Associated Press Friday, May 13, 2011 - 20:34 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) --Thousands of teachers from the nation's second-largest school district filled a downtown Los Angeles square Friday afternoon to demonstrate against the threat of cuts in education funding. Decked in union red T-shirts, they held signs that read "Layoffs Hurt Students" and "No Class Size Increase" in Pershing Square as passing motorists honked with approval. It was one of several mass gatherings throughout the state, including rallies at the state Capitol, in San Francisco, San Diego and San Bernardino. (more: http://bit.ly/jg57kW) ___________________ observed/recalled: "And I went down to the demonstration. To get my fair share of abuse. Singing, 'We're gonna vent our frustration. If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse'." I rode to the rally on the train. Gold Line. Surrounded by red UTLA (and few Pasadena Unified) T-shirts, with signs: 'Stop The Cuts'/'Education Can't Wait' - and the occasional stroller. Parents and teachers and students sitting, strap hangers standing. This train's final destination is Atlantic Station. Next stop is Chinatown station. This journey's final destination is Fully-Funded K-12 Education. Stand clear the doors are closing. Next stop Union Station. The red rivulet flows down the stairwell and merges into the concourse, growing, turning right and right again, past the pretzel stand, the Starbucks to the left, down the escalator. A torrent, a steam, a river onto the Red Line platform. How apropos. Stand clear. Behind the yellow line. No playing loud music. People Get Ready, there's a train a'comin. Civic Center. Next stop: Pershing Square, Off the train, Up the stairs. Through the turnstiles. Up the escalator. Out of the darkness, Put on your shades. The State of Emergency emerges into the light. A patch of green in the concrete city. General Pershing went to Europe so we could do this; he made his fourth star gold and L.A. gave him a square. A forest of video antennae. ABC. NBC. Channel 9. Channel 2. Channel 5. Fox. Samba whistles and the red army conquers the crosswalk. Honk for education. Rehearsing the chant: A Pueblo Unidos. A rock 'n roll stage for a small concert. We are Fremont High School. Roosevelt. RFK-12. Make your own sign. Make your own taco. 3:30: Out of string at the sign booth. Duffy has an angry Blackberry message: "Protest and rally on your own time!" A drum-line and cowbells and more samba whistles – something akin to 9:8 time. Education Cuts Hurt The Kids Of Our State. Bridge St. School. The beat slows to 5:4. Lots o' familiar faces but I can't find the one I'm supposed to find. The mariachi begins to play. Nine young women in pink. The silver trumpet a quarter-tone sharp - the way it's supposed to be. Que bonitos ojos tienes / De bajo de esas dos cejas / De bajo de esas dos cejas /Que bonitos ojos tienes. The student mariachi program in LAUSD, another shining light ignored in the propaganda/strategic communications/spin of failure. Gracias Maria Reza. I find my PTA speaker and we slip backstage in a shelter of trees and shade cloth and folding chairs, the panorama of the crowd in red before us. The more faded the red t-shirt the rowdier the wearer. The old-timers in pink, veterans of many rallies and Tuesday work-actions and many washings stand out. Teachers have a strange social dynamic. Some haven't been out of school since pre-K. They trained in groups but work alone alone in rooms with doors closed surrounded by children. They grade papers alone. Some are collaborative, some are not. Some – and often the best – are intimidated by other adults (not a good thing for parent engagement) because they don't see enough of them. But in groups teachers are very social – it is not accidental that the collective noun for fish and teachers is 'school'. Today the mass is critical and infectious. In the throng someone is waving a upside-down California Flag. Stop the Cuts. WE ARE ONE. Parents. Teachers. Students. School Staff. College Faculty, Northridge. Pomona, Fullerton. Layoffs hurt kids. Education can't wait. A folk singer: We Shall Not Be Moved. Hello Everyone. Welcome to Pershing Square. Hola a todos. And so it begins, The Village It Takes in congress assembled. The fire marshal asks us to spread out – keep the access and egress clear. We are not the only Village. L.A, San Francisco. San Diego. San Bernardino, Sacramento. Can you hear us Sacramento? Can you hear our voices? We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. CTA no longer means California Teachers Association – it is Childrens Tenacious Advocates. ACSA, CASBO, CFT, CLF, CSBA, CSEA, PTA, NEA - all the letters of the alphabet soup of the advocates for public education. WE ARE ONE. The coalition coalesced, The budget crisis is a disaster of epic proportions. Helicopters hover, converting fossil fuel into stable camera platforms for the six and eleven o'clock news. Rhetoric flows accented by bombast and outrage. Enough of it is true to be The Truth murmured and spoken and shouted to power. Sisters and brothers education and children must be a priority. Cancel the cuts. Teachers are people, not line items. Teach the Arts, Teach Music. Keep the Libraries Open. Nurses in the nurses office. Close the school; Close a Mind, Call and response: What do we want?: EDUCATION. When do we want it?: NOW. No Justice. NO PEACE. They say: CUT BACK, we say: FIGHT BACK. They say: FURLOUGH. we say: HELL NO. A sign says DEASY: FUND SCHOOL LIBRARIES. PTA speaks about all of the above and the death by a thousand cuts of Arts Education in our schools – rails against the mindset not teaching if it's not tested. The Whole Child, How a student-to-music-teacher-ratio of 8000:1 in LAUSD is unacceptable. How the Arts and Libraries and childrens social welfare and medical services are critical. Another speaker: "I don't know about about the minority party in Sacramento. I don't know what they have against Education. I don't know what the have against Public Safety. I don't know what they have against Children," Another speaker: "My heart is with only kids. Legislators: Were is your heart?" The folk singer is back, observing that the current governor's father – the first Governor Brown – must be spinning in his grave over the demise of his dream – dreamt and built and left in place – now come undone. He sings the anthem of Solidarity Forever and it rises from the crowd like a hymn from the unconscious, learned in another generation. A sign calls for Pink Slips for our elected representatives, A City Firefighter says "You teachers are our heroes". A PTA parent from Inglewood stands to say half of the teachers there have been given pink slips – can this be true? - and that we parents have your teachers backs. She issues The Call to Action. First: Every one of us must call our legislators, It's not that difficult. Two phone calls – how hard is that? Second: We must each get five people to do the same. And they must get five people. "I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain." Student drummers drum a Brazilian polyrhythm and the crowd stirs and sways and dances waving their signs. And we melt away. Down the streets. Down the escalator. Red streams into the ground. Into the subway. Into the future. Motivated.. Actuated. Authenticated. Empowered. Recharged. Into the future. "And if you try some time you just might find you get what you need." Onward/Amen - smf Two calls to two legislators. Get five mote folks to do it. It's not a quick fix, it's a first shot in a revolution. A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES ONLY 24% OF LATINO STUDENTS, 20% OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND 40% OF WHITES WILL GRADUATE THIS YEAR WITH ALL OF THESE COURSES PASSED + smf's 2¢ By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/kjzxvE 5/11/2011 10:56:12 PM PDT - Five years after Los Angeles Unified passed an ambitious policy requiring all students to take college-required courses to graduate, the rate of students passing those classes remains alarmingly low, according to a district review of the program obtained by the Daily News Tuesday. Prompted by strong community and political pressure, in 2005 the LAUSD school board approved new rules for high schools requiring all students to pass a series of 15 college prep courses in order to get their diplomas. The "A-G requirements," which include four years of college prep English and two years of lab science, math and foreign language, were supposed to help increase the low numbers of LAUSD students who were graduating college-ready. According to district statistics, in 2003 just 36 percent of Latino students, 45 percent of African-American students and 52 percent of white students completed these courses. Since the passage of that policy, the number of students passing the mandated math, science, English and foreign language classes with a C or better remains dismal. According to the district's review, just 24 percent of Latino students, 20 percent of African-American students and 40 percent of white students are set to graduate this year with all of these courses passed. New LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who delayed a presentation of the report he commissioned Tuesday, said he plans to make increasing the number of students graduating ready for college a key goal of his administration. "Obviously we have a long way to go," Deasy said. "I want to get to 100 percent graduation, but those diplomas need to mean something, and in California that means passing your A-G courses." According to the report, most LAUSD students are getting access to college-level courses, and 61 percent of all high school classes taught at LAUSD high schools are part of the A-G curriculum. However, the report reveals that individual schools differ greatly in how well they are giving kids access to rigorous courses. For example, at Daniel Pearl Journalism Magnet High School, 72 percent of all classes taught are college prep courses while at Arleta High less than half meet college requirements. Some educators explained that this disparity between schools and the low passage rate of students was connected to the district's lack of planning for this far-reaching proposal. "This plan was never thought out ... there was no strategy for implementation," said former LAUSD board member David Tokofsky, who sat on the school board in 2005. Tokofsky, who voted in favor of the new policy along with his six other colleagues on the board, said the new rules became more about politics than students. Community activists who advocated for the new rules though, stressed that their battle was an effort to raise the bar for thousands of students who, at the time, were not even allowed to take the courses they needed to gain entry into college. __________ ●● smf's 2¢ | Deasy: "I want to get to 100 percent graduation, but those diplomas need to mean something, and in California that means passing your A-G courses." 1. Deasy misspeaks. The A-G requirements are NOT a California requirement to get a diploma, they are an LAUSD requirement. 2. The California A-G UC/CSU entry requirement is for students to pass the A-G courses with a grade of "C" or better; the LAUSD requirement is to 'pass' with a "D" or better. Once a student gets a "D" in ANY A-G class he does NOT meet the UC/CSU requirement unless the class is repeated. 3. A-G are MINIMUM entry requirements. In the real world students' Grade Point Average, SAT scores, AP course load and testing . work portfolios, application essays, interviews, recommendations and a myriad of other factors come into play. LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts proposed By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | http://bit.ly/mmOzFi 5/11/2011 - Los Angeles Unified officials Tuesday approved a series of changes to the landmark Public School Choice program, including eliminating a community vote and limiting the new campuses that can be included. New LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who recommended the changes, also proposed streamlining the teacher contracts at the School Choice campuses that are run by internal district-based teams. The streamlined contracts grant school management more flexibility and local control but could also reduce some workplace rules favored by unions. The changes are the first major overhaul of the School Choice program, which was approved in 2009 and allows nonprofit groups, charter operators and district teachers groups to compete to run some public campuses. Deasy said his changes are essential to maintaining the success of the reform effort, in which some 50 schools have already participated. Union critics, however, argued that some of the new rules would actually limit choice. "These changes restrict voice and choice from a process that was supposed to be all about that," said Betty Forrester, secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles. Forrester said the "thin contracts" were created by the union to apply only to a small number of pilot schools and should not be forced upon teachers at the School Choice campuses. Pilot schools are smaller district campuses that have charter like freedoms to control their budgets, schedules and hiring. Educators who work at pilot schools agree to the streamlined contract, which reduces some workplace rules and can make it easier to fire teachers. UTLA also opposes the elimination of the community vote in the School Choice program, which Forrester said is the only way for parents to have a say in the reform process. The community vote aspect of School Choice, which allows parents, students and staff to cast nonbinding votes for who they think should run the schools, has been criticized as being rife with irregularities and subject to manipulation. It allowed some voters to cast more than one ballot and had dismally low participation rates from parents. Some board members celebrated Deasy's proposal to eliminate the vote, including School Choice author Yolie Flores. "Over the last two years we've learned what works and what doesn't for this program, and clearly the advisory vote was not working," Flores said. "It became a political manipulation process." _______________________________ ●● smf: WHAT IS A VOTE, WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IF NOT A "POLITICAL MANIPULATION PROCESS"? _______________________________ Deasy said he may return with an alternative proposal to gather community input. Board member Steve Zimmer said he would "pitch a battle" if no alternative community vote process was brought to the board in the near future. "That is non-negotiable," Zimmer said. Other changes approved Tuesday included: Limiting the new schools that can be selected to only those surrounded by low-performing schools with test scores that rank below 800 on the state Academic Performance Index, which uses a scale of 200 to 1000. Encouraging more parent participation through increased workshops and outreach. Providing more staff and resources for schools that are selected to participate in the process. Granting the superintendent more power to decide what happens to a participating campus that receives no qualified bids. Some 37 new and existing schools have been selected to participate in the third round of the Public School Choice process. Those campuses, which include six in the San Fernando Valley, will open in fall 2012 under their new leadership. TUESDAY'S ELECTION: For your voting consideration [smf: I am forwarding the following unsolicited email from a 4LAKids reader and warrior in the battle for good public education in LAUSD. I have removed the writer's name because she is a district employee who should remain anonymous so as to stand a chance of keeping her job – and unfortunately it comes to that. Her opposition to Luis Sanchez is complete; her endorsement of Bennett Kayser is restrained ...but well reasoned. Let's face it: Thomas Jefferson is not a candidate in every election and there are many who couldn't vote for Tom! I don't necessarily agree with her opinion of the school police but she should say these things. She quotes me and I hate quoting myself ...but I did edit my comments because somebody should!] Dear dear friends (sending to those I know - please feel free to forward), Please allow me to weigh in on Luis Sanchez as I live in District 5. I have a kid in a good local school, and if he gets elected I believe PUBLIC education will be further at risk. Although I wish I were more enthusiastic about Bennett Kayser, I will vote for him because I believe he will be fair to ALL models of instruction and work hard for the success of all students in the district. He is the better choice for me ---- Ah, democracy! Here are just two of many reasons why I can't consider Sanchez: CHARTER SCHOOLS vs. CHARTER SCHOOLS vs. TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS Charter alternatives started by parents, teachers and other dedicated educators are great and necessary, and contribute to the mosaic of good education. But there are corporations who view education as an industry to be conquered. They sit in the halls of Beaudry (LAUSD headquarters) and lobby Monica Garcia and her chief of staff Luis Sanchez. She ingratiates herself with business and succeeds in a divide-and-conquer effort to pit ALL charters (grassroots and corporate) and existing public schools against each other. Luis Sanchez is her mini-me, and favors charters over traditional public schools. It’s not in children’s best interests to pit groups of passionate people who have the same goals against each other. It’s in all our interests to learn from each other and grow collaboratively. LOS ANGELES SCHOOL POLICE DEPARTMENT Luis Sanchez cites LASPD support more than any other group. Isn’t that a little weird? Do the LASPD teach our children? Are they publicly accountable? Are they even competent? How much do they cost? Why is there a giant banner hanging on a building along the west side of the 110 that says “The Los Angeles School Police Department is Hiring!" when the district sends layoffs to 7,000? Remember, this is the department of the idiot who shot himself and shut down the Valley. This is the department that still does not have any apparent public oversight for officer misbehavior. This is a department that costs the district money in legal settlements for said misbehavior. This is the department I called on March 8th of this year for parents whose daughter had run away as soon as she’d been dropped off at school, that didn’t want to talk to the parents on the phone, and that then took an hour to get to the school. Fortunately I called the LAPD at the same time and they arrived in about 15 minutes. (The girl returned the next day, by the way. Phew!) I could go on (and on!) but I’ll end with this forward from PTA dad, friend, and advocate for kids Scott Folsom on his views of Luis Sanchez: "Luis's running like he's against the bureaucrats and he's the bureaucrat in chief. The most Inside of the Beaudry Insiders, He sits in the secret board meetings. Luis is a way to use shameless and shameful in the same sentence. Or perhaps ask 'Have you no no shame, sir?' On Monday the final pink slips go out - Luis might as well deliver them himself. But how do I really feel?" Yours in the cause of quality, fun and loving education for all, (signed) A PARENT, A TEACHER AND ADVOCATE FOR THE ARTS THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS IF STATE EDUCATION CUTS ARE DRASTIC, THE LIBRARIANS' ONLY CHANCE OF KEEPING A PAYCHECK IS TO PROVE THEY'RE QUALIFIED TO BE SWITCHED TO CLASSROOM TEACHING. SO LAUSD ATTORNEYS GRILL THEM. ● POINT/COUNTERPOINT(lessness): Compare+Contrast this article with: School Libraries and Librarians in the Rest of the World: 23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN LIBRARY SPENDING AND STUDENT LEARNING | http://bit.ly/kef4Ak ● UPDATE: This story has picked up by the Huffington Post – making it a National Disgrace! | http://huff.to/lto6Bv By Hector Tobar, LA Times Columnist | http://lat.ms/mRucBU May 13, 2011 - In a basement downtown, the librarians are being interrogated. On most days, they work in middle schools and high schools operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District, fielding student queries about American history and Greek mythology, and retrieving copies of vampire novels. But this week, you'll find them in a makeshift LAUSD courtroom set up on the bare concrete floor of a building on East 9th Street. Several sit in plastic chairs, watching from an improvised gallery as their fellow librarians are questioned. A court reporter takes down testimony. A judge grants or denies objections from attorneys. Armed police officers hover nearby. On the witness stand, one librarian at a time is summoned to explain why she — the vast majority are women — should be allowed to keep her job. The librarians are guilty of nothing except earning salaries the district feels the need to cut. But as they're cross-examined by determined LAUSD attorneys, they're continually put on the defensive. "When was the last time you taught a course for which your librarian credential was not required?" an LAUSD attorney asked Laura Graff, the librarian at Sun Valley High School, at a court session on Monday. "I'm not sure what you're asking," Graff said. "I teach all subjects, all day. In the library." "Do you take attendance?" the attorney insisted. "Do you issue grades?" I've seen a lot of strange things in two decades as a reporter, but nothing quite as disgraceful and weird as this inquisition the LAUSD is inflicting upon more than 80 school librarians. "With my experience, it makes me angry to be interrogated," Graff told me after the 40 minutes she spent on the witness stand, describing the work she's done at libraries and schools going back to the 1970s. "I don't think any teacher-librarian needs to sit here and explain how they help teach students." Sitting in during two court sessions this week, I felt bad for everyone present, including the LAUSD attorneys. After all, in the presence of a school librarian, you feel the need to whisper and be respectful. It must be very difficult, I thought, to grill a librarian. For LAUSD officials, it's a means to an end: balancing the budget. Some 85 credentialed teacher-librarians got layoff notices in March. If state education cuts end up being as bad as most think likely, their only chance to keep a paycheck is to prove that they're qualified to be transferred into classroom teaching jobs. Since all middle and high school librarians are required to have a state teaching credential in addition to a librarian credential, this should be an easy task — except for a school district rule that makes such transfers contingent on having taught students within the last five years. To get the librarians off the payroll, the district's attorneys need to prove to an administrative law judge that the librarians don't have that recent teaching experience. To try to prove that they do teach, the librarians, in turn, come to their hearings with copies of lesson plans they've prepared and reading groups they've organized. Sandra Lagasse, for 20 years the librarian at White Middle School in Carson, arrived at the temporary courtroom Wednesday with copies of her lesson plans in Greek word origins and mythology. On the witness stand, she described tutoring students in geometry and history, including subjects like the Hammurabi Code. Her multi-subject teaching credential was entered into evidence as "Exhibit 515." Lagasse also described the "Reading Counts" program she runs in the library, in which every student in the school is assessed for reading skills. "This is not a class, correct?" a school district attorney asked her during cross-examination. "No," she said. "It is part of a class." "There is no class at your school called 'Reading Counts'? Correct." "No." Lagasse endured her time on the stand with quiet dignity and confidence. She described how groups of up to 75 students file into her library — and how she works individually with many students. Later she told me: "I know I'm doing my job right when a student tells me, 'Mrs. Lagasse, that book you gave me was so good. Do you have anything else like it?' " It's a noble profession. And it happens to be the only one Michael Bernard wants to practice. "It's true, I'm a librarian and that's all I want to be," said the librarian at North Hollywood High School, who has been a librarian for 23 years and has a master's degree in library science. "The larger issue is the destruction of school libraries," Bernard told me. "None of the lawyers was talking about that." School district rules say that only a certified teacher-librarian can manage a school library. So if Bernard is laid off, his library, with its 40,000 books and new computer terminals, could be shut down. Word of the libraries' pending doom is starting to spread through the district. Adalgisa Grazziani, the librarian at Marshall High School, told me that the kids at her school are asking if they can take home books when the library there is closed. "Can I have the fantasy collection?" one asked her. If they could speak freely at their dismissal hearings, the librarians likely would tell all present what a tragedy it is to close a library. Instead, they sit and try to politely answer such questions as, "Have you ever taught physical education?" It doesn't seem right to punish an educator for choosing the quiet and contemplation of book stacks over the noise and hubbub of a classroom or a gymnasium. But that's where we are in these strange and stupid times. ●● smf - PLEASE READ THIS: From my cold plastic chair, a first-hand account from LAUSD TEACHER-LIBRARIAN COURT HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources From my cold plastic chair: LAUSD TEACHER-LIBRARIAN COURT: Settle in, it’s a long one. from The Library is Not... http://bit.ly/lbQ1yQ PARTISAN RHETORIC INFLAMES COLLEGE BOARD RACE: The main issue in the election had been waste in the Los Angeles ... http://bit.ly/mv9fsK L.A. SCHOOL BOARD RUNOFF GROWS EXPENSIVE AND CONTENTIOUS: The teachers union is backing Bennett Kayser against L... http://bit.ly/jwAOsK NEW YORK TEACHER REVIEWS WILL PUT MORE FOCUS ON STATE TESTS + BIG ROLE OF TEST SCORES IN IN NEW YORK TEACHER EVA... http://bit.ly/kWtM8n LAUSD fake shooting case: LAUSD officer pleads not guilty to faking his own shooting - latimes.com latimes.com/news/local/la-… THE LACCD INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT ON THE CONSTRUCTION+VdK DEBACLES IS OUT - if not public. Apparently "Whitewash" maligns fence painters. CALIFORNIA TEACHER PROTESTS: Thousands Rally Against Education Cuts: JULIET WILLIAMS, Associate Press, from the ... http://bit.ly/iSqfea $12 BILLION IN CUTS SEEN: 5,000 teachers rally for funding in Pershing Square: By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | ... http://bit.ly/l83cwa CALIFORNIA AT A CROSSROADS; MY GENERATION’S FUTURE HANGS IN BALANCE: By Miriam Hernandez - Junior at Roosevel... http://bit.ly/lPCATa WHAT DON’T LEGISLATORS UNDERSTAND ABOUT ’EMERGENCY’?: Themes in the News for the week of May 9-13, 2011 by UCLA ... http://bit.ly/jiuHKl School Libraries and Librarians in LAUSD: THE DISGRACEFUL INTERROGATION OF LAUSD SCHOOL LIBRARIANS: If state edu... http://bit.ly/ieN5dc TEACHER LAYOFFS OUT OF SYNC WITH BUDGET IMPASSE: Should law be changed to reflect reality? What a concept! Loui... http://bit.ly/l2H7Ni School Libraries and Librarians in the Rest of the World: 23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN LIBRARY SPENDING... http://bit.ly/kef4Ak 2 from EdWeek: HOUSE GOP BEGINS TO MAKE OVER NCLB/ESEA/PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THEIR OWN IMAGE: House Bill Calls for... http://bit.ly/kkRPjH WILL CHROMEBOOKS FOR EDUCATION BE A GOOD DEAL FOR SCHOOLS?: By Audrey Watters /Read Write Web | http://rww.to/jZ... http://bit.ly/izTH4D EAST TRUST—WEST ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING THE LATEST 2010-11 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEST (CELD... http://bit.ly/kU9PE8 STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF TOM TORLAKSON RELEASES RESULTS OF 2010–11 CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEST: Cali... http://bit.ly/lubruW SB355: EDUCATION REFORM BILL FAILS IN STATE SENATE COMMITTEE + Teacher tenure targeted: Legislature goes after m... http://bit.ly/kncZBS WANNA MARCH? Join PTSA(Parents+Teachers+Students+Artists) March from VAPA HS/Central HS#9 @450 N.Grand to Pershing Sq FRI THE13th :An unprecedented day 4 Kids w/5 simultaneous rallies throughout the State as protesters converge on the capitol in Sacramento. Go 2 the Demonstration/Get+Give your fair share of Abuse! I HOPE 2 SEE EVERY SINGLE 4LAKids SUBSCRIBER @ THE PERSHING SQUARE RALLY TODAY@ 4 James Sohn: Former chief of L.A. Unified construction program joins firm that contracted with district - latimes.com http://lat.ms/jaN4sc First pinkslip librarians then humiliate them! See Hector Tobar in todays Times:http://lat.ms/kDhrrS Compare to this:http://bit.ly/kJho8H Because of the Great Blogger Crash there have been no updates on 4LAKids for a day! But much is going on, little of it good. Tweets follow! ASSEMBLY GOP ISSUES BUDGET AHEAD OF GOVERENOR’S PLAN: Posted by Kevin Yamamura SacBee Capitol Alert | http:... http://bit.ly/m6B3tk 12 May Favorite Reply Delete SAVE THE ARTS BENEFIT AT THE HISTORIC COCOANUT GROVE - Saturday, June 11th at 6:00pm: an email to 4LAKids from ... http://bit.ly/kpJz1N 23 STUDIES FIND POSITIVE LINK BETWEEN SCHOOL LIBRARY SPENDING AND STUDENT LEARNING: FROM THE REPORT: “Clearly, t... http://bit.ly/iylpKf Joel Klein in The Atlantic: “THE FALURE OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS”: smf: Five years ago I went to New York City with a... http://bit.ly/lIp303 NBC EDUCATION NATION in L.A May 13 – 19.: PillarLA.com writes: We’d like to inform you about Education Nation -... http://bit.ly/lgRcbG LAUSD BOARD OF ED OK's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM OVERHAUL: Community vote eliminated, streamlined contracts a... http://bit.ly/ldbQg2 A-G: MANY STUDENTS FAILING COLLEGE PREP COURSES. Only 24% of Latino students, 20% of African-Americans and 40% o... http://bit.ly/j0pyEZ HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH SCHOOL 'RECONSTITUTION' AND STUDENT WALKOUT: L.A. Board of Education approves plan to reva... http://bit.ly/ij1QHS The Education of Jose Pedraza: WHY FIXING SCHOOLS ISN'T SIMPLE MATH: by Julianne Hing , Colorlines.com | http://... http://bit.ly/j5LZvb TEACHERS, PARENTS LAUNCH "WEEK OF EMERGENCY" TO HELP AVERT CUTS TO EDUCATION: Concerned citizens are urged to co... http://bit.ly/m8Xgi4 PAY-2-LEARN/School Funding: FEE RESTRICTIONS MAY FORCE SCHOOLS TO CUT EXTRACURRICULAR PROGRAMS: Legal settlement... http://bit.ly/m20JjU PAY-2-LEARN - REPORT: An Investigation of Mandatory Fees for Educational Activities in California’s Public Schoo... http://bit.ly/jhm0tp L.A. DISTRICT PLANS SHAKEUP AT HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH: By July, officials, spurred by board member Yolie Flores, a... http://bit.ly/mQvctM L.A. TIMES RATES TEACHERS AGAIN, UNFORTUNATELY + Deasy's letter to The Times + Leading mathematician debunks ‘va... http://bit.ly/l5KCHq TORLAKSON/CDE RELEASES API SCORES FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS + School, District and State Reports: California Depart... http://bit.ly/mAviZ0 TEST SCORES DON’T MEAN THAT MUCH: Editorial by Jim Boren, Editorial Page Editor – The Fresno Bee | http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/m8nmnS DUAL-LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAMS ARE THE NEW FACE OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION – WITHOUT THE STIGMA. They offer the ch... http://bit.ly/lgPOFS EVENTS: Coming up next week... SAVE THE DATE! *** SAVE THE ARTS! SAVE THE ARTS BENEFIT AT THE HISTORIC COCOANUT GROVE - Saturday, June 11th at 6:00pm CLICK HERE FOR THE SORDID BUT OH-SO-ARTISTIC DETAILS: http://bit.ly/kpJz1N *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: Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383 Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600 • Call or e-mail Governor Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE. • If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE. • If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids. • FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 4LAKids makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of education issues vital to parents, teachers, students and community members in a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. • 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.

Where and why, indeed.

4LAKids: Sunday 8•May•2011 Mothers' Day In This Issue: • 'Value-Addled'/New+Disproved: TIMES UPDATES AND EXPANDS VALUE-ADDED RATINGS FOR LOS ANGELES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS • DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM • FREMONT, JORDAN & MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOLS WILL LOSE MILLIONS IN QEIA FUNDING • BROKE L.A. SCHOOLS ARE GIVING TEACHERS A HALF DAY TO PROTEST • HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources • EVENTS: Coming up next week... • What can YOU do? Featured Links: • Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting "Follow 4LAKids" to 40404 • PUBLIC SCHOOLS: an investment we can't afford to cut! - The Education Coalition Website • 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. • Race to Nowhere: Mothers' Day and the Kentucky Derby kick off testing season. Memorial Day and the Indy 500 end it. • Today's Mothers' Day Gift from their brand new publisher?: The Times publishes its 'Value Addled' Teacher Ratings. _____________ A 4LAKids READER - a retired principal/a teacher of principals - asks: "WHERE is the vision for what a public school should be like regardless of the money? You can always work towards a goal if you know the goal. "We have already seen the effects of the billionaire philanthropists on the District. I hope that you haven't forgotten that Eli Broad made the District hire his own architect and raise the cost of Central HS for the Arts through his dramatic enhancements with the promise of funds that to my knowledge haven't materialized to date -- but the District expended the money to woo him when it could have been spent on refurbishing older schools. My bigger question - which I hope you will expand on in an article - is why we even need a Board of Education if they are ceding schools to charters and other outside entities and allowing outsiders to hire the leadership of the District? "WHY do we need them? "They obviously don't have the wherewithal to problem solve and lead....or else why in the world would they turn the District over to outsiders who are outside of their accountability?" Where and why, indeed. The very public goal, repeated as mantra, is "100% graduation - with every graduate career prepared and college ready". Three buzz-word aphorisms stung together are not a goal - they are a slogan. "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Or "No child left behind." The only way to reach 100% graduation is to make a diploma an attendance certificate and then enforce attendance. The charter (and other) schools who claim 100% graduation graduate 100% of their graduates - NOT 100% of the kids who showed up on day one of the 9th grade. They don't count the kids who transferred out, were pushed out, didn't come back from summer vacation, returned to their home school, weren't a good fit, needed the special attention of other programs (special ed - English Language Learners) offered elsewhere. They don't count the kids who just moved away or got a job or went on American Idol. They choose not to count the students who chose to choose something else. Many high school graduates are not college ready. Many (if not most) need remedial classes ("Dumbbell English"). This is ancient problem (See the Burden of Bonehead, The Problem of the Inadequately Prepared College Student - The Journal of Higher Education - Vol. 28, No. 1, Jan., 1957 | http://bit.ly/kM78if) The problem isn't recent: "Freshmen who read badly, write poorly and figure inaccurately, if at all…" wasn't new (or news) in 1957. Not one but two reports this month from the California Budget Project conclude: "A college degree or industry-recognized vocational certificate is now the principal pathway to a well-paid job. Increasingly, remedial English and mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs are the gateway to college and skills training. These programs are of increasing importance because many recent high school graduates, high school dropouts, and low-skilled working adults lack the fundamental English and mathematics proficiency required for postsecondary education. Until recent cutbacks, California’s basic skills programs –which provide remedial education – served more than 1.5million students a year at a cost to the state of more than $1.0billion." And the entire state of California doesn't have enough places in college for just LAUSD graduates should they all apply - even at our current grad rates. And as long as LAUSD accepts a "D" as a passing grade (colleges and universities don't!) the A-G graduation requirement in a not a farce but a fraud. Our high schools offer no courses-of-study in their normal K-12 curriculum that prepare a graduate to the level of being career ready; There is no embedded Career Technical Education - less so in the era of A-G and Small Schools. Even McDonalds must additionally train new hires. MAYBE OUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO SIMPLY COMPLY WITH THE ED CODE. Maybe we should address the Curriculum Content Standards and provide a quality education in ALL the core subjects. Not just English Language Arts, Math and a smattering of Science (i.e.: the stuff that's tested) - but also: ● Career Technical Education, ● English Language Development, ● Health Education, ● History & Social Science (including Civics and basic Economics), ● Physical Education, ● Science, ● The Visual and Performing Arts - including Dance, Music, Theatre & Visual Arts (not either/or!) - and ● World Languages. We want a well-rounded citizenry, not an inadequately tested one. We need to abandon the "If it's not tested it's not taught" mindset. California's high content standards were designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level. The Content Standards are like gravity - not just a good idea …but The Law! THERE'S A KEWL NEW MAP TOOL that shows the devastating effects of cuts on California Schools - no matter where - by School, Assembly or Senate district, here: http://bit.ly/lgI70h TUESDAY EVENING there was a meeting of elementary and secondary arts teachers, pink-slipped/programs cut/riders on the storm like arts teachers and counselors and nurses and librarians. They were worried about their jobs, which is understandable - but they were worried more for the future for the children of L.A. who will not hear and feel and make music. To twist the epigram: "First they came for the substitute teachers and I did not speak out because I was not a substitute teacher. "Then they came for the librarians and I did not speak out because I was not a librarian. "Then they came for the art and music teachers and I did not speak out because I was not one of those." And so it goes. They are taking away the futures of our children, one cut, one job, one position, one furlough day, one test at a time. LAUSD Elementary Music Ed: As good as it used to be, as bad as it is, it could get worse. Please Watch this video: http://bit.ly/ioyzpL Ironically, two encouraging reports on Arts Education came out of Washington this week. From The White House/The Presidents Committee on Arts and the Humanities: Re-Investing in Arts Education and from The Dept. Of Ed: A Snapshot of Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools | http://bit.ly/jfe5dn CURIOSITY MEETS CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER. 4LAKids has not been covering the Jamie Oliver v. LAUSD ruckus in great depth. Essentially it's a Hollywood story about the reality TV. Reality and Hollywood are mutually exclusive - and LAUSD is no match for the star-maker machinery/publicity mill. I've been watching though - tracking the manufactured outrage from Bangalore and Bombay and Ypsilanti of how poor Jamie and his million-dollar-food-truck are being kept out of LAUSD. Recent developments have been arresting. The New Superintendent (one of the stories labels him the "Superintendent of Tinseltown") shows new openness. There was the Headline Grabbing (I was Hollywood hack once, the Capital Letters and hyperbole come easily) Meeting of The Minds on Jimmy Kimmel Live - and chocolate milk is poured down the drain like bootleg beer in a speakeasy raid. "Jamie Wins! Jamie Wins!" the media shouts. A little late perhaps - Jamie's show "Food Revolution" plunged in the ratings despite the media frenzy (it IS opposite "American Idol") and has been 'temporarily replaced' by reruns of "Dancing with the Stars". Reruns. Food Revolution is in turnaround; a turn few shows recover from. Meanwhile Superintendent Deasy is out promoting his educational and poverty fighting foundation - The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education - like the New York City's Robin Hood Foundation - populated (in NYC) by venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, educators (Geoffrey Canada, Marian Wright Edelman) and media/show-biz-peep (Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Zucker, Diane Sawyer, Brain Williams) committed to ending poverty in NYC by "finding and funding the best programs and partnering with them to maximize results". I agree that poverty is the problem - but aren't there are plenty of programs already in place - including United Way and Liberty Hill and a raft of family foundations - committed to this work? Isn't the need in L.A. for something more like New York City’s Fund for Public Schools - chaired by Chancellor Walcott and Caroline Kennedy - which directly supports public education? Rumors are unlovely things that fester and grow into plots around water coolers, on the playground, in teachers' lounges and the company cafeteria. Curiosities are just that. Rumor has it that the wife of the producer of Food Revolution has been named CEO of The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education, aka Robin Hood West. "Aha!" one says momentously …or "So what?" L.A. is a company town, and a small one. Sometimes circumstances are circumstantial. Perhaps the connected dots are just dots. My correspondent - the one who wrote this week's opening challenge - ended by requesting that I "stay well …and stay thirsty, my friend!" If any of this ends poverty and improves the lives and health and diet of children in LA I'll drink the Kool-Aid! Or plain milk. Whatever. "Traer el whisky de mis caballos, y agua para mis hombres!" ¡Onward/Adelante! - smf ______________________________________ Endorsement: BENNETT KAYSER FOR SCHOOL BOARD IF YOU LIVE IN NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES, EAST L.A. OR THE CITIES OF THE SOUTHEAST (Board District 5): 4LAKids supports Bennett Kayser for School Board in the May 17th run-off election. Please Vote Early + Vote Often + Vote for Bennett. It amuses me that the Chief of Staff for the Board President (I can't imagine a loftier bureaucrat title) calls Bennett "a favorite of the Beaudry bureaucrats!" As they say on the schoolyard: "It takes one to know one!" • EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer + more info. 'Value-Addled'/New+Disproved: TIMES UPDATES AND EXPANDS VALUE-ADDED RATINGS FOR LOS ANGELES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS NEW DATA INCLUDE RATINGS FOR ABOUT 11,500 TEACHERS, NEARLY DOUBLE THE NUMBER COVERED LAST AUGUST. SCHOOL AND CIVIC LEADERS HAD SOUGHT TO HALT RELEASE OF THE DATA. By Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/mjj051 May 7, 2011, 11:29 p.m. - The Los Angeles Times on Sunday is releasing a major update to its elementary school teacher ratings, underscoring the large disparities throughout the nation's second-largest school district in instructors' abilities to raise student test scores. The posting — the only publication of such teacher performance data in the nation — contains value-added ratings for about 11,500 third- through fifth-grade teachers, nearly double the number released last August. It also reflects changes in the way the scores were calculated and displayed. ________ •• smf: When will The Times post all their employee evaluations online? ________ Overall ratings for about 470 schools also are included in the release, which is based on student standardized test scores from the academic years 2003-04 through 2009-10. To obtain the rating of a teacher or school, go to latimes.com/valueadded and enter the teacher's or the school's name. The initial release of teacher ratings last summer generated intense controversy — and some praise — across the country, and this round has already met with some opposition. The Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent and other civic leaders, in a letter to the newspaper's publisher, recently asked The Times to reconsider publishing the ratings, saying in part that individual teachers' performances should be addressed in private conversations. More than 1,000 teachers responded to The Times' invitation to view their scores before publication, but few took the opportunity to write comments alongside their ratings. Instructors were strongly advised not to do so by their union, United Teachers Los Angeles, which has opposed publication of the ratings. Some of those who did comment said they saw the information as valuable but added that it did not reflect the sum total of their performance. "Being a relatively new teacher, I welcome feedback that will help me to adjust my teaching to best fit my students' needs," said Amy Miller, who has taught fifth grade at Park Western Place Elementary School, one of about 140 teachers to write comments in the database. "It is, however, only one data point." Others denounced the newspaper, calling its statistics "invalid" and its ratings "a scarlet letter." "Once again you have violated the right to privacy of thousands of teachers," wrote Patricia Hill, who has taught at Windsor Hills Math Science Aerospace Magnet School. One teacher offered a suggestion: "How about publishing the names of the highly effective and effective teachers only," said Steven Butts, who has taught fourth grade at Broadway Elementary School. "I do … believe that more positive recognition for the successful teachers would encourage all teachers to strive for excellence and seek the guidance from those who have proven results year after year." Value-added analysis attempts to estimate a teacher's contribution to student learning by tracking students' progress on standardized tests from year to year. Each student's performance is compared with his or her own in past years, an approach that experts say largely controls for influences beyond a teacher's reach, such as poverty, parenting and prior learning. Because value-added is, like any other statistical approach, subject to error and is based only on test results, most experts agree it should be used as just one gauge of a teacher's overall performance. But many say it is the most objective measure available, and districts around the country are adopting it, largely because of federal incentives. In the interest of greater clarity and accuracy, The Times made several changes in its approach. More information is now shown about the precision of each estimate and how a teacher ranks relative to other teachers in the district. The analysis also takes into account additional variables related to a student's socioeconomic background and the composition of a teacher's class. As in the first release, The Times used data obtained from the district through the California Public Records Act. The changes have not altered the broad conclusions reported by The Times last summer, and the ratings for most teachers changed very little overall. As before, effective teachers were spread more or less evenly throughout the district. But there were often large disparities among instructors who taught similar students in similar schools — even within the same schools. The differences among teachers were more than three times as great as those among schools. The vast majority of teachers' ratings were not significantly influenced by the characteristics of the students they taught, and a teacher's background and training had little to do with his or her performance, according to a study of the updated ratings prepared for The Times by economist Richard Buddin. Many experts say it's not enough for a value-added approach simply to compare a student's performance to that in previous years—one must adjust for other factors such as race and ethnicity, parents' education or classroom composition. Different value-added formulas adjust for different things—leading to different results. To convey how much difference such adjustments can make, The Times is publishing a comparison of results from four value-added models for each teacher. Each model uses a slightly different combination of variables to estimate a teacher's contribution. On average, the results are very similar but, in specific cases, they can vary sharply. For its analysis, The Times adopted the model that included the most variables available. More than a week ago, the newspaper received a letter from civic leaders requesting that The Times reconsider publication of the ratings. The letter was signed by John Deasy, L.A. Unified superintendent; Monica Garcia, Board of Education president; Elise Buik, chief executive of United Way of Greater Los Angeles; and Gary L. Toebben, chief executive of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Among their concerns was that the ratings were likely to confuse educators and parents because the district has done its own value-added analysis of the data. It recently released overall school ratings to the public and it is planning to confidentially release individual ratings to third- through ninth-grade teachers by the end of the school year. The model used by the district, which is seeking to persuade the union to include the ratings in formal teacher evaluations, is broadly similar to the one adopted by The Times. But The Times analyzed seven years of data, while the district analyzed up to four. The district and The Times adjusted the data to control for slightly different variables. In addition, the civic leaders wrote that individual teacher evaluations should be conducted privately for the purpose of helping teachers improve. Times Editor Russ Stanton said the newspaper went ahead with publication because it is confident of the reliability of its analysis and believes the public has a right to the information. Posting the database, Stanton said, "is a service to the people of Los Angeles." Los Angeles Times Teacher 'Value-Addled' Ratings DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM By Connie Llanos, LA Daily News, Published Online in Education Week: May 4, 2011 | http://bit.ly/kcRCRk Published in LA Daily News: May 3, 2011 May 3, 2011: Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy is proposing to overhaul the district's Public School Choice reform program, eliminating a controversial public vote and limiting the campuses that can be included. Deasy also wants to streamline the teachers contracts at schools in the program that end up being run by internal district-based groups. That would give school management more flexibility, similar to charter schools, but is likely to be opposed by unions because it could eliminate some hard-fought workplace rules. Public School Choice, launched in 2009, allows outside groups to compete with LAUSD-based teams to run some of the district's lowest-performing and newest campuses. The process allows the community to vote on its preferred bidder, a nonbinding ballot that was criticized for being too open to manipulation. Deasy wants to do away with that vote. "Through this process we have opened the doors to a variety of innovative school models in order to accelerate the learning and achievement for students across the district," Deasy wrote in a memo to the school board drafted earlier this month. "As we move into the third round of this process, it is important that we pause and analyze where we are...with that in mind I offer the following recommendations, which I believe will improve the Public School choice process." Deasy is in Washington, D.C. this week and was unavailable for comment but in previous interviews he stressed his support for the program and said his changes were simply a way to ensure its success. His proposed changes, scheduled for a school board vote May 10, also include: • Limiting the new schools that can be included in the process. This would avoid including campuses that draw children from high-performing schools. • Increasing parent participation in the process through more district-led workshops and more involvement with community groups; • Providing more district staff and resources to Public School Choice campuses when they open • And giving the superintendent the power to decide what happens at a school that only receives one application. At least some of Deasy's changes could lead to tensions with the teachers union. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he couldn't comment on Deasy's proposed changes until he had more opportunity to analyze them. But he reiterated the union's opposition to the overall reform effort, calling it "destructive to public education." Duffy also criticized the district's fascination with the streamlined teachers contract, which Deasy wants to make a requirement of all in-district applicants. The so-called "thin contract" is a 70-page document that was created to grant pilot schools more local control. These district schools are usually smaller and have charter-like freedoms that let them control their own budget, calendars, professional development and staffing decisions. The streamlined contract is considered thin because the traditional LAUSD teacher's contract is some 300 pages long. Emphasis on Reform The thin contracts also make it easier to let go of teachers or administrators, although that individual would still have rights to a job somewhere else in the district. "I think there is too much emphasis on contracts and not enough emphasis on successful education reform and how we bring that about," Duffy said. Many of Deasy's changes however, have already earned the strong support of some board members including Tamar Galatzan, who represents a large portion of the central and West San Fernando Valley. Galatzan said she withdrew two resolutions she planned to introduce to the school board which mirrored several of Deasy's recommendations. "This is a tweaking and a cleaning up of Public School Choice." While 55 LAUSD schools have gone through the Public School Choice process in its first two rounds it remains unclear how much change this has brought to these campuses. Galatzan is one of several who have voiced concerns about the community vote element of the process, which is advisory. In its first round, the election had loose voting guidelines that allowed many voters, especially school employees, to cast more than one ballot and electioneering tactics included threatening undocumented parents with deportation if they didn't vote to support a certain plan. The second round showed some improvements, but parent participation remained at just 1 percent. "This vote became exactly what I thought it would, a mini political campaign that brought out the worst in everyone involved," said Galatzan. Gauging Community Raquel Beltran, executive director of the League of Women Voters, which has been contracted by LAUSD to handle the vote, said she did not see the elimination of the election as a problem. However, she said the school board should make its decision quickly to ensure it comes up with a new plan to gauge community sentiment in time for the third round of school choice. A total of 38 schools have been targeted for the third round of the reform process, including 22 existing and 16 new campuses. Among those are three new schools in the San Fernando Valley: Valley Region Elementary #13, Valley Region Span K-8 #1 and Porter Ranch Community School. The list also includes four existing local schools: Maclay, Sun Valley and Vista middle schools and Fulton College Prep, a grade 6-12 campus. In October 34 initial applications were submitted from local teachers, nonprofits and charter school operators for these seven sites, which are expected to open under their new leadership in fall 2012. FREMONT, JORDAN & MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOLS WILL LOSE MILLIONS IN QEIA FUNDING -- Howard Blume, LA Times/LANow | http://lat.ms/muw3oi May 5, 2011 - Three struggling Los Angeles high schools face sharp funding reductions over and above those expected as a result of the state budget crisis, The Times has learned. Fremont, Manual Arts and Jordan high schools are going to lose millions in supplemental funding because they failed to hit improvement benchmarks. The funding, through the Quality Education Investment Act, has provided an additional $1,000 per student to lower class sizes and provide extra counseling, among other measures. The grants were never permanent, but had the potential to last as long as seven years. Instead, these three schools will lose the money three years early amid a state budget crisis that has hit schools hard. The original goal of the funding was to see what a struggling school could accomplish with an infusion of resources in key areas. Instead, the money has allowed these schools to hold the line against deep statewide cuts to schools over the last three years. All told, 101 L.A. Unified schools received the funding, and the money also could be at risk at some other campuses if test scores fall short of required targets in the fall. The three high schools that have already lost money failed to meet milestones that the schools had set for themselves, a district spokesperson said. Moving forward, these campuses will no longer be spared from the effects of the state budget crisis at key moments in their efforts to improve. Fremont High, the largest of the schools, will lose an estimated $4 million a year. That school, located south of downtown, reopened in July after a “restructuring” that resulted in the displacement of more than half the faculty. Jordan High in Watts is supposed to reopen next year, with part of the campus run by a nonprofit under the control of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Another portion of the campus would be under the management of one or more independent charter schools. Manual Arts, just south of downtown, has struggled with administrative turnover as well as sluggish improvement. It’s under the control of an independent nonprofit but still operates under L.A. Unified's union agreements. (story continues/emphasis added): DISTRICT OFFICIALS REALIZED THAT THESE SCHOOLS WOULD LOSE FUNDING LATE LAST YEAR, BUT THE BAD NEWS WAS NEVER MADE PUBLIC. THE TIMES LEARNED OF THE SITUATION IN INTERVIEWS WITH CURRENT AND FORMER OFFICIALS WHO ASKED NOT TO BE IDENTIFIED BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT AUTHORIZED TO SPEAK ABOUT THE SUBJECT. ●●smf: So much for transparency and accountability. NOTE: QEIA was an out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit brought by CTA against the Schwarzenegger administration for failing to pay back funds 'borrowed' from the Prop 98 guarantee. Essentially it allows schools receiving the QEIA funds to reduce class sizes. It has proved very successful at other schools - including Hollywood High. BROKE L.A. SCHOOLS ARE GIVING TEACHERS A HALF DAY TO PROTEST Liz Dwyer, Education Editor - Good.is | http://bit.ly/kH7sPO May 4, 2011 • 5:00 pm PDT - Just how bad is California's education budget crisis? In an unprecedented move, the Los Angeles Unified School District plans to dismiss students early on Friday, May 13 so that teachers and other school staff can protest proposed cuts to education. In fact, the nation's second largest school district is in such a financial crisis that they're actually working with the local teacher's union, UTLA, to make the protest happen—a very rare thing. Teachers originally planned to hold their anti-cut demonstrations in the morning before school and during the first hour of classes. But Superintendent John Deasy and other district officials suggested shortening the school day and moving the protests to the afternoon so that the administration of state standardized tests won't be affected. Deasy has also pledged that teachers can protest the state cuts to schools "without loss of pay or other consequences." Why is LAUSD being so accommodating? California's schools have already endured almost $20 billion in cuts over the past three years. If state legislators don't agree to put a measure on an upcoming election ballot to extend the taxes that fund schools, there will be an additional $2.3 billion in cuts. LAUSD alone is looking at a deficit of almost $408 million this year. This spring more than 5,000 teachers and 2,000 other district staff received layoff notices. On top of the teacher and staff layoffs, Deasy told Voice of America News that unless the budget situation improves "We are cutting all of our librarians, our nurses. We would be forced to close and consolidate schools." And, if the cuts go through, there are rumors that the district will need to shorten the school year by 20 days. Teachers plan to first protest in front of schools and then hold a huge city-wide rally in Downtown Los Angeles. All this protesting will cut into class time, of course (the district made it clear that teachers need to make up the time they spend protesting later in the school year). But not protesting might mean the collapse of Los Angeles's school system. • EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer + more info. HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest of the Stories from Other Sources SPEAKING OF TEACHER APPRECIATION Themes in the News for the week of May 2-6, 2011 by UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/lrdDxB This is Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers receive thank-you notes and cards, snacks, donations for classroom supplies, and other sincere tokens of appreciation. Dignitaries, editorial writers, and other opinion leaders reflect on the crucial role that teachers have played in their own lives and in building the nation. In spite of their deep worries about education and learning opportunities, most people hold positive views of teachers. …. PROGRESS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/j7OKg8 May 6, 2011 | In unheralded corners of California, Latino and African-American students are busting the averages, producing higher scores and larger numbers of college-ready graduates. This is happening in places like Val Verde Unified and Desert Sands Unified in Riverside County and Sanger Unified in Fresno County. They were among districts with outstanding grades in “A Report Card on District Achievement: How Low-income, African-American, and Latino Students Fare in California School Districts,” a comprehensive …. ANTI-CHARTER BILL RUNS INTO TROUBLE: Financial impact would become factor John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/mtggam May 5, 2011 - A bill sponsored by the California Teachers Association to radically change the state’s charter school law and give districts unappealable power to reject charter petitions failed to win majority support of the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. That doesn’t mean the end of AB 1172, but its author, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, a Democrat representing Whittier and… California Budget Project: TWO REPORTS ON BASIC SKILLS INSTRUCTION: By smf/4LAKids from The California Budget Pr... http://bit.ly/lkEz9F CA TAX REVENUE: $2 Billion More Than Projected: from SFist | http://bit.ly/ljbgN0 The math wizards in Sacramen... http://bit.ly/kM0nu4 EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer: http://bit.l... http://bit.ly/inHp2e WHITE HOUSE PANEL CALLS FOR ‘’REINVESTING IN ARTS EDUCATION + 2 Reports: By Erik Robelen - EdWeek Curriculum Mat... http://bit.ly/jfe5dn This is 'Teacher Appreciation Week', but that does NOT mean the other 51 are 'Teacher Dis' weeks. LUNCH WITH SAL CASTRO:The Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice Fri, May 13, 2011 [State of Emergency Day] Noon-2PM http://bit.ly/iAGrm5 DEASY PROPOSES OVERHAUL OF LA’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM: By Connie Llanos, LA Daily News, Published Online ... http://bit.ly/lNWIUt FAILING GRADES ON CIVICS EXAM CALLED A ‘CRISIS’: Failing Grades on Civics Exam Called a ‘Crisis’ By SAM DILLON ... http://bit.ly/lsPtnv A CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FUNDING MAP TOOL: Estimated loss in per-pupil spending would be under an all-cuts budget.: N... http://bit.ly/lgI70h RHEE THE REFORMER/“ERASE TO THE TOP” -- The Michelle Rhee Test Score Scandal in Seussical Verse: by Sabrina Stev... http://bit.ly/kwuYZa LAUSD ELEMENTARY MUSIC ED: As good as it used to be, as bad as it is, it could get worse. Please Watch this vide... http://bit.ly/ioyzpL BLAME A TEACHER DAY: By E.D. KAIN | American Times blog at Forbes.com | http://onforb.es/iCX1yE May. 3 2011 - 7... http://bit.ly/l4Ahg8 THE OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK: Posted by Diane Ravitch to the EdWeek Bridging Differences blog | http://bit.ly/lc4vvM ... http://bit.ly/jVfSEm BETH BARRETT, L.A. WEEKLY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, WINS AWARD FOR BEST PUBLIC SERVICE SERIES: "The Dance of the L... http://bit.ly/mCIA9g May 3, 2011: HAPPY WORLD ASTHMA DAY + HAPPY NATIONAL TEACHER DAY/TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY: Happy World Asthma Da... http://bit.ly/lhH8Af ‘PARENT TRIGGER’ LIMBO: The pilot program enabling parents to petition for changes at low-performing schools was... http://bit.ly/lk8yT2 THREATENED WALTER REED MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAMS BRING HOME MORE AWARDS: Teachers told they may not come back... http://bit.ly/jyXBVt THE HIGH COST OF LOW TEACHER SALARIES + A NEW MEASURE FOR CLASSROOM QUALITY: The High Cost of Low Teacher Salari... http://bit.ly/lYKjlq TWO FAMILIES WEIGH IN ON PATHS TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/jB0... http://bit.ly/kBQm0F New EdSource Q&A Publication – CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL CRISIS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR SCHOOLS?: from EdSource: http:/... http://bit.ly/kyjpNj 9,000 LOW INCOME KIDS WON'T HAVE SUMMER JOBS, CITY OF L.A. ACKNOWLEDGES: By City News Service from the Beverly H... http://bit.ly/mthsrA The A-plus Act: LAWMAKERS REINTRODUCE BILL ALLOWING STATES TO OPT OUT OF NCLB: By Alyson Klein, EdWeek | http://... http://bit.ly/knR7F9 L.A. UNIFIED SUES CITY OVER CONTAMINATION AT TAYLOR YARDS HIGH SCHOOL + smf’s 2¢: The district says solvents and... http://bit.ly/lgOlvA EVENTS: Coming up next week... • TUESDAY MAY 10TH IS CALIFORNIA DAY OF THE TEACHER, not to be confused with National Teacher Day/Teacher Appreciation Day - which was last Tuesday. WWT? • EDUCATION COALITION "STATE OF EMERGENCY" RALLY @ PERSHING SQUARE FRIDAY MAY 13: Reproducible flyer + more info. http://bit.ly/inHp2e *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: Yolie.Flores.Aguilar@lausd.net • 213-241-6383 Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386 Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180 Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382 Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388 Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385 Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387 ...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress, senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600 • Call or e-mail Governor Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ • Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school. • Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it! • Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child. • If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE. • If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE. • If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!. Who are your elected federal & state representatives? How do you contact them? Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. 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