4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:
BELVEDERE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER DEFENDS HIS TEACHING AFTER ROCKY SUPERINTENDENT VISIT
By Tami Abdollah, Pass / Fail, KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/M7VWac Tami Abdollah/KPCC :: Superintendent John Deasy walks through an economics classroom at Los Angeles High School during a surprise visit. Jun 12, 2012 :: Remember Carlos Tejada? He's the 7th-grade teacher whose classroom Superintendent John Deasy angrily walked out of during a surprise visit to Belvedere Middle School in
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE APPROVES MAIN BUDGET BILL: S&P, Moody’s threaten to lower ratings
Reuters: Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by David Brunnstrom | http://reut.rs/Md2Zwy SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:33pm EDT :: (Reuters) - California's legislature on Friday approved the main bill in a state budget plan advanced by its Democratic leaders to close a $15.7 billion shortfall despite opposition from Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. The votes by the Assembly and state
LEGISLATURE ERASES GOVERNOR’S EDUCATION REFORMS: Weighted funding out, science mandate in
Package would allow K-12 schools to cut 15 additional days from the next two school years. By Kathryn Baron, Thoughts on Public education | http://bit.ly/MEOHD8 John Fensterwald co-authored this article. Posted on 6/14/12 :: The Legislature’s budget package is missing many of Gov. Brown’s controversial education initiatives. A joint Senate and Assembly plan outlined yesterday protects
CALIFORNIA'S BUDGET IS FULL OF GIMMICKS …including delaying payments to schools
By DAN WALTERS, Sacramento Bee | http://bit.ly/LSD3JK 6-15-12 – SACRAMENTO :: The California Legislature's Democratic leaders insist that their new state budget is balanced, honest and contains an adequate reserve. "Our budget contains no additional borrowing or so-called gimmicks," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said as details were unveiled. Not. It's "balanced" only with
LAUSD FACILITIES CHIEF RESIGNING TO TAKE JOB AT UCLA + smf’s 2¢
By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/NsYxid 6/15/2012 12:07:24 PM PDT :: Kelly Schmader, an engineer who's headed LAUSD's Facilities Division for two years, is leaving his $218,000-a-year post to take the top facilities job at UCLA. His last day is June 29. << Kelly Schmader (Photo courtesy of LAUSD) In a phone interview Friday, Schmader described his move to the
The conditional: L.A. SCHOOL CUTS COULD BE REVERSED IF JERRY BROWN'S TAX PLAN PASSES + smf’s 2¢
by Anthony York in Sacramento, LA Times LA Now | http://lat.ms/LqLPvV June 14, 2012 | 11:45 am :: Citing a $360-million budget deficit and more cuts coming from Sacramento, the Los Angeles Unified School District has voted to shorten the school year by one week. But a district spokesman said that could change if voters pass Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative in November. Brown is hoping to
VOTE EXPECTED TO FINISH TODAY ON DRAFT LABOR AGREEMENT WITH 10 FURLOUGH DAYS FOR LAUSD TEACHERS
City News Service, from LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/MvQ7mR 6/15/2012 09:53:11 AM PDT :: LOS ANGELES - Teachers are expected to finish voting today on a draft labor agreement that provides for them to take 10 furlough days during the coming school year to save the jobs of thousands of employees. Superintendent John Deasy said earlier this week that the agreements the Los Angeles Unified
Daily News on Test Scores: MOST LAUSD SCHOOLS AMONG STATE’S WORST, SOME VALLEY SCHOOLS ARE THE BEST!
Most LAUSD schools among state's worst on key tests By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/LatyEP San Fernando Valley campuses among LAUSD schools with test scores ranking in state's top 10% City News Service from LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/MXNScX 6/14/2012 07:48:19 PM PDT ::
L.A. TEACHERS FACE NEW EVALUATIONS
By ERICA E. PHILLIPS and STEPHANIE BANCHERO, The Wall Street Journal | http://on.wsj.com/MvIIUL Michal Czerwonka for The Wall Street Journal June 14, 2012, 8:27 p.m. ET :: Los Angeles teacher April Bain says she backs using tests to evaluate teachers, something her union opposes. In the past three years, at least 30 states have begun to use student achievement to evaluate teachers,
Breaking: WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES RELIEF FOR UNDOCUMENTED YOUNGSTERS
white house e-mail Friday, June 15, 2012 Friends, In keeping with its efforts to enforce our nation’s immigration laws in a firm and sensible manner, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that effective immediately, young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key
LAUSD’S BIG TEST: A judge says the district and union must find a way to use student progress in teachers' evaluations.
LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/MumaDD Pensive: Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent John Deasy is seen at his Beaudry headquarters office in March. Deasy has repeatedly said that he wants to use the state's annual standards tests in teacher evaluations by measuring the growth in students' scores year to year. (Los Angeles Times / March 15, 2012) June 14, 2012 :: Now that
K-12 ARTS EDUCATION NEWS: RIFs/Possible Rescissions
by e-mail from UTLA Arts Education Committee Chair Ginger Fox 13 June 2012 Dear Awesome K-12 Arts Teachers and Arts Education Advocates, (Please forward on to your colleagues as I do not have all secondary arts teacher contact information.) I am writing to you today as the Chair of the UTLA Arts Education Committee. I want to share with you the information that I know about the current K-12
The famous 1984 Macintosh Super Bowl ad warned us: MAYBE BILL GATES IS “BIG BROTHER”
$1.1 million-plus Gates grants: ‘Galvanic’ bracelets that measure student engagement By Valerie Strauss , Washington Post | http://wapo.st/M0rxdT 1984 v. 3.0? Please see update to this post by below 07:00 AM ET, 06/11/2012 :: In the ‘you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff’ category, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spending about $1.1 million to develop a way to physiologically measure how
LAUSD ORDERED TO USE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN JUDGING TEACHERS
A court finds that L.A. Unified violated state law requiring measurements of pupils' progress be used to evaluate instructors. But he gives the district wide latitude on how to measure learning. By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/OzLHvl June 13, 2012 :: Over the objections of teachers and administrators groups, the Los Angeles Unified School District was ordered Tuesday to
CRITICS DECRY LATEST SHRINKAGE OF L.A. UNIFIED'S SCHOOL YEAR
All sides agree that the tentative agreement to trim 5 instructional days in 2012-13 is a bad outcome for students, but some defend it as a necessity. L.A. Unified Board President Monica Garcia and Supt. John Deasy attend a board meeting in March. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times / June 12, 2012) By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/M35dhT June 13, 2012 :: A tentative
9AM TODAY - L.A. NOW LIVE CHAT W/HOWARD BLUME: LAUSD's shortened school year
L.A. Times: June 13, 2012 | 6:30 am | http://lat.ms/KBzQe2 The Times' education reporter Howard Blume will join City Editor Shelby Grad to discuss the deal between L.A. Unified and its teachers to cancel up to five instructional days in the 2012-13 school year. The live chat is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday. smf: I’ve never done this either, but apparently you go HERE at
Realtime Coverage: EDVOICE/STULL LAWSUIT RULING
LA teacher reviews should include student achievement, judge says Los Angeles Times - 3 hours ago In a tentative ruling that could potentially transform California teacher evaluations, a Los Angeles judge ordered the LA Unified School District to use student academic progress in reviewing instructors. LA County Superior Court Judge James C. [ click on headlines for complete stories ]
LAUSD STATS SHOW LINK WITH SPORTS, BETTER ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE + smf’’s 2¢
By Eric Sondheimer, Varsity Times Insider - LA Times reporters blog about high school sports across the Southland | http://lat.ms/LlUYHF June 8, 2012 | 8:31 am :: School boards that are quick to cut sports budgets might want to look a little closer. New statistics from the Los Angeles Unified School District given to the City Section athletics office show evidence that participating in high
SUIT CHALLENGING PROP 98 ALLOCATION FORMALLY REJECTED, REDUCING EDUCATION ‘GUARANTEE’ BY $2 BILLION
By Kimberly Beltran, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/K9inwI Wednesday, June 06, 2012 :: A San Francisco Superior Court judge has made final his ruling rejecting claims by a coalition of school groups that last summer’s state budget illegally diverted tax revenue from the General Fund, reducing by some $2 billion what districts were guaranteed under Proposition 98. Judge Harold Kahn
JUDGE OKs PROP 98 SHELL GAME: More manipulations if November tax fails
By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/MjCmaP 6/08/12 :: A Superior Court judge last week lopped a limb off Proposition 98. Fans of Monty Python might have been amused; school districts will not be. The three-paragraph ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn simply reaffirmed a tentative ruling he issued in March. Back then he ruled that nothing prevents the
L.A. UNIFIED MAKES HEALTH CLASS OPTIONAL
District will allow high schools to offer alternatives as a way of meeting the requirement to teach about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. 4LAKids News original coverage and Deasy’s smoking gun memo: DEASY FLIP-FLOPS ON HEALTH ED: It’s a Graduation Requirement, not an Elective …but it’s optional By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/LnamlK