Opinion: JOHN DEASY IS A DISAPPOINTING CHOICE FOR LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT
BY DAVID LYELL (LEFT), LAUSD SUBSTITUTE TEACHER, OPED IN THE SOUTH LOS ANGELES REPORT | HTTP://BIT.LY/HG49YG
1-13-2011 | I'm disappointed by the appointment of John Deasy as the superintendent to the LAUSD School Board. The school board didn't even bother to consider any other candidates, which is very strange. The public needs to remember that the mayor, who celebrated this appointment, after recently attacking UTLA, was also handed a vote of "no confidence" by teachers at eight of the 10 schools he takes credit for operating.
The reality is that the teachers at those school sites operate those schools. The mayor, who rarely shows up, only operates them on paper, and dismally at that. We need to remember that this is the same mayor who, in 2009, spent 15 times as much as his nearest opponent on his campaign, then refused to debate him.
Deasy embraces Value-Added. Value-added testing is yet another example a punitive, ineffective, dictatorial management style. A July 2010 report by the Institute of Education Sciences concluded that, "more than 90 percent of the variation in student gain scores is due to the variation in student-level factors that are not under the control of the teacher." An August 2010 report by the Economic Policy Institute warned in a report that it would be "unwise" to give substantial weight to