Los Angeles: ground zero in the fight over class size and corporate reform
The Los Angeles school board has a new president, Dr. Richard Vladovic, and a new member, Monica Ratliff, a working fifth grade teacher, who won her seat despite being hugely outspent more than 10-1 by the corporate reform crowd, including $1 million from NYC Mayor Bloomberg.
Vladovic was elected president by 5-2. The two votes against him came from outgoing president Monica Garcia and her ally Tamar Galatzan.
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| LA Superintendent John Deasy |
The Los Angeles school district also has, for the first time in years, an increase in funding from the state, and has decided to spend a large portion to reverse the increase in class sizes that has driven class sizes in many classrooms to 30 to 40 students or more.
Here is a video of the June 18 school board meeting, showing Los Angeles parents, many of them Mexican-American, pleading with the school board to pass the resolution that had been introduced in support of reducing class size. It is well worth watching in its entirety.
At the behest of some LA parents and activist Robert Skeels, I wrote a short research brief supporting the resolution that isposted here.
The class size reduction resolution was approved by the board 5-2. The two votes against it came, again, from Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan. The board postponed a vote on a competing resolution, introduced by Galatzan and
House Of Cards - Corporate Deform in America - Trailer by BATA
House of Cards is a series of short videos created to bring to the forefront the key players in the corporate reform movement. Each week a new player will be featured along with information concerning their words and actions that have been aimed at the destruction of our public schools. Video created by Terri Michal. No copyright infringement intended. For informational purposes only.Badass Teache