'Hands Across' event targets education funding
SUPPORT: Human chain to be formed to raise money for community colleges.
Posted: 04/15/2011 06:53:21 PM PDT
Updated: 04/15/2011 08:49:48 PM PDT
A human chain of an expected 1million helping hands will wend from the Sierra foothills to San Diego on Sunday to support California community college students.
At 2 p.m. across the San Fernando Valley, the so-called Hands Across California will link students to celebrities from Pierce College to Los Angeles Valley College and beyond.
"College is the American dream," said Gabe Ayon, 35, of North Hollywood, a first-generation Valley College student who has recruited an anticipated 2,000 students, faculty, celebrities and more to join hands along Oxnard Street. "Not all of us are middle class.
"All these scholarships will help people get into college."
The 1,000-mile event aims to raise a $100 million endowment for scholarships available to the state's 3 millio
Superintendent John Deasy sets performance goals
Posted: 04/15/2011 08:50:54 PM PDT
Updated: 04/16/2011 05:11:14 AM PDT
John Deasy, who was hired as the district No. 2 eight months ago, replaces Ramon Cortines, who retired from a career in education spanning six decades this week after serving as LAUSD's superintendent for two and a half years.
While Deasy, 50, is still working on his 100-day plan, on Day One he announced a districtwide performance management system that he said will be the centerpiece of his administration.
The New England native said all schools, educators and administrators - including himself - would be measured on how well they met 15 key targets that include almost doubling the percentage of students who are reading a